Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature

Susan Niditch

Westminster John Knox Press, Jan 1, 1996 - Religion - 184 pages

This book is an essential resource for understanding the question of the Bible's relationship to orality. Susan Niditch offers a strong argument for the continuity of the literature of the Israelites. She helps the modern reader look at the Bible as living words, breathing life into us daily, instead of seeing the text as a foregone artifact.

Volumes in the Library of Ancient Israel draw on multiple disciplines--such as archaeology, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and literary criticism--to illuminate the everyday realities and social subtleties these ancient cultures experienced. This series employs sophisticated methods resulting in original contributions that depict the reality of the people behind the Hebrew Bible and interprets these insights for a wide variety of readers.

Contents

• Toward: 8
• Variations in the Oral Register: 25
• New Ways of Thinking about Orality: 39
• Archives and Libraries: 60
• The Oral: 78
• The Literate End of the Continuum: 89
• References to Written Torah: 95
• The Oral Mentality and the Written Bible: 108
• Abbreviations: 135
• Bibliography: 151
• Index of Names and Subjects: 167

About the author

Susan Niditch is Samuel Green Professor of Religion at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She is the author of many books, including Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature,part of the acclaimed Library of Ancient Israel series.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature; Library of Ancient Israel
• Author: Susan Niditch
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996
• ISBN: 0664227244, 9780664227241
• Length: 184 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / General; Religion / Biblical Studies / Exegesis & Hermeneutics; Religion / Biblical Studies / History & Culture