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Holy books

Aristides

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Howdy folks. I'm looking to stock up on (and read) the basic holy books of several different faiths. I want to have the Bible in both an original form and the King James version, a Koran (I have no idea what sorts might be out there), and whatever books the Mormon church uses. Any suggestions on what versions are out there?
 
Well, for a complete Christian Bible, it would be very hard to find anything older than the 1611 King James Bible. However, there are some recreations of missing chapters that were taken out of the Bible around 300 A.D. Try looking for the Gospel of Thomas and of Mary. You can also find the Jewish Torah.

Those three religions (CHristianity, Islam, and Judaism) are the primary that use a book for their standard. Other religions have writings, however not in a set format.
 
Aristides said:
Howdy folks. I'm looking to stock up on (and read) the basic holy books of several different faiths. I want to have the Bible in both an original form and the King James version, a Koran (I have no idea what sorts might be out there), and whatever books the Mormon church uses. Any suggestions on what versions are out there?
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I got a study version of the KJB. I found it on a park bench. It has someone else's name embossed on the cover and was apparently presented to him as a gift from someone named Lynelle.

When I was on the highschool basketball team, many, many, many years ago, I took one from a hotel room on a bet with the lovely cheerleader, from a rival school, who spent the night with me. I told her they wanted you to take them, she insisted they would charge me if I took it.

I got a copy of the koran as a gimme when I bought a bunch of books at a used book store. It was just after 9/11 and I guess the koran wasn't a big seller at the time.

I have several books by the Jehovah's Witnesses because. . . . . well, because she wouldn't sleep with my unless I agreed to read them. I have come to realize that crazy religious chicks are great in bed.

I have a NIV version of the bible but I can't remember where it came from.

I have other copies of various religious texts as well, all of which I got for free. I get into debates with people who run down atheism and they think I will convert if only I would read their version of reality. I have a whole bunch of bibles, although I have only read the KJV once and just skimmed the rest, but I haven't been converted.

My point is, don't buy these books. Creatively aquire them. Churches, temples, synagogues, people on the street, hotels, etc. will give them to you. It is more entertainment than you will get from the writing between the covers!
 
You can obtain an "official" Koran from the Saudi embassy, for free. It has both Arabic and English texts, as well as English footnotes. It can be a little difficult to get used to, though, since the pages turn from left to right.
 
A Hindu friend of mine said that occassionally passages from the Bhagavad Gita are read aloud during their worship service; it's not a complete analogue to the Christian Bible, but it's still a holy book of a major religion.

While I was searching for the proper spelling of Bhagavad Gita, I stumbled across this list, which has some of the information for which you've asked.
 
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Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have said "basic." I want the basic texts, yes, but I'm hoping for some scholarly versions with decent analysis or at least notes that explain where there might be problems with the sources.

And Bikewer, Greek would be fine, but I think I have to pass on the Necronomicon.
 
Beady said:
You can obtain an "official" Koran from the Saudi embassy, for free. It has both Arabic and English texts, as well as English footnotes. It can be a little difficult to get used to, though, since the pages turn from left to right.
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I'm a southpaw, so in my opinion, this is how books should be!:D

On a serious note, I've got a few old bibles, but I'd love to get my hands on (even a reprint!) of an old Gutenberg bible!
 
Beady said:
You can obtain an "official" Koran from the Saudi embassy, for free. It has both Arabic and English texts, as well as English footnotes. It can be a little difficult to get used to, though, since the pages turn from left to right.
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You don't happen to have a link to a place on their site where you can get this would you? I looked but couldn't find anything about it, and the actual saudi embassy is a bit far for me to travel living in Michigan and all.
 
mrfreeze said:
You don't happen to have a link to a place on their site where you can get this would you? I looked but couldn't find anything about it, and the actual saudi embassy is a bit far for me to travel living in Michigan and all.
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You could call them on the phone. How I know about this is I got a copy from a Muslim who regularly gets a supply of Korans from the embassy, to hand out to potential converts.

Where in Michigan? There's a major Muslim community in the Detroit area, and a huge mosque south of Toledo.

Also, you can buy a paperback copy at any major bookstore. What you're liable to find there, through, is a translation by an Iraqi Christian (I forget his name) which, although it is easier to read, is considered "uncanonical" by most Muslims.
 
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Actually I'm about 10 minutes from Dearborn, so I could go to a mosque and ask. I'm just lazy and don't feel like expending the effort of doing so on something that would probably sit on a shelf for months before I got around to it. Although I can always just leech off of the library now that I think about it.
 
The Tao te Ching, although Taoism doesn't really have a "holy book", it's the one that supposedly started it all. The Bhagavad Gita has already been mentioned for Hinduism, I'd add the Upanishads as well.

And if you want to veer out of "holy books" and into books written by the religious about their religion, I'd suggest Sankaracharya, Chuang-tzu, and Thomas Merton. "The Cloud of Unknowing" is a classic, although in a spasm of irony, it seems increasingly unknown. I once found an entertaining ten volume set of "The Writings of the Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church" in my college library. The bits I read were pretty interesting, if only because according to the library records I was the first person to read them since 1902.

Your best bet for finding all the world's holy books together is a good-sized college's library. I think most college libraries are open to the public, although there might be restrictions on what you can check out.
 
I'm at the University of Florida, so having a library at hand isn't a problem. However, I really did want personal copies, since I will not be able to resist inserting notes for my own benefit as I read. This fellow, Stephen Mitchell, recently released a new version of the Epic of Gilgamesh to some fanfare. He seems to have done a few of the things on my list, too. Anyone know how he stacks up as an editor/translator compared to the other things out there?
 
I have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita I got at Warped Tour from a guy with dreadlocks. He got $10. I honestly didn't mean to give him money, but he was clearly very good at handing books to unsuspecting people and then being annoying until they handed him money. I've never even read the thing.
 
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