sacred writings

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Scriptures

Nouns

1.

a. scripture, the Scriptures, the Bible, the Book, the Good Book, Holy Writ, Holy Scriptures; Gospel; revelation, inspiration; text; King James Bible, Douay Bible, Vulgate; Talmud, Oral Law, Midrash, Mishnah, Masorah, Torah, megillah, mezuzah; Haggadah, Halakah; exegesis (see interpretation); Authorized or King James Version, [Revised or American] Standard Version; Breeches, Geneva, Treacle, Printers', Gutenberg, or Wicked Bible; Book of Common Prayer, missal; Dead Sea Scrolls; pseudoepigrapha.

b. Old Testament, Septuagint, Pentateuch, Zohar; Octateuch; the Law, Jewish Law, the Prophets; major or minor Prophets; Hagiographa, Ketuvim, the Writings, Hagiology; Hierographa, Apocrypha.

c. New Testament; [Synoptic] Gospels, Evangelists, Acts, Epistles, Apocalypse, Revelation.

d. (Muhammedism) Koran, Alcoran, Qur'an.

e. (Hinduism) Veda: AtharvaVeda, Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, YajurVeda; Upanishad, Bhagavad-Gita, Mahabharata, Brahmana, Kama Sutra, Ramayana, Tantra.

f. (Buddhism) Pali Canon, Tripitaka: Abhidhamma Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka; Dhammapada, Jataka.

g. (Sikhism) Adigranth, Granth.

h. (Confucianism) Analects; Five Classics: I Ching, Book of Rites, Book of History, Book of Songs, Spring and Autumn Annals.

i. (Other) Angas; Book of the Dead; Zend-Avesta; Book of Mormon; the Eddas.

2. prophet (see prediction); evangelist, apostle, disciple, saint; the Apostolic Fathers; Holy Man; Gautama Buddha, Zoroaster, Lao-tse, Mohammed, Confucius, Joseph Smith.

Adjectives — scriptural, biblical, sacred, prophetic; evangelical, evangelistic, apostolic, inspired, apocalyptic, ecclesiastical, canonical, textuary; exegetic, Masoretic, Talmudic; apocryphal.

Quotations — The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose (Shakespeare), What I know of the divine science and Holy Scripture I learnt in woods and fields (St. Bernard), An apology for the Devil: It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all the books (Samuel Butler), I know of no book which has been a source of brutality and sadistic conduct, both public and private, that can compare with the Bible (Reginald Paget), We have used the Bible as if it was a constable's handbook — an opium-dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they are being overloaded (Charles Kingsley).

Antonyms, see impiety.