For too long, critical biblical studies have applied modern textual assumptions to ancient oral cultures. Exegeting Orality challenges many of these modern approaches, distilling decades of studies in oral traditions to redirect pastors and scholars toward a more accurate narrative of biblical origins, identity, and meaning.
Many works in the area of orality, textuality, performance criticism, and media studies focus on critical issues. Exegeting Orality guides pastors and scholars through a brief introduction to these fields, emphasizing biblical inspiration, interpretation, and proclamation. This work honors the rich oral traditional foundations of the inspired canon, urging a transformative shift in how we interpret the Bible.
The stories we believe define us. The Bible is not just a text to be studied but a record of voices from the past who performed our definitive stories. The Bible is a tradition to be reproclaimed and reenacted in the community of faith. Let us not recast these ancient voices into modern epistemological molds without letting them speak from within their own cultural realities. Their voices still call out to us through the abiding Holy Spirit who connects us all to the story of Jesus. May we live out that ancient story today together.
Industry Reviews
“What difference does it make if the Exodus story is read from a page or performed on a stage? Is reading a Gospel like attending a Passion Play? Are authors and scribes the same as performers? Are readers and audiences more alike than they are different? Nick Acker distills the insights of two generations of scholarship on such questions and explores their importance for Christians today who approach the Bible as the word of God. Read this book, then hear anew the old, old stories.”
—Rafael Rodriguez, professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
“The study of orality is making us think about the Bible in new ways reflecting its original social contexts from each Testament. Exegeting Orality is a worthwhile read because it surveys well where orality studies currently stand and proposes a series of suggestions about how the move to text interacted with oral tradition, not in opposition to it but alongside it. This book will help you get situated in a discussion that is becoming more prominent in biblical studies.”
—Darrell L. Bock, senior research professor of New Testament studies, Dallas Theological Seminary
“Critical to faith are the ways in which human beings express the foundations of their belief, and even though not all readers of Nick Acker’s book may share his particular faith, we can applaud his appreciation for the oral traditional qualities of Scripture and the implications of those qualities for cultural communities and their identities. Acker is to be commended for his bibliographic thoroughness and for his thoughtful review of the history of relevant scholarship in context.”
—Susan Niditch, professor of religion, Amherst College
“It’s obvious to modern people that the Bible is a book that we read (silently). Yet over the centuries, most people listened to it read by someone else, and the people who wrote the Bible expected that most people would hear it read in that way. So in their oral culture they wrote it with that expectation. So it’s useful to have this book from which you will learn a lot about scholarly theories concerning orality.”
—John Goldingay, senior professor of Old Testament, Fuller Seminary
“The Bible we study is a written text whether we read it in the original languages or in a modern translation. Nick Acker reminds us that these texts originated in an ancient oral culture and warns us about an uncritical application of modern textual assumptions as we interpret it. I recommend Exegeting Orality to all serious students of the Bible. This book will get you thinking through some of the most important issues of biblical interpretation.”
—Tremper Longman III, professor emeritus of biblical studies, Westmont College
