A comprehensive reference catalog of canonical and authoritative scriptures across the world’s religions. Each entry gives the text’s traditional ascription, composition or compilation date, canonical recension where contested, principal editions and translations, and a brief note on its function. Titles in italics; BCE / CE dating; “trad.” for traditional/legendary attributions.
c.50 – 65 CE (authentic); c.80 – 120 CE (disputed)
Hebrews
Hebrews
c.65 – 95 CE
Catholic Epistles
James, 1+2 Peter, 1+2+3 John, Jude
c.65 – 110 CE
Apocalypse
Revelation / Apocalypse of John
c.95 CE
Canon formation: Marcion’s canon c.140; Muratorian Fragment c.200; Athanasius’s Festal Letter 39 (367 CE) gives the modern 27; Council of Carthage 397.
Major Translations and Editions
Edition
Date
Note
Septuagint (LXX)
3rd – 2nd c BCE
Greek OT translation for diaspora Jews; basis of Eastern Christian OT
Peshitta
2nd – 5th c
Syriac Bible
Vulgate
382 – 405
Jerome’s Latin translation; canonical for Catholics until 20th c
Authorized Version / King James Bible
1611
Anglican standard; major literary influence
Douay-Rheims
1582 (NT), 1609 (OT)
Catholic English
Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece
1898–present (28th ed. 2012)
Critical Greek NT
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
1968–77
Critical Hebrew OT
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
1 Enoch, Jubilees, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, Psalms of Solomon, Sibylline Oracles.
Nag Hammadi Library (Coptic Gnostic, discovered 1945)
Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Truth, Apocryphon of John, Gospel of Mary, Pistis Sophia.
Patristic and Scholastic Theological Works
Work
Author
Date
Confessions
Augustine
397 – 400
City of God (De Civitate Dei)
Augustine
413 – 426
De Trinitate
Augustine
400 – 416
Summa Theologica
Thomas Aquinas
1265 – 1274 (unfinished)
Summa Contra Gentiles
Thomas Aquinas
1259 – 1265
Institutes of the Christian Religion
John Calvin
1536 (1559 final ed.)
Catechism of the Catholic Church
promulgated by John Paul II
1992 (rev. 1997)
Latter-day Saint (Mormon) Scriptures
Work
Date
Note
Book of Mormon
1830
Joseph Smith; “another testament of Jesus Christ”
Doctrine and Covenants
1835 (additions through 1981)
Joseph Smith and successors
Pearl of Great Price
1851
Includes Book of Moses, Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith — History
Christian Science
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (Mary Baker Eddy, 1875; final ed. 1910)
III. Islam
Qur’an
114 surahs, c.6,236 ayahs depending on count system (Kufan, Basran, Damascene, Medinan, Meccan numerations differ)
Revealed c.610 – 632 CE, Mecca and Medina
Canonical recension: Uthmanic Codex compiled c.650 CE under Caliph Uthman; standardized by Abd al-Malik c.700
Readings (Qira’at): Ten canonical qira’at; most common today: Hafs ʿan ʿAsim (Sunni majority worldwide), Warsh ʿan Nafiʿ (North/West Africa), Qalun ʿan Nafiʿ (Libya, parts of Tunisia)
Order: Traditional Uthmanic = roughly by length (longest first, after al-Fātiḥah); chronological reconstructions distinguish Meccan and Medinan surahs
Hadith — Sunni Six Books (al-Kutub al-Sittah)
Collection
Compiler
Date
Authenticity Rating
Sahih al-Bukhari
Muhammad al-Bukhari (810 – 870)
846
Most authoritative
Sahih Muslim
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (815 – 875)
850s
Second most authoritative
Sunan Abu Dawud
Abu Dawud al-Sijistani (817 – 889)
870s
Jami at-Tirmidhi
Muhammad al-Tirmidhi (824 – 892)
880s
Sunan an-Nasa’i
Ahmad al-Nasa’i (829 – 915)
900s
Sunan ibn Majah
Ibn Majah (824 – 887)
c.870
Earlier influential collection: Muwatta’ of Imam Malik (c.762); Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (c.855).
Hadith — Shia (Twelver) Four Books (al-Kutub al-Arba’ah)
Collection
Compiler
Date
Al-Kafi
Muhammad ibn Yaqub al-Kulayni (864 – 941)
c.940
Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih
Ibn Babawayh (al-Shaykh al-Saduq, 923 – 991)
c.991
Tahdhib al-Ahkam
Shaykh al-Tusi (995 – 1067)
c.11th c
Al-Istibsar
Shaykh al-Tusi
c.11th c
Biographical (Sira) Literature
Work
Author
Date
Sirat Rasul Allah
Ibn Ishaq (c.704 – 768)
c.750; survives in recension by Ibn Hisham (d. 833)
Tarikh al-Rusul wa’l-Muluk
al-Tabari (839 – 923)
c.915
Sufi and Theological Classics
Work
Author
Date
Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (Revival of the Religious Sciences)
al-Ghazali
c.1106
Tahafut al-Falasifah (Incoherence of the Philosophers)
al-Ghazali
c.1095
Futuhat al-Makkiyya + Fusus al-Hikam
Ibn al-‘Arabi
c.1230
Masnavi
Jalaluddin Rumi
1258 – 1273
IV. Hinduism
Shruti (“That which is heard”) — Vedas
Text
Date
Content
Rigveda
c.1500 – 1200 BCE
1,028 hymns in 10 mandalas
Yajurveda
c.1200 – 1000 BCE
Sacrificial formulas; Black (Krishna) and White (Shukla) recensions
Samaveda
c.1200 – 1000 BCE
Melodic chants drawn mostly from Rigveda
Atharvaveda
c.1200 – 900 BCE
Magic, medicine, household ritual; latest of the four
Each Veda has four layers: Samhita (hymns), Brahmana (ritual prose), Aranyaka (forest treatises), Upanishad (philosophy).
Principal Upanishads (108 traditional; 13 “principal”)
Upanishad
Veda
Date
Theme
Brihadaranyaka
Yajurveda
c.700 BCE
Atman = Brahman; “neti neti”
Chandogya
Samaveda
c.700 BCE
”Tat tvam asi”
Aitareya
Rigveda
c.600 BCE
Creation
Taittiriya
Yajurveda
c.600 BCE
Five sheaths (koshas)
Isha (Ishavasya)
Yajurveda
c.500 BCE
Renunciation in action
Kena
Samaveda
c.500 BCE
The unseen seer
Katha
Yajurveda
c.500 BCE
Nachiketa and Yama; chariot allegory
Mundaka
Atharvaveda
c.500 BCE
Higher and lower knowledge
Mandukya
Atharvaveda
c.400 BCE
Om and four states of consciousness
Prashna
Atharvaveda
c.400 BCE
Six questions
Shvetashvatara
Yajurveda
c.400 BCE
Shaiva-flavored monotheism
Maitri
Yajurveda
c.300 BCE
Kaushitaki
Rigveda
c.300 BCE
Smriti (“That which is remembered”)
Itihasas (Epics)
Work
Author (trad.)
Length
Date
Note
Mahabharata
Vyasa
~100,000 shlokas
c.300 BCE – 300 CE
Includes Bhagavad Gita (700 verses, 18 chapters, in Bhishma Parva)
First by Guru Arjan 1604; final by Guru Gobind Singh 1708
1,430 pages standard ed.; hymns of 6 of the 10 Sikh Gurus + 15 bhagats (saints) incl. Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas, Sheikh Farid; declared eternal Guru by Gobind Singh 1708
Dasam Granth
c.1734
Attributed to Guru Gobind Singh; some attributions contested
Janamsakhis
17th c
Hagiographies of Guru Nanak
Sarbloh Granth
18th c
Attributed to Guru Gobind Singh; status disputed
VIII. Confucianism
Five Classics (Wujing)
Work
Traditional Date
Description
Yijing (I Ching, Book of Changes)
c.1000 – 750 BCE
64 hexagrams; cosmological/divinatory
Shujing (Book of Documents)
c.1000 – 700 BCE
Speeches and decrees of early kings
Shijing (Book of Songs/Odes)
c.1000 – 600 BCE
305 poems
Liji (Book of Rites)
c.300 BCE – 200 CE
Ritual and ceremonial conduct
Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals)
trad. Confucius; c.722 – 481 BCE
Chronicle of Lu state
(A sixth, Yuejing — Classic of Music — is lost.)
Four Books (Sishu), canonized by Zhu Xi (1130 – 1200)
Work
Date
Note
Lunyu (Analects of Confucius)
c.475 – 221 BCE
Compiled by disciples
Mengzi (Mencius)
c.300 BCE
Mencius and disciples
Daxue (Great Learning)
c.300 BCE
Chapter of Liji; canonized separately
Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean)
c.300 BCE
Chapter of Liji; canonized separately
Together “Four Books and Five Classics” formed the imperial examination corpus from 1313 to 1905.
IX. Daoism (Taoism)
Work
Date
Author (trad.)
Daodejing (Tao Te Ching)
c.4th c BCE
Laozi (legendary)
Zhuangzi
c.4th c BCE (Inner Chapters); later compilations
Zhuang Zhou and disciples
Liezi
c.300 BCE – 300 CE
trad. Lie Yukou
Huainanzi
c.139 BCE
compiled at court of Liu An
Taipingjing (Scripture of Great Peace)
c.2nd c CE
Yu Ji
Baopuzi
c.320 CE
Ge Hong
Daozang (Daoist Canon)
First compiled Tang; printed Ming 1444 – 1607 (Zhengtong Daozang)
1,500+ texts in 5,300+ volumes
X. Shintō
Work
Date
Note
Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters)
712 CE
Compiled by Ō no Yasumaro under Empress Genmei; oldest extant Japanese text
Nihon Shoki (Nihongi, Chronicles of Japan)
720 CE
Compiled by Prince Toneri and others; in Classical Chinese
Original canonical writings of Mani (Syriac and Middle Persian) mostly lost; surviving fragmentary corpus reconstructed from Coptic, Sogdian, Uyghur, and Chinese finds.