Sacred Discourse Studies: Scope, Foundations, and Future Directions

  1. Hishomudin Ahmad
  2. Norfarhana Ahmad Ghafar

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Abstract

The study of sacred discourse has attracted growing attention across linguistics, discourse studies, communication, rhetoric, theology, and religious studies. Although these disciplines have generated valuable insights into how sacred meanings are expressed, communicated, and interpreted, their contributions remain fragmented, limiting integration between linguistic, rhetorical, communicative, theological, and cognitive perspectives. This article proposes Sacred Discourse Studies (SDS) as an emerging interdisciplinary field dedicated to the systematic study of how sacred meanings are constructed, communicated, interpreted, negotiated, and transformed through discourse. Adopting a conceptual and integrative review approach, the article examines major traditions relevant to the study of sacred discourse, including language and religion, theolinguistics, discourse studies of religion, sacred rhetoric, communication theory, hermeneutics, and cognitive-semiotic approaches. The analysis identifies four recurring challenges: disciplinary fragmentation, the absence of an integrative framework, limited dialogue between scholarly traditions, and the growing complexity of sacred discourse in digital and computational environments. In response, the article develops a conceptual framework for SDS that brings together scriptural traditions, analytical domains, and emerging research frontiers. The framework encompasses Qur'anic, Prophetic, and Biblical forms of discourse while integrating stylistic, pragmatic, rhetorical, and semiotic approaches, alongside emerging areas such as computational methods, digital religion, and AI-assisted interpretation. The article argues that SDS provides a shared intellectual space for connecting previously separate traditions of inquiry and offers a foundation for a more coherent and comprehensive study of sacred discourse across disciplinary, scriptural, and technological boundaries.

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  1. PREreview

    This Zenodo record is a permanently preserved version of a Structured PREreview. You can view the complete PREreview at https://prereview.org/reviews/21069854.

    Does the introduction explain the objective of the research presented in the preprint? Yes actually allover the article is an introduction
    Are the methods well-suited for this research? Highly inappropriate it seems to be a general narration.
    Are the conclusions supported by the data? Highly supported conclusion supports the content data
    Are the data presentations, including visualizations, well-suited to represent the data? Somewhat appropriate and clear
    How clearly do the authors discuss, explain, and interpret their findings and potential next steps for the research? Somewhat clearly likely there is no findings just an idea ai written manuscript that suffer from lack of objective evidence. the core idea actually as enlightened as dreams but just a dream
    Is the preprint likely to advance academic knowledge? Not likely
    Would it benefit from language editing? No
    Would you recommend this preprint to others? No, it's of low quality or is majorly flawed
    Is it ready for attention from an editor, publisher or broader audience? No, it needs a major revision

    Competing interests

    The author declares that they have no competing interests.

    Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    The author declares that they did not use generative AI to come up with new ideas for their review.

  2. Version published to 10.20944/preprints202606.1639.v1