Religious texts, often referred to as scripture, are foundational to various religions, compiling beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments, and ethical guidance. These texts are revered as authoritative sources of wisdom and divine revelation, considered sacred by their followers. The term "scripture," derived from Latin scriptura, originally meant "writings" but evolved to denote the sacred writings of a religion, often collected into an accepted "canon"—a standard or rule for faith, first referenced in this context around the 4th century CE.
This concept of a canon helps categorize texts as canonical, non-canonical, or deuterocanonical, reflecting historical developments and differing interpretations within socio-religious groups. Among the oldest known religious texts are Sumer's Kesh Temple Hymn (c. 2600 BCE) and the Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2150 BCE), with Hinduism's Rigveda (1500 BCE) being one of the oldest complete surviving scriptures. Early Biblical texts date to the 13th-12th centuries BCE, with its canon largely fixed by the 2nd century BCE. The widespread availability of these once hand-copied texts dramatically increased with the invention of the printing press in 1440.