S21-209 Bible in Ancient and Modern Media

11/21/2015 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Room: University (Atlanta Conference Level) - Hyatt
Theme: Orality, Textuality, and Historiography
This session explores how notions and theories of orality can illuminate our understanding of historiography. In recent years, scholars working in a variety of geographical and historical fields have considered the role of historiography in ancient societies, especially since the level of literacy in these societies remained low and therefore the most common experience of historiography may have been the performance (reading aloud) of written texts. Therefore, although historiography is typically understood as a product of literate society, what might an understanding of historiography informed by studies of orality have to offer current scholarly discussions? What influence on the written texts of historiography might a practice of them being read aloud in public settings have on the composition and reception of the written texts? This panel will provide an opportunity for scholars specializing in different corpora of historiographic literature to enter into dialogue about these questions and explore the ways in which specific texts can inform the broader comparative conversation about the interplay of orality, textuality, power, and authority.

Raymond Person, Ohio Northern University, Presiding

Christine Mitchell, St. Andrew's College - Saskatoon
Chronicles as Oral Text (30 min)
Steve Mason, University of Groningen
Josephus' Recitation of His Judaean War: Some Implications (30 min)
Shem Miller, University of Mississippi
Historiography in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Orality, Performance, and Memory in the Peshrim (30 min)
Beth M. Sheppard, Duke University Divinity School
To Be Continued: Multi-volume Greco-Roman Histories, Attention Spans, and Luke-Acts (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)