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II. World Religions Overview

Every belief system focuses on an authority with exclusive truth claims. For most major world religions, sects, and cults this authority comes in the form of a book. Some also include a leader or a leadership body to rule alongside or in addition to the established writings. Other belief systems, like atheists or agnostics, may have a broader collection of writings that ultimately revolve around one authority: the self.

While sects and cults may simultaneously claim allegiance to a major religious book (like the Qur’an or Bible), additional writings or people often authoritatively shape their beliefs and direct their allegiance. While many belief systems also have secondary texts and commentaries that are important to their belief systems, here are the primary texts and influences of the major world religions, sects, and cults.

• Judaism – Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)

• Biblical Christianity - Bible (Old & New Testament)

• Note: The Jewish Tanakh is essentially identical to the Christian Old Testament, except in the ordering of the books.

• Islam - Qur’an (Koran; Muhammad)

• Hinduism (Vedas & Upanishads)

• Buddhism (Writings of Buddha)

• Mormonism (KJV Bible + Book of Mormon + Pearl of Great Price + Doctrines & Covenants; Joseph Smith)

• Jehovah’s Witnesses (New World Translation of the Bible + Watchtower Magazine + The Governing Body; Charles Taze Russell)

• Roman Catholicism (Catholic Bible + Catechism of the Catholic Church + Pope/Magisterium)

• Orthodox Christianity (Orthodox Bible + 7 Ecumenical Councils + Synods & Bishops)

• Sufism (The Adi Granth + Silsila (spiritual lineage of teachers traced to Muhammad))

• Unitarian Universalism (Seven Principals + Six Sources of a Living Tradition)

• Nation of Islam (influenced by both Christianity and Islam; Wallace Fard Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan)

• Baha’i (The Universal House of Justice + the writings of Baháʼu'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi)

• Scientology (writings of L. Ron Hubbard)

Important questions to consider:

Ø How does this above graphic and information help you to better understand the variety of world religions, sects, and cults? Where would you place yourself on this chart?

Ø Why should or shouldn’t we study the “holy books” of other faiths?

Ø What hesitancies do you have with studying the books of other faiths?

Ø What challenges do we face with studying the books of other faiths?