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Many religions and spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or series of spoken legends not traditionally written down) to be sacred. Often believing that their
sacred texts (or scriptures) are wholly divine or partially inspired in origin, the faithful use titles like Word of God to denote the holy writings. Even
non-believers often capitalise the names of sacred scriptures as a mark of respect or of tradition.
Although ancient civilizations have produced handmade texts for many millennia, the first printed scripture for wide
distribution for the masses was The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist scripture,
printed in 868 AD.
Sacred texts for various religions and religious sects:
- Bahá'í Faith: The Kitab-i-Iqan, plus many other writings including ones from other faiths
- Buddhism: The Tipitaka and other
Buddhist texts
- Christianity: The Christian Bible
- Church of Christ, Scientist: The
Christian Bible, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
- Confucianism: The Analects of Confucius
- Finnish mythology: Kalevala
- Hawaiian mythology: Kumulipo
- Hinduism: Shruti and
Smriti
- Islam: The Koran
- Judaism: The Jewish Bible (Tanakh =
Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim), the Talmud
- Mandaeanism: The Ginza
Rba
- Mormonism: The Christian Bible,
Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine
and Covenants
- Maori mythology: The Wharewananga
- Neopaganism: The Charge of the Goddess
- Norse mythology: The Eddas
- Old Slavic religion: possibly The Book of Veles
- Rastafarianism - Holy
Piby translation of the Christian Bible, Kebra Negast
- Scientology - various writings of L. Ron Hubbard
- Sikhism: The Guru
Granth Sahib and The Dasam Granth Sahib
- Taoism: The Tao-te-ching
- Thelema: The Holy Books of Thelema especially Liber Al vel Legis
- Welsh mythology: The
Mabinogion
- Yoruba mythology: The itan
- Zoroastrianism: The Zend-Avesta
- Various New Age religions may regard any of the several texts as sacred:
Attitudes to sacred texts differ. Some religions make written texts widely freely available, while others hold that sacred
secrets must remain hidden from all but the loyal and the initiate. Most religions promulgate policies defining the limits of the
sacred texts and controlling or forbidding changes and additions. Translations of texts may receive official blessing, but an original sacred language often has de
facto, absolute or exclusive paramouncy. Some religions make texts available gratis or in subsidised form; others
require payment and the strict observance of copyright.
References to scriptures profit from standardisation: the Guru Granth Sahib always appears with standardised page numbering,
the Abrahamic religions and their offshoots appear to favour
chapter and verse pointers.
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