The Book of Lights is a collection of writings sacred to the Solar religion, the dominant form of monotheistic worship in Selt. The Book is an anthology, divided into three sections: The Poets, The Prophets, and the Scribes. Each of the collected writings (called an 'opus', plural 'opera') is named after a particular religious or historical figure who is traditionally considered to be its author.

Canon

The canon of the Book of Lights developed gradually over the centuries, but has generally been fixed since the 10th century AE. The Unsullied Temple rejects as sources of binding dogma some of the opera, specifically those agreed by higher critics to be late and pseudonymous.

The Poets

The poets are the earliest section of the Book, and contain the creation myth of the Solar Temple, as well as some epic poems relating the mythic history of the settled peoples of the Northern Continent in which the Prophet Ardamar flourished. There are sixteen opera in the Poets. In general, higher critics do not consider any of the poetic opera to have been written by the historical figures for which they are named; these names are late and were assigned after the collection of the poetic writings into the Book of Lights during the First Illuminant. Scholars dispute over which of the poetic opera are the works of single authors and which are the work of larger groups; most are believed to originate in oral tradition rather than having been created de novo.

The Prophets

The prophets are traditionally understood to be the writings of the religious figures for which they are named. For many of the prophetic opera, higher critics agree that this is actually the case, and they were written either by the eponymous prophet or under his or her supervision. However, a minority of the books are thought to be later pious forgeries, or the collected writings of a religious school taking inspiration from a named patron. The Prophet Ardamar's moral law is laid out in one of his three opera. Two more opera are attributed to the Solar Religion's preeminent prophet; one collects his eschatological visions and is explicitly dictated to a scribe, the other is a purported autobiography. This latter opus is thought by higher critics to be a relatively late pseudonymous work written to promote one side of a particular ancient theological dispute. There are nine opera in the Prophets.

The Scribes

The Scribes were the copyists and sagely commentators who preserved the primitive version of the Book of Lights (containing only the Poets and Prophets) from its writing through the fall of the First Illuminant. In addition to (mostly) very faithfully preserving the Poets and Prophets, they appended their own learned commentaries to them. Their writings included elaborations of the Poets and Prophets, further material from oral tradition (especially biographical information about the Prophets), and explanations of apparent inconsistencies and conflicts in the earlier material. The Scribes also wrote about the institutional history of the Solar Temple and its spread. There are nineteen opera in the Scribes.

Authorship

Traditionally, the opera were considered to be written by the historical figures whose names they bear. The development and acceptance of textual and higher criticism in the past few centuries has made this view untenable for most of the educated clergy of the Solar Temple, who now take a broader view of the authorship of the opera. Many, especially in the Old Temple, reject claims of radical critics that some of the opera are outright forgeries, however. The Unsullied Temple has been the most accepting of the conclusions of higher criticism, and indeed many of the critics are affiliated with it. This has been a source of friction, and claims that the Unsullied Temple is "attacking" the Book of Lights, or revising it to suit the aims of liberal theology.

Religious Views

All major denominations of the Solar Temple consider the Book of Lights to be their holy scriptures, and view the Book as having special spiritual and moral value to humanity. The Old Temple and Presently Guided Temple further consider its writing and development to have been directed providentially by God, such that the traditional canon is free from any substantive defect that would lead believers to err. The Unsullied Temple takes the view that their holy book is, rather, "inspired" by human encounters with the divine, but must be understood in a historical and metaphorical-mythological context rather than interpreted literally.