Between these books and what much later (translations
notwithstanding) came from the printing presses following
Gutenberg's invention, there is a difference not only in size,
but also in sequence and in substance. Over time, texts were
subject to repeated transcriptions, translations, annotation,
revision, and commentary. The book that appeared to be given
once and for all kept changing, and became subject to
interpretations and scrutiny ever so often. Still, there is a
fundamental element of the continuity of its expressed doctrine:
life and work, in order to be successful, must follow the
prescribed patterns. Hence the implicit expectation: read the
book, immerse yourself in its spirit, renew the experience
through religious services meant to extol the word.
But since alternate explanatory systems were progressively
developed-science not the last-parallel to relative fixed
pragmatic frames sanctioned in early religion, a certain
separation of religion from practical experience took place.
Religion consecutively constituted its own domain of human
praxis, with its own division of labor, and its own frame of
reference. Christianity, Islam, the Protestant Reformation, and
various sectarian movements in China, Japan, the Indian
subcontinent (neo- Confucianism, Zen, the Sikh religious
movement) are such developments.
We have heard about such expatiations and hear as well about
conflicts triggered around them, but fail to put these conflicts
in the perspective that explains them.
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