Holy book

A dime a dozen Scriptures

Divine scribblings

Book of Mormon Talmud Q gospel Septuagint Essene Gospel of Peace Torah Qur'an New Testament Kutub al-Sittah Doctrine and Covenants Pearl of Great Price Bible v - t - e

“”SCRIPTURES, noun; The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.

—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

“”What I’m saying is, if God wanted to send us a message, and ancient writings were the only way he could think of doing it, he could have done a better job.

—Carl Sagan, Contact

“”Why should one think that God performed the miracle of inspiring the words of the Bible, if he didn't perform the miracle of preserving the words of the Bible?

—Bart Ehrman

A holy book is a text sacred to a particular religion. Not to be confused with a holey book, a book that has been eaten by worms, though there is some overlap between the two categories.

Notable holy books

In order of approximate publication dates:

• The Vedas (~1500 BCE)
• The Upanishads (primary texts written during 8^th-6^th Century BCE, but several minor texts produced as late as the 1500s.)
• The Avesta (Zoroastrianism)
• The Torah (compiled between 600-400 BCE from scrolls dating back to 1200 BCE) Or maybe a much later date…
• The Tao Te Ching (6^th century BCE)
• The Mozi (Mohism, c. 5^th century BC)
• The Bible (compiled from books written between 1200 BCE and 150-200 CE) (Incorporates the Torah, q.v. above.)
• The Qur'an (roughly 650 CE)
• Bardo Thodol/Tibetan Book of the Dead (14^th century/1927)
• The Guru Granth Sahib of Sikhism
• Calculus textbooks (17^th century)
• The Book of Mormon (19^th century)
• The Aqdas (19^th century)
• The Canonical Codes (Cao Dai, 1920s)
• Dianetics (20^th century)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (20^th century)
• The Principia Discordia (20^th century)
• The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (21^st Century)

See also

• Holy
• The Sacred and the Profane