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 ancinet 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 bedorck of the people: narrative, prophecy, prayer, and wisdom.
Author(s): David M. Carr
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 345
Writing on the Tablet of the Heart - Origins of Scripture and Literature......Page 4
Preface......Page 8
Contents......Page 12
List of Abbreviations......Page 14
1. Textuality, Orality, and the Shaping of the Ancient Mind......Page 18
The Oral-Written Interface and the Shaping of the Mind......Page 19
Ancient Education and the Production of Scriptures......Page 23
PART I: Early Examples of Textuality and Education in the Near East and Mediterranean......Page 30
2. Ancient Mesopotamia: The Earliest and Best-Documented Textual/Educational System......Page 32
Ancient Mesopotamian Education......Page 35
The Goal of Scribal Education: A Higher (Sumerian) Humanity......Page 46
Textual Production and Collection in Ancient Mesopotamia......Page 49
Beyond the Scribal Matrix......Page 61
The Sumero-Akkadian System Outside Mesopotamia, Ugarit, and Israel......Page 62
Ugarit......Page 67
Cuneiform Scribal Systems and Ancient Israel......Page 71
4. Egyptian Education and Textuality......Page 78
Ancient Egyptian Education......Page 80
Emergence of the Middle Kingdom Educational Curriculum......Page 83
Egyptian Textual Production, Reception, and Storage......Page 92
Comparison of the Egyptian and Sumero-Akkadian Scribal Matrices......Page 96
Links Between Egypt and Israel......Page 99
Evidence of Overall Egyptian Influence on the Israelite Scribal Matrix
......Page 100
Egyptian and Sumero-Akkadian Influence on the Bible: The Case of the Song of Songs......Page 103
5. Alphabetically Based Textuality and Education in Ancient Greece......Page 106
Textual Witnesses to the (Subordinate) Role of Texts in Greek Enculturation......Page 110
The Curriculum and Ends of Ancient Greek Education......Page 114
The Creation and Depiction of Greek Cultural Texts......Page 119
The Greek Textual Tradition in Comparison......Page 121
6. Textuality and Education in Ancient Israel......Page 126
Approaching the Evidence for Textuality and Education in Pre-Hellenistic Israel......Page 127
Writers and Reading in Ancient Israel......Page 131
Epigraphic Evidence for Education in Pre-Hellenistic Israel......Page 137
Literary Evidence for the Shape of Education in Ancient Israel......Page 139
“Wisdom Literature” and Ancient Israelite Education-Enculturation......Page 141
Education in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History......Page 149
(Counter)Education in the Prophets......Page 158
Other Biblical Literature as Educational Literature: Torah, Psalms, and Other Texts......Page 167
Hebrew and Foreign Forms of Education in (and before) Ancient Israel......Page 171
Textual Transmission, Storage, and Revision......Page 174
Education and Textuality Across Israelite History......Page 176
PART II: Textuality and Education in the Eastern Hellenistic World......Page 190
Hellenistic Education and Text Production......Page 192
The Goal and Scope of Hellenistic Education......Page 202
Indigenous Hellenistic Culture: The Egyptian Instance......Page 208
Other Modes of Interaction with Hellenism......Page 213
8. Temple- and Priest-Centered Textuality and Education in Hellenistic Judaism......Page 216
The Testaments and Other Pseudepigraphic Writings......Page 217
Ben Sira......Page 221
Other Reflections of Temple-Focused Textuality and Education......Page 227
9. Qumran as a Window into Early Jewish Education and Textuality......Page 230
The Qumran Community, Education, and Priests......Page 231
Educational Exercises and “Wisdom” Literature at Qumran......Page 235
Instructional Use of Other Forms of Literature......Page 240
Instructional Use of the Mosaic Torah and Para-Torah Texts......Page 243
Instructional Use of Other Texts Besides “Wisdom” and Torah Texts......Page 249
Qumran Community, Textuality, and Hybridity......Page 253
10. Synagogue, Sabbath, and Scripture: New Forms of Hellenistic Jewish Textuality and Education Beyond the Temple......Page 256
Initial Indicators from Archaeology and the New Testament of a Broadening of Textuality......Page 257
Philo, Education and Scripture......Page 259
Josephus, Education and Scripture......Page 261
11. The Origins of Scripture as a Hellenistic-Style Anti-Hellenistic Curriculum......Page 268
The Issue of “Greek” versus “Hebrew” in Early Second-Century Sources......Page 269
The Emergence of “Hebrew Scriptures” Consisting of “Torah and Prophets” in the Hasmonean Period......Page 275
The Enculturation Function of Hebrew Scriptures in the Hasmonean Period......Page 282
Final Matters: The Scope of the Scriptural Collection and the Limits of Its Recognition......Page 287
12. Concluding Reflectionson the Hellenistic Shaping of Jewish Scripture: From Temple to Synagogue and Church......Page 288
From the Hasmoneans to the First Century c.e.......Page 289
Scriptures Moving Forward......Page 291
13. Conclusion......Page 302
Possible Implications of This Approach for Biblical Studies......Page 306
Ancient and Contemporary Education and Enculturation......Page 308
Appendix: The Relation of This Study to Earlier Research......Page 314
Select Bibliography......Page 322
Index of Citations of Primary Texts......Page 334
Index of Select Subjects......Page 344
