The
scriptures of a
religion are those texts which it considers inspired, sacred, or fundamental. Different religions differ widely in the degree to which they revere various scriptures, from the
Qur'an believed in
Islam to have been actually dictated to
Muhammad by Allah, to the hundreds of texts read by
Buddhists, whose authenticity is not thought to be of as much interest as their usefulness.
Arguments about the authenticity of various scriptures and about details of interpretation are often a pretext for schism.
Terms for scriptures of various religions
(This is an informal list, so there may be some overlap of terms here):
Bahá'í Faith
- Kitab-i-Aqdas
Buddhism
- Tripitaka
Christianity
- Bible/Biblical canon
- Old Testament
- New Testament
- texts used by some Christian groups but not others -
- Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha
- The Book of Mormon -- (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/Mormons)
- The Doctrine and Covenants -- (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/Mormons)
- The Pearl of Great Price -- (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/Mormons)
Daoism/Taoism
- Tao Teh Ching
- DaoZheng
Hinduism
- Vedas
- Upanishads
- Bhagavad Gita
Islam
- Qur'an
- Hadith
Jainism
Judaism
- Tanach/Jewish Scriptures
- Torah (First five books of the Tanach)
- Talmud
- Mishnah
Sikhism
- Guru Granth Sahib[?]
See also Gnosticism, Ecumenical council