Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the crucial passage from living word to Holy Scripture, as a fundamental device in the construction of a system of religious belief. It introduces a conceptual distinction between system and environment, applied to the religious phenomenon. The book shows a global definition of religious belief system, how a religion generally tends to reduce the complexity of the social environment and provides meanings that are capable of sustaining the challenges of every situation otherwise it would be liable to an irreversible crisis. It adopts the method of analysis as Talal Asad used to compare Islam and Christianity, a method that he described as genealogical. The book aims to treat religion as a system and as power of communication, and reconstructs the links between symbolic-religious worlds and social environments, which change in time and space.