Abrahamic religion

Abrahamic religions is a term used in the study of comparative religion to describe those religions deriving from a common ancient Semitic tradition and traced by their adherents to Abraham, a patriarch whose life is narrated in the Hebrew Bible, and who is also important in the New Testament, and the Qur'an. This forms a large group of related, largely monotheistic religions, generally held to include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and comprises about half of the world's religious adherents.

Religious scriptures

All these religions rely on a body of scriptures, some of which are considered to be the word of God — hence sacred and unquestionable — and some which are the work of religious men, revered mainly by tradition and to the extent that they are considered to have been divinely inspired, if not dictated, by the divine being.

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Judaism

The sacred scriptures of Judaism are comprised of the Tanakh, a Hebrew acronym that stands for Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). These are complemented by and supplemented with Midrash and collected rabbinical writings, the Talmud. The Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular, is considered holy, down to the last letter: translations or transcriptions are frowned upon, and transcribing is done with painstaking care. A single letter, ornamentation or symbol of the over 300,000 stylized letters which make up the Hebrew Torah text in error renders a Torah scroll unfit for use, hence a torah scribe is a specialist skill and takes considerable time to write and check.

Related Topics:
Tanakh - Torah - Nevi'im - Ketuvim - Midrash - Talmud

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Christianity

The sacred scriptures of most Christian sects are the Old Testament, which is largely the same as the Hebrew Bible; and the New Testament, comprising four accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus, traditionally attributed to his apostles Matthew and John, and Mark and Luke (the Four Gospels); and several writings by the apostles and early fathers such as Paul. Together these comprise the Christian Bible, which are usually considered to be divinely inspired in some sense. Thus Christians consider the fundamental teachings of the Old Testament, in particular the Ten Commandments, as valid; however they believe that the coming of Jesus as the messiah and savior of mankind as predicted in the Old Testament, and the fact that Jesus was raised Jewish and became a teacher of Judaism, would shed light on the true relationship between God and mankind — by restoring the emphasis of universal love and compassion (as mentioned in the Shema) above the other commandments, by de-emphasising the more "legalistic" and material precepts of rabbinical law (such as the dietary constraints and temple rites). Christians generally believe that the link between Old and New Testaments in the Bible describes the fact that Judaism has been superseded by Christianity as the "new Israel" -- and some hold that Jesus' teachings described Israel not as a geographic place but as an association with God and promise of salvation in heaven.

Related Topics:
Old Testament - New Testament - Apostles - Four Gospels - Paul - Divinely inspired - Ten Commandments - Shema - Legalistic

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The vast majority of Christian religions (generally including Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and most forms of Protestantism, but not Restorationism) derive their beliefs from the conclusions reached by the Council of Nicea in 325, known as the Nicene Creed. This describes the beliefs that God (as a Trinity of distinct persons with one substance) became human on earth, born as Jesus pursuant to the Old Testament scriptures, was crucified by humanity, died and was buried, only to be resurrected on the third day, then to rise and enter the Kingdom of Heaven and "sit at the right hand of" God. Christians generally believe that faith in Jesus is the only way to achieve salvation and to enter into heaven, and that salvation is a gift given by the grace of God.

Related Topics:
Catholicism - Orthodox Christianity - Protestantism - Restorationism - 325 - Nicene Creed - God - Trinity - Jesus - Old Testament - Heaven

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Unlike the Jews, Christians generally do not consider a single version of their Bible as holy to the exclusion of the others, and accept good translations and re-translations as being just as valid, in principle, as the original. They recognize that the Gospels were passed on by oral tradition only to be set to paper decades after the death of Jesus and his apostles, and that the extant versions are only copies of those originals. Indeed, the version of the Bible considered to be most valid (in the sense of best conveying the true meaning of the word of God) has varied considerably: the Greek Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the English King James Version, and the Russian Synodal Bible have been authoritative to different communities at different times. In particular, Christians usually consult the Hebrew version of the Old Testament when preparing new translations, although some believe that the Septuagint should be preferred, as it was the Bible of the early Christian Church, and because they believe its translators probably knew Biblical Hebrew better than any person living today. Not surprisingly, many variant readings of the "Dead Sea Scrolls" are confirmed by the Septuagint -- indicating that significant changes to the Masoretic Hebrew text occurred after the Council of Yavneh (90 AD). In the same sense that the Jewish mystics viewed the Torah as something living and existing prior to any written text, so too do Christians view the Bible and Jesus himself as God's "Word" (or logos in Greek), that transcends written documents.

Related Topics:
Greek - Septuagint - Latin - Vulgate - English - King James Version - Russian - Synodal Bible - Hebrew - Torah - Word - Logos

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The sacred scriptures of the Christian Bible are complemented by a large body of writings by individual Christians and councils of Christian leaders. Some Christian churches and denominations consider certain additional writings to be binding; other Christian groups consider only the Bible to be binding.

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Islam

Islam has only one sacred book, the Qur'an, comprising 114 Chapters (surat). According to the Qur'an itself, these were revealed by the Archangel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad on separate occasions, and preserved as such by his disciples, until they were compiled into a single book (not in chronological order) several decades after his death.

Related Topics:
Islam - Qur'an - Gabriel - Muhammad

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The Qur'an includes several stories from the Jewish Bible (chiefly in Sura 17, "The Children of Israel"), and mentions Jesus many times as a divinely inspired prophet. However the detailed precepts of the Tanakh and of the New Testament are not adopted outright; they are replaced by the new commandments revealed directly by Allah (through Gabriel) to Muhammad and codified in the Qur'an.

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Like the Jews with the Torah, Muslims consider the original Arabic text of the Qur'an as uncorrupted and holy to the last letter, and any translations are considered to be interpretations of the meaning of the Qur'an, as only the original Arabic text is considered to be the divine scripture.

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Like the Rabbinic Oral Law to the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an is complemented by the Hadith, a set of books by later authors that record the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. The Hadith interpret and elaborate Qur'anic precepts. There is no consensus within Islam on the authority of the Hadith collections, but Islamic scholars have categorized each Hadith at one of the following levels of authenticity or isnah: genuine (sahih), fair (hasan), or weak (da'if). Amongst Shia Muslims, no hadith is regarded as Sahih, and hadith in general are only accepted if there is no disagreement with the Qur'an.

Related Topics:
Oral Law - Hadith - Isnah

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By the ninth century, six collections of Hadiths were accepted as reliable to Sunni Muslims. Shia Muslims however, refer to an alternate tradition of authenticated Hadiths.

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The Sunni Collections:

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• al-Bukhari (d. 870)
• Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d. 875)
• Abu Da'ud (d. 888)
• al-Tirmidhi (d. 892)
• al-Nasa'i (d. 915)
• Ibn Maja (d. 886).

The Hadith and the life story of Muhammad (sira) form the Sunnah, a scriptural supplement to the Qur'an. The legal opinions of Islamic jurists (fiqh) provides another source for the daily practice and interpretation of Islamic tradition.

Related Topics:
Sira - Sunnah - Fiqh

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Rastafari movement

Some Rastafari use the King James Version of the Bible as their main scripture, while many others disdain it. A great many nowadays make special efforts to study the Orthodox Amharic version. Rastas often claim that the Bible only has half of God's Word, and that the other half is written in the heart of mankind. The teachings of Marcus Garvey and the Holy Piby are among other important documents, as are the writings and speeches of Emperor Haile Selassie I.

Related Topics:
Rastafari - King James Version of the Bible - Amharic - Marcus Garvey - Holy Piby - Haile Selassie

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Mormonism

The Mormon faith uses the Old and New Testaments (usually the King James Version of the Bible), The Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants

Related Topics:
King James Version of the Bible - The Book of Mormon - Pearl of Great Price - Doctrine and Covenants

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