b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

(oral tradition) the chicken(poetry) or the egg(prose)?

From: a.c.smith AT juno.com (Andrew C Smith)
To: zellmer AT cag.pworld.net.ph
Cc: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
Subject: (oral tradition) the chicken(poetry) or the egg(prose)?
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 1998 05:42:23 EDT

On Fri, 04 Sep 1998 11:25:12 +0800 Paul Zellmer
<zellmer AT cag.pworld.net.ph>

>So, no, I see it unlikely that prose would be considered "formal
>sounding" to the
>Hebrews. Rather, I see the recorded and preserved history of a
>culture that moved
>from a predominantly oral tradition of preserving important records to
>a written tradition.

yeah, but......

Don't we have more evidence to persuade us that much of what is written
in the Tanakh was soon committed to paper and not passed down by "oral
tradition"?

The "oral tradition" hypothesis was popular among some scholars, but I
thought that it fell into disfavor when evidence for very early writing
among Hebrews was discovered.

- Andy Smith

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

(oral tradition) the chicken(poetry) or the egg(prose)?, Andrew C Smith, 09/04/1998
- Re: (oral tradition) the chicken(poetry) or the egg(prose)?, Paul Zellmer, 09/04/1998
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- (oral tradition) the chicken(poetry) or the egg(prose)?, Andrew C Smith, 09/06/1998