Need help analyzing sacred texts.

[princessarachne]

Edit: Please keep this forum for those interested in analyzing only. Thank you.

Hi, I'm new here, so let me introduce myself.

I am 17 years old, male, and live in MN. I plan to study Psychology and Theology, and I hold a level III degree in Reiki. I was raised in a very anti-religious, "humanist" household, so my parents aren't exactly thrilled about my enthusiasm for learning about world religions outside of their hateful context. Due to my (rather mild) Asperger's, they consider it an obsession and have tried to kill my interest and replace it with science or something, but that's another story.

I am trying to analyze certain sacred texts and amass a ridiculously large amount of information in a short duration of time. So, instead of trying to do this by myself, I thought I'd assemble a team of people to do it with me. This is so that I don't have to do it all by myself (to do so would take years).

When we're finished, we can discuss what we've learned by having discussions on skype about it by topic (love, meaning of life, death, etc.); Like a bible study but we all have different texts.

I'll post the text's I need in another post as I don't want to make it too long.

 

[princessarachne]

Here are some of the texts I need help with:

Christian:
Luke and John, Acts, and revelation from the NT
A Course In Miracles (A New Age text... I find this one rather interesting)
Nag Hammadi Scriptures, Apocrypha, etc.
Anything Kabbalah-Related

Eastern:
Tao Te Ching
Analects by Confucius
Anything Shinto

Dharmic:
Any Hindu or Buddhist text. Dibs on Bhaghavad Gita
Gospel of Buddha as translated by Paul Carus

Other:
Any class A Thelemic text
Wiccan books that are not just spellbooks
Grimoires (PM me for details)

Ancient:
Ancient mythology from any culture, including (but not limited to): Celtic, Mayan, Norse, Yoruba, Egyptian, Slavic, Native American, etc.

What I want you to do:
Just take notes. If you can, take them in cornell style. For some texts this won't work (Like the Dao), in which case brief summaries or commentary is good. The point of this is to reduce the text to a number of notes so someone can get a general overview of the text without having to read it cover-to-cover. I encourage you to pick a religion that you are personally interested in practicing so it's actually useful to you.

We can meet on skype at weekly intervals to discuss. I'd like it to be mostly people in the 16-25 range but any age is ok.

Post your age, location, and text of choice below! Thank you for helping me!

 

[sun rise]

I admire your wish to learn a lot, but I doubt you'll find people who will drop what they're doing to devote themselves to doing what you ask in the way you ask.

 

[princessarachne]

I'm not asking anyone to drop their life and do this instead. I meant to sound flexible. The more people willing to do it, the less time each person will need. I can only commit about 2 hours a week to studying the text.

I've already got a couple people that I know personally, but we're not going to be able to get this all done very quickly. That's why I'm looking for help.

 

[Kenny]

Here are some of the texts I need help with:

Judeo-Christian:
Luke and John, Acts, and revelation from the NT

Can you give me an example of what you would be looking for in these books?

 

[princessarachne]

[GALLERY=media, 8210]Notes by princessarachne posted Jun 8, 2017 at 9:54 PM[/GALLERY]

Mainly general points of interest. Miracles, inconsistencies, prophecies, parables, sins, commandments, and story-line.

 

[Tumah]

Judeo-Christian:
Luke and John, Acts, and revelation from the NT
A Course In Miracles (A New Age text... I find this one rather interesting)

Nag Hammadi Scriptures, Apocrypha, etc.

These are not Jewish texts and there's no reason this section should be labeled Judeo-Christian, especially when we don't share these texts. There are just as many Gnostic texts as Jewish.

 

[princessarachne]

These are not Jewish texts and there's no reason this section should be labeled Judeo-Christian, especially when we don't share these texts. There are just as many Gnostic texts as Jewish.

Yes, just the Kabbalah is Judaic. Sorry if I was not clear. I've already analyzed the Tanakh which is why it is not included. Also, aren't there gnostic sects of Judaism?

 

[Tumah]

Yes, just the Kabbalah is Judaic. Sorry if I was not clear. I've already analyzed the Tanakh which is why it is not included. Also, aren't there gnostic sects of Judaism?

There were, but there aren't. The phrase makes as much sense as saying "Christo-Muslim".

 

[SomeRandom]

While I admire your enthusiasm, many of these take time to truly appreciate. Not to mention finding a translation that works (which nobody from any religion will agree with their brethren lol.)
But I'll see if I can help out when I'm free. For the Dharmic texts, there's way too many. The closest to a "central one" for Hindus is the Vedas. But they're all epic poems essentially. Well the Bhagwat Gita is and then that's only a portion of the Mahabharata if I'm not mistaken.
There is a YouTube series called Bible Reloaded where two atheists read the bible from front to back. As well as other things. But they're more prone to crass humor than meditating on the text. I wish they'd consider doing one for the Vedas or something though lol.

 

[omega2xx]

Here are some of the texts I need help with:

Christian:
Luke and John, Acts, and revelation from the NT
A Course In Miracles (A New Age text... I find this one rather interesting)
Anything Kabbalah-Related
Nag Hammadi Scriptures, Apocrypha, etc.

Chinese:
Tao Te Ching
Analects by Confucius
Anything Shinto

Dharmic:
Any Hindu or Buddhist text. Dibs on Bhaghavad Gita
Gospel of Buddha as translated by Paul Carus

Other:
Any class A Thelemic text
Wiccan books that are not just spellbooks
Grimoires (PM me for details)

Ancient:
Ancient mythology from any culture, including (but not limited to): Celtic, Mayan, Norse, Yoruba, Egyptian, Slavic, Native American, etc.

What I want you to do:
Just take notes. If you can, take them in cornell style. For some texts this won't work (Like the Dao), in which case brief summaries or commentary is good. The point of this is to reduce the text to a number of notes so someone can get a general overview of the text without having to read it cover-to-cover. I encourage you to pick a religion that you are personally interested in practicing so it's actually useful to you.

We can meet on skype at weekly intervals to discuss. I'd like it to be mostly people in the 16-25 range but any age is ok.

Post your age, location, and text of choice below! Thank you for helping me!

I can only help you with Christian text but you need to be specific and give me book, chapter and verse. In a most general way Luke present Jesus as man, John presents Him as God, "Acts is the beginning f the church and Revelation is the end of the age.

I am a very conservative Presbyterian Christian, I am 84 and lived in Knoxville, Tn. Some consider this the buckle of the Bible belt. I have studied the Bible for 40 years and have taught it off and on for about 35 years. I don't Skype so if that is a problem, have a very + day.

 

[princessarachne]

While I admire your enthusiasm, many of these take time to truly appreciate. Not to mention finding a translation that works (which nobody from any religion will agree with their brethren lol.)
But I'll see if I can help out when I'm free. For the Dharmic texts, there's way too many. The closest to a "central one" for Hindus is the Vedas. But they're all epic poems essentially. Well the Bhagwat Gita is and then that's only a portion of the Mahabharata if I'm not mistaken.
There is a YouTube series called Bible Reloaded where two atheists read the bible from front to back. As well as other things. But they're more prone to crass humor than meditating on the text. I wish they'd consider doing one for the Vedas or something though lol.

I am aware of that, but for this project I need to amass a large amount of data. I'm not trying to get any kind of nuances right now. (I'll save that for later). I'd even have a computer do it if they could.

I already have specific translations in mind based on multiple recommendations from clergy in the said religions, or my own research. (Of course, if you feel compelled to use another translation, you totally can!)

Yes, there are a lot of Hindu and Buddhist texts out there. But that's why I'm getting other people to help me out. Think about it: if 10 people "distill" 10 pages of text once a week for 10 weeks, that's a thousand pages distilled.

So would you be most interested in doing (part of) the Vedas?

 

[SomeRandom]

I am aware of that, but for this project I need to amass a large amount of data. I'm not trying to get any kind of nuances right now. (I'll save that for later). I'd even have a computer do it if they could.

I already have specific translations in mind based on multiple recommendations from clergy in the said religions, or my own research. (Of course, if you feel compelled to use another translation, you totally can!)

Yes, there are a lot of Hindu and Buddhist texts out there. But that's why I'm getting other people to help me out. Think about it: if 10 people "distill" 10 pages of text once a week for 10 weeks, that's a thousand pages distilled.

So would you be most interested in doing (part of) the Vedas?

That's not really analyzing the texts though. That's just watery mush. An abridgment if you will. It doesn't really do anything that productive towards the goal you seem to have in mind.
But I might try to see if I can do part of the Vedas or something. I've been meaning to get around to reading them myself anyway.

 

[princessarachne]

That's not really analyzing the texts though. That's just watery mush. An abridgment if you will. It doesn't really do anything that productive towards the goal you seem to have in mind.
But I might try to see if I can do part of the Vedas or something. I've been meaning to get around to reading them myself anyway.

Actually, never mind. I think I should find people IRL to do this. People I trust.

 

[newone]

Good luck on your search....i also did a lot of research before i made my mind up about religion. It can get very involved...my younger brother is/has gone so deep into things that i think he's going crazy

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

Chinese:
Tao Te Ching
Analects by Confucius
Anything Shinto

Shinto is the native Japanese religion!

 

[princessarachne]

Shinto is the native Japanese religion!

My bad. I meant to say "eastern"

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

My bad. I meant to say "eastern"

You should be aware that Pagan religions like Shinto aren't usually into 'holy books' but Shinto does have codified myths - that said these are far from universally accepted. Such is the nature of orthopraxic religions. You can find .pdf format copies of the Kojiki online.

 

[arthra]

I am trying to analyze certain sacred texts and amass a ridiculously large amount of information in a short duration of time. So, instead of trying to do this by myself, I thought I'd assemble a team of people to do it with me. This is so that I don't have to do it all by myself (to do so would take years).
When we're finished, we can discuss what we've learned by having discussions on skype about it by topic (love, meaning of life, death, etc.); Like a bible study but we all have different texts.

In my opinion and I've also been interested in analyzing sacred texts over the years you need to have an understanding of the languages they are composed in... So just don't take someone's word or interpretation what the meaning of a given text is.. Have some knowledge of the languages used and that requires taking time and patience to study them and appreciate the contexts as well as social implications in which these texts are from... I've studied Sanscrit, Hebrew and Arabic to begin to understand the meanings.