Holy Scriptures

Scripture is a forwarding to this article. For the Holy Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity see the Bible .

Comparative religious studies refer to texts that are normative for a religion as holy scriptures . In the different religions there is also a different understanding of what is considered a normative text. The respective authority of a text is also different in the religions. Religions that are strongly based on texts are also called scriptural or book religions . In non-scripted cultures, collective traditions of myths as oral texts play the same role as sacred scriptures (see also: Ethnic religion ) .

definition

Scriptural characteristics that may be present include:

1. The script is considered normative, i.e. In other words, questions of faith, ethical questions or ritual questions are decided by referring to the holy scriptures, which is a final decision (see also dogma ).
2. Scripture is quoted verbatim in worship , cult or ritual and plays a central or fundamental role there.
3. Scripture is seen as a central scripture, a central reference, or a document of the foundation of a religion.
4. There is a scriptural interpretation and interpretation, sometimes there are directions and schools around different possibilities of interpretation.
5. Scripture is connected with the founder of the religion , or with the god, or the deities who particularly inspired this scripture. Often it is considered an essential document of the teachings of the founder of a religion or as scripture revealed by gods.
6. Scripture forms a canon.
7. The writings collect traditions, stories, revelations, songs, rituals, wisdom texts that are considered authentic.
8. The scriptures are often considered to be the oldest testimony of a religious community.
9. The scriptures play a special role in piety through adoring and loving reading and recitation. The art, ethics, music and stories of a religion are centrally inspired by these writings.
10. Sacred scriptures are often viewed as archetypically present in a heavenly or otherworldly world, so there is also often the idea that scripture existed before its secular writing and was then revealed.
11. Religious communities often distinguish sacred scriptures from other religious scriptures, and they then have a higher value than other religious literature, also in a qualitative sense.
12. There are often particularly respectful rules for dealing with holy scriptures, so that holy scriptures stand out clearly from other subjects of book culture.

Holy scriptures of different religions

• In Judaism the term stands for Tanach and Talmud ,
• in Christianity for the Bible , which is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament ,
• in Islam for the Koran and the Hadith
• in the Bahaitum it is among other things the "holiest book" and the "book of certainty" as well as the writings of previous world religions (see: Progressive Revelation ).

The term "Holy Scripture" there distinguishes the texts that are considered to be God's self-communication or that contain it, from their human, oral and written interpretation.

• The Vedas , the Bhagavadgita, and the Puranas of Hinduism are sacred scriptures , along with other Hindu scriptures.
• The Guru Granth Sahib (also Adi Granth, "original book") is the sacred book of the Sikhs .
• In Theravada - Buddhism is regarded Pali canon as scripture.
• The Mahayana Buddhism here has no central font that is valid for all directions. Sacred scriptures of certain schools are for example: The Heart Sutra , the Lotus Sutra and Sutras of Amitabha Buddhism .
• For Tibetan Buddhism , Kanjur and Tanjur , collections of canonical scriptures, are considered holy scriptures.
• The Bon religion also has Kanjur and Tanjur.
• For Daoism , the Daodejing , Zhuangzi and Daozang are considered holy scriptures.
• For Confucianism , the Five Classics and Four Books are holy scriptures.
• For Shintoism , the Kojiki and the Nihongi are considered holy scriptures.
• For Zoroastrianism / Parsism , the Avesta is considered holy scripture.
• For Mormons , the Book of Mormon , the Bible , Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price are the scriptures in the canon of scriptures .
• For Thelema , the Liber AL vel Legis is holy scripture.
• For the Wicca religion, the self-written, individual Book of Shadows is considered holy scripture.
• For the Pastafari , the gospel of the flying spaghetti monster is holy scripture.

Likewise, in many other religions or religious movements there are scriptures that are considered sacred, e.g. B. with the Jinas and the Druze .

See also

• Bible canon

literature

• Udo Tworuschka (Ed.): Holy Scriptures. An introduction. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2000, ISBN 3-534-13594-6 . Updated new edition: Verlag der Weltreligionen, Frankfurt am Main 2008.
• Marco Frenschkowski : Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 .
• Christoph Bultmann, Claus P. March, Vasilios N. Makrides (Ed.): Holy Scriptures. Aschendorff, Münster 2005, ISBN 978-3-402-03415-6 .
• Günter Lanczkowski : Holy Scriptures. Content, text form and tradition. Urban books 22, Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1956.
• Andreas Mauz: Words of Power. Studies on the poetics of the 'holy text' , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2016 (Hermeneutic Studies on Theology, Vol. 70), ISBN 978-3-16-154193-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Franz König , Hans Waldenfels : Lexicon of Religions: Phenomena, History, Ideas . 3. Edition. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1996, ISBN 3-451-04090-5 , Holy Scriptures, p. 256 f . (Karl Hoheisel).
2. ↑ Klaus Hock: Introduction to Religious Studies. 2nd Edition. Darmstadt 2006, p. 115.
3. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , p. 13ff.
4. ↑ Helmuth von Glasenapp (ed.): Bhagavadgita. The song of the deity . Reclam, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-007874-7 .
5. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , p. 170.
6. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 215f.
7. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 184-191.
8. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 192-199.
9. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 204-207.
10. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 208-210.
11. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 223-227.
12. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 218-221.
13. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 229-231.
14. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 148-161.
15. ↑ Scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
16. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 235-237.
17. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-86539-915-0 , pp. 252f.