The importance of studying religious texts

I am very interested that I finally got an opportunity to study the ancient religion of my beautiful country, Iran. After reading the section on the Avesta and Achamenid inscriptions, I developed an appreciation for a role that a textual scholar plays in increasing our understanding of the ancient religions. Before these readings our professor's scholarly work seemed very foreign to me. Whether we consider religious documents as revealed texts or simply as historical documents, one thing is clear and that is texts play a very important role in most world religions. Studying them can tell us a lot not only about the doctrine, practices, and rituals of a particular religion but also they can answer many questions such as why a person at a particular time in history have made such claims. In addition, they can give us great deal of information on how religions change and evolve in response to social and/or political demands. Religions developed within a particular culture and their texts are also reflections of that culture. Thus, the objective study of religious texts can reveal great deal of information about the pattern of living and framework of values within which people lived their lives in the particular time in history.

As mentioned in class, the aim of scholars in studying religious texts is not to determine the accuracy or the truth of a particular religion. The goal is to find answers to the aforementioned questions. I also developed an appreciation for the comparative model. The comparative model can be a very useful paradigm in studying religious texts. It was also very interesting how even some Zoroastrian priests today do not fully understand the meaning of their own texts. This makes us appreciate the efforts of textual scholars in putting together the pieces of the puzzle trying to construct ancient texts and translate and interpret them in an objective way. It is interesting how in order to understand the meaning of religious texts, scholars have to first understand and be familiar with the culture , myths, and practices of that specific culture. For instance, in reading "the two spirits," the scholar goes back to the mythology of the Twins which was apparently a well-known myth among Zarathustra's audience. Assuming that his audience knew what he was talking about, Zarathustra did not take the time to explain the myth. He simply reinterprets this well-known myth. This example tells us how difficult it is to decipher the meaning of some obscure lines in ancient texts considering the fact that scholars today do not have enough evidence and knowledge of the culture within which these texts were originated.

Scholars studying the ancient Gathas face all the above-mentioned challenges. As mentioned in the article, the difficulty of understanding the Gatha lies in the complexity of its dialogues. Sometimes it is really difficult to decide who the speaker is and who is being addressed. Another problem lies in the subtleties of the language of these texts. In English we only have three tenses (past, present, and future). However, the audience of the Zarathustra was aware of an atemporal dimension that would cut across temporality. In other words, whatever occured or was true in the past occurs and is true even today. How should scholars put this understanding into English words?

The other important thing is how teachings of the Zarathustra have been discovered through studying the Gathas: teachings such as the superiority of the Truth and the mission against the Lie and the forces of the evil.