Sacred texts are more than a haphazard collection of very old, historically interesting manuscripts.
All religions have certain texts which they see as being sacred or having a special significance. “Sacred texts are usually considered by religious groups to be divinely inspiring which helps identify them as being sacred” [Ryan M and Goldburg P, 2001, ‘Recognising Religion’ Social Science Press, Katoomba NSW, Page 236]. Christians believe the Bible to be a sacred text and Muslims believe the Qur’an to be a sacred text. The beliefs of Muslims and Christians of the word sacred will be discussed in this paper.
There are three ways that something may become sacred. “Firstly, it may manifest itself so that the believer responds, secondly, a person who is invested with authority may impart sacred. Finally, the sacred can be derived from association with something already known to be sacred” [Ryan M and Goldburg P, 2001, ‘Recognising Religion’ Social Science Press, Katoomba NSW, Page 235]. Texts become Sacred when they are believed to bring insight, guidance, and express a relationship between followers and their God/s. The texts are usually considered by religious groups to be divinely inspiring which helps show them as being sacred; from this the text has to be considered as sacred by a community of followers and believers who accept that is it sacred. All sacred texts are used in many different ways; some of them are read aloud, others for guidance, while there are others that use them for reflection or meditation. However, whatever their uses sacred texts are considered foundational to the religious group’s beliefs, ethnical practices and rituals. The Christian views on sacred and sacred texts follow this.
Christian religions have many sacred texts, but the one text that has the highest authority and outweighs all other texts is the Bible which is in a list of books seen by the church as being Sacred and which is called the Canon. The Bible consists of two...