Religious text

According to Peter Beal, the term scripture – derived from {{lang|la|scriptura}} (Latin) – meant "writings [manuscripts] in general" prior to the medieval era, and was then "reserved to denote the texts of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible".{{cite book|author=Peter Beal|title=A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology: 1450 to 2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TekTDAAAQBAJ |year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-926544-2|page=367}} Beyond Christianity, according to the Oxford World Encyclopedia, the term scripture has referred to a text accepted to contain the "sacred writings of a religion",{{cite book|title=The World Encyclopedia|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-10395|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-954609-1|chapter=Scriptures|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/worldencyclopedi00oxfo}} while The Oxford center of Dictionary of World Religions states it refers to a text "having [religious] authority and often collected into an accepted canon".{{cite book|author=John Bowker|title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192800947.001.0001/acref-9780192800947-e-6484|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280094-7|chapter=Scripture|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780192800947}} In modern times, this equation of the written word with religious texts is particular to the English language, and is not retained in most other languages, which usually add an adjective like "sacred" to denote religious texts.

Some religious texts are categorized as canonical, some non-canonical, and others extracanonical, semi-canonical, deutero-canonical, pre-canonical or post-canonical. The term "canon" is derived from the Greek word "{{lang|el|κανών|italic=no}}", "a cane used as a measuring instrument". It connotes the sense of "measure, standard, norm, rule". In the modern usage, a religious canon refers to a "catalogue of sacred scriptures" that is broadly accepted to "contain and agree with the rule or canon of a particular faith", states Juan Widow.{{cite book|author=Juan Carlos Ossandón Widow|title=The Origins of the Canon of the Hebrew Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJByDwAAQBAJ |year=2018|publisher=Brill Academic|isbn=978-90-04-38161-2|pages=22–27}} The related terms such as "non-canonical", "extracanonical", "deuterocanonical" and others presume and are derived from "canon". These derived terms differentiate a corpus of religious texts from the "canonical" literature. At its root, this differentiation reflects the sects and conflicts that developed and branched off over time, the competitive "acceptance" of a common minimum over time and the "rejection" of interpretations, beliefs, rules or practices by one group of another related socio-religious group.{{cite book|author=Gerbern Oegema|editor=Lee Martin McDonald and James H. Charlesworth|title='Noncanonical' Religious Texts in Early Judaism and Early Christianity |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XYIebgV1_e0C |year=2012|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-12419-7|pages=18–23 with footnotes}} The earliest reference to the term "canon" in the context of "a collection of sacred Scripture" is traceable to the 4th-century CE. The early references, such as the Synod of Laodicea, mention both the terms "canonical" and "non-canonical" in the context of religious texts.{{cite book|first1=Edmon L.|last1=Gallagher|author-link1=Edmon L. Gallagher|first2=John D.|last2=Meade|title=The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity: Texts and Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fpg4DwAAQBAJ|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-879249-9|pages=xii–xiii}}

{{See also|History of religions|Timeline of religion|History of writing}}

One of the oldest known religious texts is the Kesh Temple Hymn of ancient Sumer,{{Cite journal|last=Kramer|first=Samuel|year=1942|title=The Oldest Literary Catalogue: A Sumerian List of Literary Compositions Compiled about 2000 B.C.|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|volume=88|issue=88|pages=10–19|doi=10.2307/1355474|jstor=1355474|s2cid=163898367}}{{Cite journal|last=Sanders|first=Seth|year=2002|title=Old Light on Moses' Shining Face|journal=Vetus Testamentum|volume=52|issue=3|pages=400–406|doi=10.1163/156853302760197520}} a set of inscribed clay tablets which scholars typically date around 2600 BCE.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X3ALAQAAMAAJ|title=Princess, priestess, poet: the Sumerian temple hymns of Enheduanna|last1=Enheduanna|last2=Meador|first2=Betty De Shong|date=2009-08-01|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=9780292719323|language=en}} The Epic of Gilgamesh from Sumer, although only considered by some scholars as a religious text, has origins as early as 2150 BCE,{{cite book|author=Stephanie Dalley|title=Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0YHfiCz4BRwC|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-953836-2|pages=41–45}} and stands as one of the earliest literary works that includes various mythological figures and themes of interaction with the divine.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780140449198|url-access=registration|title=The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian|last=George|first=Andrew|date=2002-12-31|publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780140449198| language=en}} The Rigveda, a scripture of Hinduism, is dated 1500 BCE. It is one of the oldest known complete religious texts that has survived into the modern age.Sagarika Dutt (2006). India in a Globalized World. Manchester University Press. p. 36. {{ISBN|978-1-84779-607-3}}{{Cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Shailendra |last2=Choudhury |first2=Sanghamitra |date=2021-01-01 |editor-last=Meissner |editor-first=Richard |title=Ancient Vedic Literature and Human Rights: Resonances and Dissonances |journal=Cogent Social Sciences |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1858562 |doi=10.1080/23311886.2020.1858562 |issn=2331-1886|doi-access=free }}

The earliest dating of the earliest Biblical texts is the 13th-12th centuries BCE.Coogan, Michael David (2012). A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context. (New York: Oxford University Press), p 183, https://archive.org/details/briefintroductio0000coog/page/182/mode/2up?view=theaterNiditch, Susan (2008). Judges. (Louisville: John Knox Press), p. 9. Schniedewind, William M. (2004). How the Bible Became a Book: The Textualization of Ancient Israel. (Cambridge University Press), p 54. The beginning of the scribal documentation from temple and royal courts is dated to the 8th century BCE and continues until the 5th century BCE.{{Cite news|url=http://contradictionsinthebible.com/the-yahwist-2/|title=The Yahwist|date=2012-12-23|newspaper=Contradictions in the Bible|language=en-US|access-date=2016-12-06}} Probably in the 2nd century BC, the Biblical canon was fixed.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7USWMRAwGYC&q=first+writing+of+torah&pg=PR13|title=Torah in the Mouth: Writing and Oral Tradition in Palestinian Judaism 200 BCE-400 CE|last=Jaffee|first=Martin S.|date=2001-04-19|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198032236|language=en}}

High rates of mass production and distribution of religious texts did not begin until the invention of the printing press in 1440,{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/press.html|title=The History Guide|website=www.historyguide.org|access-date=2016-12-06}} before which all religious texts were hand written copies, of which there were relatively limited quantities in circulation.

The relative authority of religious texts develops over time and is derived from the ratification, enforcement, and its use across generations. Some religious texts are accepted or categorized as canonical, some non-canonical, and others extracanonical, semi-canonical, deutero-canonical, pre-canonical, or post-canonical.{{cite book|author1=Lee Martin McDonald|author2=James H. Charlesworth|title='Noncanonical' Religious Texts in Early Judaism and Early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYIebgV1_e0C&pg=PA25|date=5 April 2012|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-12419-7|pages=1–5, 18–19, 24–25, 32–34}}

"Scripture" (or "scriptures") is a subset of religious texts considered to be "especially authoritative",{{cite journal|author=Charles Elster|title= Authority, Performance, and Interpretation in Religious Reading: Critical Issues of Intercultural Communication and Multiple Literacies|journal=Journal of Literacy Research|volume=35| number=1| year=2003| pages=669–670}}{{cite book|author=John Goldingay|title=Models for Scripture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6_TwzrgshkC|year=2004|publisher=Clements Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-894667-41-8|pages=183–190}} revered and "holy writ",{{cite book|title=Scripture|author= ((The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica))| publisher= Encyclopaedia Britannica| url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/scripture| year=2009}} "sacred, canonical", or of "supreme authority, special status" to a religious community.{{cite book|author=Wilfred Cantwell Smith|title=What is Scripture?: A Comparative Approach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RVUzV4JpAgC|year=1994|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-1-4514-2015-9|pages=12–14}}{{cite book|author=William A. Graham|title=Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XzYX0T-ZqTcC|year=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-44820-8|pages=44–46}} The terms sacred text and religious text are not necessarily interchangeable in that some religious texts are believed to be sacred because of the belief in some theistic religions such as the Abrahamic religions that the text is divinely or supernaturally revealed or divinely inspired, or in non-theistic religions such as some Indian religions they are considered to be the central tenets of their eternal Dharma. In contrast to sacred texts, many religious texts are narratives or discussions about the specific religion's general themes, interpretations, practices, or important figures.

In some religions (e.g. Christianity), the canonical texts include a particular text (Bible) but are "an unsettled question," according to linguist Eugene Nida. In others (Hinduism, Buddhism), there "has never been a definitive canon".{{citation |title=The Sociolinguistics of Translating Canonical Religious Texts|author = Eugene Nida|year=1994| volume=7| number=1|pages=194–195}}{{cite journal| title= "Scripture" in India: Towards a Typology of the Word in Hindu Life| author= Thomas B. Coburn| journal= Journal of the American Academy of Religion| volume= 52| pages= 435–459| number=3| year=1984|publisher= Oxford University Press|jstor=1464202| doi= 10.1093/jaarel/52.3.435}} While the term scripture is derived from the Latin scriptura, meaning "writing", most sacred scriptures of the world's major religions were originally a part of their oral tradition, and were "passed down through memorization from generation to generation until they were finally committed to writing", according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.{{cite book|author=William A. Graham|title=Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XzYX0T-ZqTcC|year=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-44820-8|pages=ix, 5–9}}{{cite journal| title= The Influence of Oral Tradition Upon Exegesis and the Senses of Scripture| author = Carroll Stuhlmueller| journal= The Catholic Biblical Quarterly| volume=20| number=3| year= 1958|pages= 299–302|jstor= 43710550}}

In Islam, the Sunnah are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The Sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations.{{cite book |last1=Qazi |first1=M. A. |last2=El-Dabbas |first2=Mohammed Saʿid |title=A Concise Dictionary of Islamic Terms |date=1979 |publisher=Kazi Publications |location=Lahore, Pakistan |page=65}} According to classical Islamic theories,Brown, Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought, 1996: p.7 the Sunnah are documented by hadith (the verbally transmitted record of the teachings, deeds and sayings, silent permissions or disapprovals attributed to Muhammad), and alongside the Quran (the book of Islam) is the divine revelation (wahy) delivered through Muhammad that make up the primary sources of Islamic law and theology.{{cite journal |last1=Abou El Fadl |first1=Khaled |title=What is Shari'a?|journal=ABC Religion and Ethics |date=22 March 2011 |url= http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/03/22/3170810.htm |access-date=20 June 2015}}{{cite web|title=What is the Difference Between Quran and Sunnah?|url= http://askaquestionto.us/question-answer/revealedbook/what-is-the-difference-between-quran-and-sunnah|website=Ask a Question to Us|access-date=20 June 2015}} However, sects of Islam differ on which hadiths (if any) should be accepted as canonical (see criticism of hadith).

• List of religious texts

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/themes The British Library: Discovering Sacred Texts]

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{{Commons category|Religious texts}}{{religious books}}

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