Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature

by Susan Niditch

This book challenges many traditional assumptions about the bible, including how it came to be written. It discusses the hallmarks of orality in the Hebrew bible and how the spoken and written word operates together in creative tension.

Genres: History

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Karen Floyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was no steady progression from an oral to a literate world, both existed side by side for a very long time. Writing, first used for economic record-keeping, required literate scribes, while the rest of the population remained illiterate, relying on memory and oral transmission. As more things, such as laws, were written down, scribes became a powerful class, interpreters of both civil and religious laws. Being illiterate did not mean being ignorant, however. A vast fund of learned and memorized knowledge existed, passed down through generations. Addicted to reading though I am, it seems to me a tragedy that the richness of the oral world has been lost.

[Lu Tsun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niditch hits a very interesting and necessary subject in the Old Testament methodologies. It is surprising why so few books have been written on this. But I roughly survey the book, Niditch's writing is not always clear to me. Perhaps I need to read it more carefully.