The Return of Oral Hermeneutics () von Tom Steffen

Have Western exegetes turned an Eastern book into a Western one? Has our fondness for a fixed printed text capable of being analyzed with precision and exactitude blinded us to other hermeneutic possibilities? Does God require all people to be able to analyze grammar to interpret Scripture? Does God assume all people can interpret Scripture through oral means? The authors recognize the effects of centuries of literacy socialization that produced a blind spot in the Western Christian world--the neglect by most in the academies, agencies, and assemblies of the foundational and forceful role orality had on the biblical text and teaching. From the inspired spoken word of the prophets, including Jesus (pre-text), to the elite literate scribes who painstakingly hand-printed the sacred text, to post-text interpretation and teaching, the footprint of orality throughout the entire process is acutely visible to those having the oral-aural influenced eyes of the Mediterranean ancients. Could oral hermeneutics be the "mother of relational theology"?

Tom Steffen is professor emeritus of intercultural studies at the Cook School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University. He specializes in church multiplication, orality, honor and shame, and business as mission. Some of his books includePassing the Baton, Reconnecting Gods Story to Ministry,Great Commission Companies (with Steve Rundle),Encountering Missionary Life and Work(with Lois McKinney Douglas), andThe Facilitative Era.



Bill Bjoraker, PhD Fuller Theological Seminary, served in pastoral and teaching roles in Israel for eight years in the 1980s. He is ordained with the Assemblies of God and is on faculty at William Carey International University. He is a specialist in Jewish studies and has employed oral strategies and storytelling in teaching the Bible in academia and in Jewish ministry since 2008.