Scriptures of the Modern Era

Published in two parts in 1794 and 1795, Thomas Paine's book argued for a single creator known through reason while attacking organised churches, scripture and clerical authority. It is the trail's starting point: a modern text that rejects scripture and still reached a mass readership.

Auguste Comte's four volume work of 1851 to 1854 sets out the Religion of Humanity in full, with a calendar of thirteen months named for historical figures, a catechism, sacraments and a priesthood. Brazilian positivists took its motto of order and progress for their national flag in 1889.

Choe Je-u wrote this foundation scripture of Donghak in classical Chinese in the early 1860s, before his 1864 execution, and his successor Choe Si-hyeong published it in collected form in 1880. Its core teaching is that the divine dwells within every person.

The companion to the Donggyeong Daejeon, composed in vernacular Korean Hangeul verse so ordinary people with no classical education could read and sing it. It is named for Yongdam, near Gyeongju, where Choe Je-u received the 1860 revelation.

Beginning in 1892, the illiterate Deguchi Nao produced automatic writing under the direction of the kami Ushitora no Konjin, and it became Omoto's founding scripture. The same name is used by Tenrikyo for a textually unrelated scripture, so take care to tell the two apart.

Aleister Crowley wrote this five chapter mystical poem in 1907 and 1911. Thelema treats it as one of the Class A holy books, inspired and unalterable, rather than as Crowley's ordinary writing, and it is cast as a dialogue between the aspirant and the god Hadit.

Onisaburo Deguchi dictated these eighty one volumes in two periods, 1921 to 1926 and 1933 to 1934, either side of his imprisonment after Omoto's first suppression by the state. It is the later, systematic elaboration beside Deguchi Nao's founding revelation.

Huynh Phu So composed these poems, prophecies and sermons between 1939 and 1947 in accessible Vietnamese verse. They teach cultivation and home worship in place of temple ritual, and serve Hoa Hao Buddhists as the founder's direct voice.

Published by the Urantia Foundation on October 12, 1955, in 196 numbered papers, it is presented as transmitted by celestial beings. Its origin lies in Chicago around 1911 with the physician William S. Sadler, and its copyright status later produced two appellate rulings that disagreed.

Anton LaVey's manual on lesser magic first appeared in 1971 as The Compleat Witch and was reissued by Feral House in 1989 under its present title. LaVeyan Satanism counts it as the third core LaVey book beside The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals.

Published in 1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace in three parts, a Text, a Workbook for Students and a Manual for Teachers. Helen Schucman said it came to her from 1965 to 1972 through inner dictation from a voice she identified as Jesus, and it circulates through largely leaderless study groups.

Starhawk's 1979 book brought Goddess centred ritual and seasonal celebration to a broad readership and has stayed in print through several editions. Its picture of a suppressed prehistoric goddess culture has since been substantially revised by academic scholarship.