Chapter Five

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Chapter Five

• World Scriptures

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And this Koran is not such as could be forged by
those besides Allah, but it is a verification of
that which is before it and a clear explanation
of the book, there is no doubt in it, from the
Lord of the worlds. Or do they say He
Muhammad has forged it? Say Then bring a
chapter like this and invite whom you can besides
Allah, if you are truthful. --Islam Holy Koran,
1037-38
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With honest wrath Martin Luther untwisted and
pulled together where the ancient spider Roman
Catholicism had spun longest and most carefully.
He handed the holy books over to everyman--so
that at last they got into the hands of the
philologists, that is to say, the destroyers of
every belief which rests on books. --Friedrich
Nietzsche The Gay Science, 358
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First of all you must understand this, that no
prophecy of scripture is a matter of ones own
interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by
human will, but men and women moved by the Holy
Spirit spoke from God. --Christianity Holy
Bible, 2 Peter 120-21
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A special transmission of Truth outside the
scriptures, not founded upon words or letters. by
pointing directly to ones mind, it lets one
see into ones own true nature and thus attain
Buddhahood. --Buddhism Bodhidharmas Poem
(Dumoulin 85)
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Confucius said, I transmit but I do not create.
I believe in and love the ancients. . . . I was
not one who was born with knowledge I love
ancient teaching and earnestly seek
it. --Confucianism Analects 71, 19
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Moses received the Torah from Sinai and committed
it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders and the
elders to the prophets and the prophets
committed it to the men of the Great
Congregation. These said three things Be
deliberate in judgment Raise up many
disciples and Make a hedge for the
Torah. --Judaism Mishnah, Aboth Aboth 1.1
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In the first quotation (from the Koran), it is
evident that Muslims believe the Holy Koran to be
an absolutely unique book. Think of other books
you know. Are scriptures in general, or maybe
the Holy Koran in particular, really so unique?
What makes a book scripture in the first place?
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Confucius is well-known for writing many of the
central books that are classics of Confucianism
in particular, and of Chinese culture in general.
But he claims no special knowledge rather he is
only saying again what ancient sages have
discovered. Can such books be scripture? How
might they be like, but different from, a book
like the Holy Koran (or the Holy Bible), which is
said to be revealed to human beings by God?
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In the pictures on the Web site, William Farel
holds the Holy Bible aloft as a sign of its final
authority and importance. The famous Buddhist
monk, Hui-neng, is seen tearing up the scriptures
to indicate that real spiritual insight does not
come in written words. How seriously do you
think one should take written scriptures in
thinking through ones own religion?
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Jewish rabbis quote the Mishnah text to point out
that the written text of the Torah, the books of
Moses, is only part of the message of God and
that any good teacher needs to deliberate and
evaluate the scriptural text to construct a
hedge of interpretation. Do you think truly
divine scriptures needs a hedge of
interpretation, or do they interpret themselves?
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In the picture of St. Matthew writing his Gospel,
it is suggested that he is inspired by God.
The quote from the New Testament, too, declares
that writers were moved by God to write their
scriptures. Ironically, in the picture of
Ganesh, he is a god who does the writing as
recited by a human. The Holy Koran is said to be
Gods own words in Arabic, and Muhammad was only
memorizing what he was told. How is
inspiration like dictation? Does that
distinction make you trust or mistrust the words
of some scripture more or less?
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With great disdain for religion, Friedrich
Nietzsche notes that religions based on scripture
have a big problem. Once, the Pope could tell us
what to believe, but then others read the
scriptures and told us what they think it means,
until finally scholars and skeptics took up the
book. Whom should we trust to say what the
scriptures mean? Popes, priests, scholars,
average people? Is reading scripture as
democratic as reading any other book?
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Having been betrayed by treaties many times,
Osceola, in the picture on the Web site, is
showing disdain for the written word. In the
Bodhidharma poem, too, writing is not taken as
being necessary or even useful for religious
enlightenment. Is a written promise better than
a spoken one? Is a written religious revelation
better than storytelling or direct one-to-one
teaching? Why?
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Jesus loves me this I know, For the Bible tells
me so.
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Jesus loves me this I know, For the Bible tells
me so.
Walter Ong Writing tends to divide the tribe,
while oral storytelling keeps it united.
WHY?
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Scripture . . .

• implies a status for the writer or revealer that
  is beyond the ordinary.
• may be revealed as dictation of Gods own words
  (e.g., the Holy Koran).
• may be the insightful, enlightened wisdom of a
  sage (e.g., Buddhist scriptures).
• may be inspired by God, though perhaps not
  dictated (e.g., the Holy Bible).
• or . . .?

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Authority and Canon

• Canon an officially accepted body of
  literature, especially a collection of writings
  taken together as scripture.
• Canonization can be a long process of
  determining which writings are scripture and
  which are not.
• Compare Christian and Buddhist canons (and Jewish
  Talmud).
• Not a problem for some religions (e.g., Islam)

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There is no non-situational basis for any
interpretation. -- Grant and Tracy.
one valid meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . every meaning valid
Rather than claiming an ability to get a pure
understanding of scripture, it is perhaps wiser
to be conscious and forthright about the tools we
use in the process of interpretation. (Richter
et al, 124)
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Classical Hermeneutics

• Literal Meaning
• Mystical Meaning
• typological
• anagogical
• tropological

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Classical Hermeneutics

• Literal Meaning
• Mystical Meaning
• typological
• anagogical
• tropological
• Theological Meaning

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Modern Hermeneutics

• Critical Methods
• textual criticism
• source criticism
• traditio-historical criticism
• form criticism
• redaction criticism
• composition criticism
• canonical criticism
• Critical Challenges to Traditional Faith
• Audience and Reader-Response Criticism Gadamer
  No interpretation without prejudgments.

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Exercises
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Why was the Gospel of Thomas not included in the
canon?
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Koran 26.190-197 "The Poets" Most surely there
is a sign in this, but most of them do not
believe. ? And most surely your Lord is Mighty,
the Merciful. ?? And most surely this is a
revelation from the Lord of the worlds. The
Faithful Spirit has descended with it, ?? Upon
your heart that you may be of the warners ?? In
plain Arabic language.?? And most surely the same
is in the scriptures of the ancients. ?? Is it
not a sign to them that the learned men of the
Israelites know it??? Koran 27.75-81 "The
Ant"? And there is nothing concealed in the
heaven and the earth but it is in a clear book.
?? Surely this Quran declares to the children of
Israel most of what they differ in. And most
surely it is a guidance and a mercy for the
believers. ?? Surely your Lord will judge between
them by his judgment, and He is the Mighty, the
knowing. ? Therefore rely on Allah surely you
are on the clear truth. ? Surely you do not make
the dead to hear, and you do not make the deaf to
hear the call when they go back retreating.
?? Nor can you be a guide to the blind out of
their error you cannot make to bear (any one)
except those who believe in Our communications,
so they submit.
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Platform Sutra 42 38. The Master went to Mount
Tsao-chi and over forty years converted the
people in Shao-chou and Kuang-chou. If one were
to talk about the number of his disciples, to say
several thousand people, both monks and laymen,
would not do it justice. If one were to talk
about the pivot of his teaching. It lies in the
transmission of the Platform Sutra, and this
serves as the authority. Unless a person has
received the Platform Sutra, he has not received
the sanction. The place, date, and the name of
the recipient must be made known, and these are
attached to it when it is transmitted. Someone
who does not have the Platform Sutra and the
sanction is not a disciple of the Southern
School. Someone who has not yet obtained
sanction, even though he preaches the doctrine of
sudden enlightenment, does not know the basic
teachings, and in the end will not be able to
avoid disputes. Those who have Dharma should
practice it wholeheartedly, for disputations show
a contentious mind and are a betrayal of the Way.
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Double page from a manuscript of the Koran.
Spain, thirteenth century Ink, colors and gold on
parchment. 10 13/16 x 17 5/8 in. (27.46 x 44.76
cm). Museum Associates dba the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art. 2004.
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Chanting Scripture