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Kristina Myrvold

Kristina Myrvold

Visiting professor

Kristina Myrvold

Engaging with the Guru : Sikh Beliefs and Practices of Guru Granth Sahib

Author

  • Kristina Myrvold

Summary, in English

The Sikhs have perhaps taken the concept of a sacred scripture much further than any other religious community by treating the Guru Granth Sahib as a living guru. This essay analyzes various religious beliefs and practices by which contemporary Sikhs construct and maintain conceptions of their scripture as a guru with spiritual authority. A distinction is made between religious practices that serve to mediate and interpret the semantic content of the scripture, performative acts that are enacted to transform the social world, and rituals that aim to give the scripture a careful ministration and celebrate different stages of its worldly life. The various ritualized uses of Guru Granth Sahib can be approached as external strategies by which the Sikhs personify their scripture and make it socially alive as a living guru.

Department/s

  • History of Religions and Religious Behavioural Science

Publishing year

2012

Language

Swedish

Pages

185-200

Publication/Series

Postscripts

Volume

6

Issue

1-3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Equinox Publishing

Topic

  • History of Religions

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1743-8888