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Overview
This book helps us resolve some of the mysteries and contradictions that evolved during the Bible's pre-written legacy and that persist in the Great Book today. Most biblical scholars acknowledge that both the Old and New Testaments were orally transmitted for decades before appearing in written form.With great reverence for the Bible' Dundes offers a new and exciting way to understand its variant texts. He uses the analytical framework of folklore to unearth and contrast the multiple versions of nearly every major biblical event' including the creation of woman' the flood' the ten commandments (there were once as many as eleven or twelve)' the names of the twelve tribes' the naming of the disciples' the Sermon on the Mount' the Lord's Prayer' and the words inscribed on the Cross' among many others.
Synopsis
With great reverence for the Bible, Dundes offers a new and exciting way to resolve some of the mysteries and contradictions that evolved during the Bible's pre-written legacy and that still persist today. Using his expert knowledge of folklore, Dundes unearths and contrasts multiple versions of nearly every major biblical event, including the creation of woman, the flood, the ten commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, and the inscription on the Cross.
Booknews
Might there be more than Ten Commandments? Applying the analytical framework of folklore, Dundes (anthropology and folklore, U. of California-Berkeley) seeks to comprehend variant versions of biblical narratives. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Editorials
Evangelical Review Of Theology
The Holy Writ as Oral Lit is a very worthwhile book. It is enlightening, convincing, entertaining, and familiarizes the reader with the most important research done on Scripture and folklore.Journal Of Contemporary Religion
In the most recent of Dundes's three important contributions to the study of religion. It is our good fortune that this most eminent of American anthropologists and folklorists well known for his work on folklore theory and on subjects as diverse as German national charachter and American joke cycles, has now brought his scholarship to bear on religion. Dundes's work is already widely influential in the United States and deserves to be better known among British scholars of religion.Booknews
Might there be more than Ten Commandments? Applying the analytical framework of folklore, Dundes (anthropology and folklore, U. of California-Berkeley) seeks to comprehend variant versions of biblical narratives. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.Auss
A worthwhile book. It is enlightening, convincing, entertaining, and familiarizes the reader with the most important research on Scripture and folklore. In addition, it gives the reader a bird's-eye view of the nature and genres of folklore.Christianity and Literature
While written for the novice studying the orally discursive nature of the Judeo-Christian canon, the book will also be useful to more advanced scholars, especially for its survey of the literature and comprehensive biography.Columbus Dispatch
Holy Writ as Oral Lit offers insight into the Bible without diminishing it.Evangelical Review of Theology
The Holy Writ as Oral Lit is a very worthwhile book. It is enlightening, convincing, entertaining, and familiarizes the reader with the most important research done on Scripture and folklore.Journal of Contemporary Religion
In the most recent of Dundes's three important contributions to the study of religion. It is our good fortune that this most eminent of American anthropologists and folklorists well known for his work on folklore theory and on subjects as diverse as German national charachter and American joke cycles, has now brought his scholarship to bear on religion. Dundes's work is already widely influential in the United States and deserves to be better known among British scholars of religion.Religious Studies Review
The fact of variation in the Bible is an important point, which Dundes documents abundantly. . . Dundes's emphasis on folklore analysis for understanding the biblical writings is salutary.— Ronald S. Hendel, University of California, Berkeley