Writing on the Tablet of the Heart Origins of Scripture and Literature

Zusatztext Exceptionally erudite and readable. Biblical scholars will need to seriously consider this well laid out challenge to the generally accepted theories of documentary sources. Zusammenfassung This book explores a new model for the production! revision! and reception of Biblical texts as Scripture. Building on recent studies of the oral-written interface in medieval! Greco-Roman and ancient Near Eastern contexts! David Carr argues that in ancient Israel Biblical texts and other texts emerged as a support for an educational process in which written and oral dimensions were integrally intertwined. The point was not incising and reading texts on parchmentor papyrus. The point was to enculturate ancient Israelites - particularly Israelite elites - by training them to memorize and recite a wide range of traditional literature that was seen as the cultural bedrock of the people: narrative! prophecy! prayer! and wisdom. Generally! mastery was exercisedthrough remarkably exact recall and reproduction of the tradition - whether through oral performance or through production of written "performances." Crises like exile! however! could prompt the creation of radically new versions of the classic tradition! incorporating verbal recall of ancient tradition with various extensions! recontextualizations and supplements. This educational process took place on a one-to-one basis and focused on the cultivation of an educated elite. A major change tookplace with the arrival of the Hellenistic empires in the fourth and following centuries. This! says Carr! led to the emergence of a democratized Jewish "school" as well as the marking off of the standard Israelite texts as an "anti-canon" to the Hellenistic canon of educational texts that were usedin the Greek schools of the Eastern Mediterranean. Informationen zum Autor David M. Carr is Professor of Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is the author of The Erotic Word: Sexuality! Spirituality! and the Bible (OUP! 2003) and several other books. Klappentext This book explores a new model for the production! revision! and reception of biblical texts as Scripture. Building on recent studies! David Carr argues that ancient Israel biblical texts and other texts emerged as a support for an educational process in which written and oral dimensions were integrally intertwined. ...

Auteur
David M. Carr is Professor of Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is the author of The Erotic Word: Sexuality, Spirituality, and the Bible (OUP, 2003) and several other books.

Texte du rabat

This book explores a new model for the production, revision, and reception of Biblical texts as Scripture. Building on recent studies of the oral-written interface in medieval, Greco-Roman, and ancient Near Eastern contexts, David Carr argues that in ancient Israel Biblical texts and other texts emerged as a support for an educational process in which written and oral dimensions were integrally intertwined. The point was not incising and reading texts on parchment or papyrus. The point was to enculturate ancient Israelites -- particularly Israelite elites -- by training them to memorize and recite a wide range of traditional literature that was seen as the cultural bedrock of the people: narrative, prophecy, prayer, and wisdom. Generally, mastery was exercised through remarkably exact recall and reproduction of the tradition -- whether through oral performance or through production of written "performances." Crises like exile, however, could prompt the creation of radically new versions of the classic tradition, incorporating verbal recall of ancient tradition with various extensions, recontextualizations and supplements. This educational process took place on a one-to-one basis and focused on the cultivation of an educated elite. A major change took place with the arrival of the Hellenistic empires in the fourth and following centuries. This, says Carr, led to the emergence of a democratized Jewish "school" as well as the marking off of the standard Israelite texts as an "anti-canon" to the Hellenistic canon of educational texts that were used in the Greek schools of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Contenu

• 1: Textuality, Orality and the Shaping of the Ancient Mind

• Part One: Early Examples of Textuality and Education in the Near East and Mediterranean

• 2: Ancient Mesopotamia: The Earliest and Best Documented Textual/Educational System

• 3: The Influence of Mesopotamia

• 4: Egyptian Education and Textuality

• 5: Alphabetically-Based Textuality in Ancient Greece

• 6: Textuality and Education in Ancient Israel

• Part Two: Textuality and Education in the Eastern Hellenistic World

• 7: Education and Textuality in the Hellenistic World: Egypt and Other Examples of Hellenistic Hybridity

• 8: Temple and Priest Centered Textuality and Education in Hellenistic Judaism

• 9: Qumran as a Window Into Early Jewish Education and Textuality

• 10: Synagogue, Sabbath and Scripture: New Forms of Hellenistic Jewish Textuality and Education Beyond the Temple

• 11: The Origins of Scripture as a Hellenistic-Style Anti-Hellenistic Curriculum

• 12: Concluding Reflections on the Hellenistic Shaping of Jewish Scripture: From Temple to Synagogue and Church

• 13: Conclusion

• Appendix: The Relation of This Study to Earlier Research