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How Scripture Came to Be
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Oral Tradition and the Formation of Sacred Scripture

We live in a culture formed and dependent upon written material. This has grown in importance from handwritten texts and legal documents through printed books through the information age.



An ancient nomadic people depended upon oral tradition.



The purpose of the shared story was less to give a chronological account (what and when) than to give a reason for the existence of the group (why).



Memorization was the key, but it was not rote memorization. The basic outline was the same, and usually related in a communal setting (such as the celebration of an important feast). Oral style demanded that the storyteller stick to the well-known plot or the basic outline of the facts, but he often varied the details and the order of minor incidents, or even added in extra episodes if the celebration were a big one. He worked to create the most pleasing effect and the best presentation of the occasion... (Boadt, p. 77)



Comparison of ancient and modern techniques to record events: (cf. Boadt)

Ancient		Modern
While recording the tradition, interprets their meaning for the tribe.		Attempts to reconstruct past events objectively and accurately.
Uses oral sources with few written documents or lists.		Relies on documents and written records.
Can include several parallel versions of the same story.		Sorts out the conflicting accounts in order to find the single "right" one.
Gives rough approximations of dates and places.		Carefully searches out the chronology and locations.
Relies on fixed types of literary descriptions or motifs.		Tries to get "behind" the literary genres and narrative modes to find out what really happened.
Uses a "common sense" approach that is not dependent on every fact.		Uses all the critical tools and means of information to check sources and their claims.

Chronology of how the Pentateuch moved from an oral tradition to a written text: (cf. Anderson)

BCE
1800 to 1300		Patriarchal period (Abraham and after)		Beginning of the oral tradition
1300 to 1250		Mosaic period
1250 to 1000		Israelite Confederacy (Joshua and Judges)		Israelite story shaped orally
1000 to 587		Period of the Monarchy (David to the Exile)		Beginning of written Pentateuchal tradition
587 to 400		Period of Exile and restoration (to Ezra)		Completion of the Pentateuchal canon