Writing your own scriptures

[EverChanging]

Have you ever written your own scriptures or gospel and how did you go about it?

 

[picnic]

I would like to found my own religion so that people will give me their money.

If I write a religious text, I think it will be a picture book full of cat memes.

 

[Laika]

(admittedly not my DIR, but...)

I'd reccommend using poetry and vivid imagary. I love the idea of writing your own scriptures. I guess you'd have to balance the "artistic" side of it as just being something very pleasant to read, whilst also having some sort of plan as to what it will say. So I'd guess you'd have to come up with a set of beliefs and then find a really pleasant way to write them.

You could always try it out, and copy and paste it in a thread under the "literature" subforum and see what everyone thinks on RF. I'm not sure how people would react as it is ambitious, but certainly some thoughtful input wouldn't hurt.

best of luck.

 

[picnic]

Sorry, I didn't notice this was a DIR.

 

[EverChanging]

I would like to found my own religion so that people will give me their money.

If I write a religious text, I think it will be a picture book full of cat memes.

LOL!

 

[EverChanging]

(admittedly not my DIR, but...)

I'd reccommend using poetry and vivid imagary. I love the idea of writing your own scriptures. I guess you'd have to balance the "artistic" side of it as just being something very pleasant to read, whilst also having some sort of plan as to what it will say. So I'd guess you'd have to come up with a set of beliefs and then find a really pleasant way to write them.

You could always try it out, and copy and paste it in a thread under the "literature" subforum and see what everyone thinks on RF. I'm not sure how people would react as it is ambitious, but certainly some thoughtful input wouldn't hurt.

best of luck.

Thank you. I'm not sure what to do yet. I have my own rites -- they are basically Eucharists/Communion rites albeit not orthodox -- and I have been working on creating a system of collects and lectionary readings for the church year based on my Episcopalian practice. To some extent I've consulted the Ecclesia Gnostica Lectionary which has some beautiful readings, but I don't always relate to the theology therein, nor am I familiar with those texts as I am with the Bible. I do love the Bible, but there are a lot of issues for me with it, especially the traditional lectionary I'm working with. I guess it's that I relate to Jesus in a very mythic way. I'm not interested in his historicity, and I struggle with a lot of the doctrines and even the tone of the Bible readings in the traditional lectionary, particularly the Epistles and some other parts of the New Testament which is what the traditional Anglican lectionary cycle follows. It's very different from the tone of my rites which is more concerned with the mythic and uniting the particular self with the universal Christ-God, not particulars of history or the doctrines and social mores promoted by the New Testament. (I'm particularly troubled by some of the texts on Jewish people and religion in the New Testament some of which may be anti-semetic, not to mention the teachings on women and slaves!) I know that some ancient Gnostics did write their own scriptures, and they often re-envisioned Jesus within new contexts.

Since I'm working with lectionary readings those provide an organization -- the texts correspond with the theme of the season. So we're about to be in Advent and that theme is the coming of Christ. Then for the twelve days of Christmas the scriptures relate to Christ's birth. Then we move into Epiphany where the theme is light, the Lenten season where it's penitential and about suffering, and so on, and in the longest season -- Trinity Sunday and the Sundays following -- we move through themes of purgation, illumination, and union. (Older lectionaries preserve this theme in Christianity -- I'm not sure the modern ones do as well, though.)

So basically I'm thinking of following that system and simply writing the texts as I need them. Say, ten or so verses for the first Sunday of Advent that go along with the collect (theme of that Sunday), then another ten verses for the next Sunday with its theme, and so on throughout the year. That gives me some kind of organization. I could consult the traditional Anglican lectionaries for ideas and I'm thinking the gnostic lectionary I mentioned before would also be really good as some of those texts are very vivid with imagery and mysticism.

Perhaps some people here can suggest some good Gnostic texts to consult for a project like this such as wisdom literature or anything with vivid mythic imagery.

 

[Araceli Cianna]

This is a great idea, thanks!