Sacred Texts [An Adventure In]

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I'm on a quest. Having read the Old Testament end-to-end for the first time (with generous elision around the begetting up front), I'm about to embark on a New Testament trek. And after that probably I'll read the Bhagavad Gita. Or maybe some Gnostic texts? Or maybe not. Should I read the Shruti? What about the Koran? I'd like to read at least a text from each of the major faith traditions. And maybe a Sufi thingy-doo-hickey. I'm partial to mysticism.

That said: I'm not feeling particularly masochistic and I don't really give a hoot about scriptural authenticity if 'authenticity' is taken to mean the same thang as 'arcane, esoteric, phraseology.' I'm going for gist, narrative comprehensibility, and ease of reading. So modern translations, annotations, etc., are highly desirable.

― remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

1) Ye Olde Testament.
2) New Testament (Started with New King James v, switched early-on to Today's New International Version, but Good News is looking interesting as well...)
3) - ∞ ?

― remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

I have no advice, but do report back on your findings.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

Read the gnostic Gospel of Thomas.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

Religious texts are a fairly personal taste, I think. Nevertheless, allow me to recommend The Cloud of Unknowing, an anonymous medieval text available in Penguin.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 00:05 (nineteen years ago)

don't forget the taoist texts.

i think the i ching in particular is very interesting but you may not find it too amenable to casual reading.

and along the lines aimless suggests: consider reading some other western, christian texts from the time between the early canonization of the bible and the present day, like loyola or thomas a kempis or things from the protestant era. and... master eckhart, though apparently there's something more boring to read and something less boring, and i forgot which is which right now. none of these are sacred, but they may be informative, at the very least.

there are some other jewish sacred texts you can read, but you might have more fun reading martin buber's collections of hasidic tales.

yes, you should read the shruti.

some other things you could read that haven't been mentioned: the zend avesta, the mumonkon and the blue cliff record (if that's what it's called, i forget - it's often paired with the mumonkon), and you could just, you know, look here.

― Josh (Josh), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 03:51 (nineteen years ago)

Dianetics, Book of Mormon, Koran might key you in on what zealouts whose views affect you are thinking these days

― orange claw hammer, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 04:36 (nineteen years ago)

Don't forget Scientology: Fundamentals of Thought

― salty_dog, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

don't forget the taoist texts

My favorite of these is the Chuang Tzu (I suggest the Burton Watson translation).

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

Josh, what a great site! Thanks!

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

top twenty xian mystics:

1 thomas (gospel of..)
2 margery of kemp (the book of...)
3 hildegarde von bingen (Symphonia, Scivas, Life of, Herbal volumes)
4 catherine of sienna (letters, prayers, dialouge)
5 meister eckhart (for Whom God Hid Nothing)
6 henirich suso (the little book of wisdom, the little book of truth)
7 johnathon edwards (the sermons)
8 emily dickinson (collected poems)
9 soren kirkegaard (fear and trembling)
10 emannual swedenborg (divine love, divine wisdom, divine providence)
11 george fox (the journal)
12 george herbert (poems)
13 benedict (rule of work)
14 simone weil (waiting for god)
15 Gustavo Gutiérrez (A Theology of Liberation, We Drink from Our Own Wells)
16 Schilleebecx (eucharist, Jesus: An expriment in Christology)
17 william blake (songs of innocence, songs of experience, jersuleum(sp)
18 bohme (way to christ)
19 william james (on the varieties of religious exp.)
20) worku sharew

― anthony easton (anthony), Sunday, 2 April 2006 21:48 (nineteen years ago)

No Dante?

I'm not sure those are the same as sacred texts, but it's an interesting list anyway.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 2 April 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

I'd argue definitely 'yes' for 1, 5, and 11?

― remy (x Jeremy), Sunday, 2 April 2006 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

im not sure dante was a mystic

― anthony easton (anthony), Monday, 3 April 2006 02:47 (nineteen years ago)

Because he admits that he can't describe or understand the nature of God, even though he experiences him "face-to-face"?

I don't know, I'm not entirely clear how exactly you're using the term "mystic" here.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 3 April 2006 04:32 (nineteen years ago)

[at least it's a different spam]

― spam spam, Sunday, 16 April 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

[spam. reg only.]

― unholy spam, Sunday, 30 April 2006 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

Revive! If Remy is around to provide updates, that is.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 07:14 (nineteen years ago)

i am reading the 1670s book of common prayer right now, and i am moved at how violent it is, how desperate it is towards the will of god, its intensity is something that seems almost odd in a lirtugical context

― anthony easton (anthony), Friday, 14 July 2006 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

But not so odd considering the history of religious warfare in England in the preceding hundred years?

― More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Saturday, 15 July 2006 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

oh, of course, it entirely works with that context, i mean odd in terms of my everyday practice (and the book of alt services too)

― anthony easton (anthony), Sunday, 16 July 2006 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

Oh I wasn't being snarky, it was just an observation. I feel like even the Preface to the King James Bible is crackling with this point-scoring and militant bloody-mindedness.

― More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Sunday, 16 July 2006 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

i totally didnt think of it, it was stupid of me

― anthony easton (anthony), Monday, 17 July 2006 02:57 (nineteen years ago)

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