ABSTRACT
In the particular case of "scripture", the generic use must be recognized for what it is: the borrowing of a parochial Western term for sacred text in order to talk about texts in non-Western contexts that we perceive as somehow analogous. The cumulative effect of our focus on written texts has been to blind us to how much of the history of religion, even in the most highly literate traditions, is dependent upon a different kind of oral tradition, namely the oral scriptural piety of the vast majority of religious persons and communities, past and present. This is patently obvious to anyone who reflects deeply on Buddhist or Hindu textuality, but the high degree of Western documentary bias has generally blinded most areas of modern scholarly study of religious scriptures to the central importance of oral piety even in the presence of written sacred texts.
