In this book about the different understandings of “text” in the ancient and modern worlds, Walton and Sandy suggest that modern readers of the Bible can benefit from an understanding of how oral and written texts functioned differently in the ancient world. In particular, their goal is to bring knowledge of literary production in the ancient world into discussion with modern ideas of biblical authority and inerrancy (p292). It is suggested throughout the book that many of the current difficulties with holding to notions of inerrancy and authority arise from a lack of understanding how the biblical text’s production and transmission differed from texts of today. Walton and Sandy thus seek to illuminate the ancient world of “texts” for their readers.
The primary emphasis in the book regards the distinction between literary production in a hearing-dominant world and literary production in a text-dominant world. The former, Walton and Sandy claim, is far more characteristic of the ancient world and the latter of the modern world. Hearing- and text-dominant cultures have contrasting concepts of “text” and centers of authority. The hearing-dominant ancient world considered authority to be tradition oriented; particularly in “the authority figure who inaugurated the tradition and in the tradition that had been transmitted by the tradents in the community” (p34). By contrast, the modern, text-oriented world places authority in the written versions of a text. Walton and Sandy claim the practice of placing authority in a written form of the text is anachronistic and alien to the ancient world (p67). Making this distinction naturally leads to a re-evaluation of the concept of inerrancy and the locus of biblical authority.
Evidence is drawn from various places, including other ancient works and writers such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Rabbinic teachings. The oral-nature of Jesus’ teachings and subsequent transmission is discussed, as well as, a short chapter on the definition and use of the term logos and the meaning of “god-breathed” in the New Testament. Examples of the hearing-centered nature of the biblical world are illustrated with passages from throughout the Old and New Testaments. In this manner, the topics addressed in the book represent a different approach to issues which have lead to much evangelical anxiety regarding the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible.
A central point on which their argument turns involves a nuanced distinction between the intended truth or outcome of the communication and the context-conditioned expression of that intention. Walton and Sandy draw from speech-act theory and state that biblical authority is in the illocution of the author (which is concomitant with the illocution of God who inspired the author), whereas accommodation to language and culture occur in the specific locutions of the biblical text (p46). Because ancient hearers/readers focused on the traditions and their authoritative tradents, exact wording of the written text was not necessary to preserve and transmit reliable representations of inspired truth (proposition #13). This realization allows for variants in the text without compromising its validity as an inspired text. It also, rightly, brings into focus the need to distinguish between what a text is, and is not, meant to communicate. For example, in proposition #4 of the book they argue that the “scientifically inaccurate” portions of the Bible should not be considered to be errors or mistakes in the biblical text. Rather, it should be understood that the purpose of the text is theological.
This book would serve as a good introduction to larger questions of how to understand concepts of inerrancy and authority for the Bible. The book provides much in the way of background information and needed distinctions between the ancient and modern world, but leaves open-ended the discussion of the impact of such information. For example, how should a modern reader (with no direct access to oral traditions) read and understand written scripture differently? This book would be well suited for a university course on biblical hermeneutics or exegesis, but is also appropriate for a general audience with some background in biblical study and a desire to learn more.
Reviewed by Adam Harger
University of St. Andrews
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with us.