Wilfred Cantwell Smith is professor Emeritus of the Comparative History of Religion, Harvard University, where
he also served for nine years as Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions and then as chair of the
Committee on the Study of Religion.
Summary
�Scripture� is no longer an absolute. In the last two centuries, as Westerners have become more keenly conscious
of the flatly historical character of their own biblical documents, they have also realized the normative function
of scripture in other traditions.
W. C. Smith�s vastly erudite work asks how it is that certain texts have so seeped into human life�in a rich, complex,
and powerful way�as to be deemed sacred. Examining the history and use of scripture in the world�s major religious
traditions, he shows how and why scripture continues to carry momentous and at times appalling power in human affairs.
In the end, Smith�s creative proposal is valuable not only for showing what it means to hold a text as sacred,
or to treasure another�s scripture, but also for the light it sheds in a troubled culture on what it means to be
human.
