Oral Fixation and New Testament Studies? 'Orality' 'Performance' and Reading Texts in Early Christianity*
In recent decades, emphasising the 'orality/aurality' of the Roman world, some scholars have asserted that in early Christian circles texts were 'performed' not 'read' (and could not have been read) likening this action to descriptions of oratorical delivery of speeches (from memory) or theatrical performance. It has even been suggested that some texts, particularly the Gospel of Mark, were composed in 'performance' and not through an author working up a text in written form. These claims seem to be based on numerous oversimplifications (and so distortions) of relevant historical matters, however, and also involve a failure to take account of the full range of relevant data about the use of texts in early Christianity and the wider Roman era setting. So, at least some of the crucial claims and inferences made are highly dubious. In this essay, I offer corrections to some crucial oversimplifications, and I point to the sorts of data that must be taken into account in drawing a more reliable picture of the place of texts and how they functioned in early Christianity.
New Testament Studies