Hear Ye the Word of the Lord - by D Brent Sandy (Paperback)

About the Book

In today's reading culture, it is easy to forget that we receive God's message far differently from how the original hearers would have heard it. D. Brent Sandy explores how oral communication shaped biblical writers and ancient hearers, and provides constructive ways for modern readers to be better hearers and performers of Scripture.

Book Synopsis

ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover Award

Long before the words of the Bible were written, God's communication through the spoken word rang out loud and clear. Jesus in particular commissioned representatives to speak on his behalf even during the time of his earthly ministry. And yet today we are a reading culture. It is easy for modern Christians to take for granted that the Bible was handed down in written form, but the way we receive God's message is far different from how the original hearers would have heard it. These differences not only shape the way that we hear God's message to his people, but they put us at risk of misunderstanding his revelation.

In Hear Ye the Word of the Lord, biblical scholar D. Brent Sandy explores how oral communication shaped the ways that biblical writers received God's message--and even more importantly, how the ancient and modern faithful receive it through hearing. Filled with helpful biblical insights related to oral communication and constructive ways for modern readers to become better hearers and performers of Scripture, Hear Ye the Word of the Lord provides a constructive way forward for readers interested in exploring how we can better hear God's Word.

Review Quotes

"Why do we pour so much more thought and effort into the preaching and teaching of Scripture than into its public reading? Is it because we neither understand nor value that the authors of Scripture, communicating in predominantly oral cultures, wrote more for the ear than the eye? If so, then Hear Ye the Word of the Lord is an enlightening corrective, compellingly calling the church not to neglect the power of the spoken and heard Word but instead to adapt our reading and hearing to the ways the initial audiences heard and understood. In this volume, Brent Sandy not only provokes the academic to consider the impact of orality on the transmission and interpretation of Scripture but also provides creative and workable applications for the local church practitioner who wants to elevate the public reading (and therefore hearing) of Scripture in the gathered community of believers."

--Kip Cone, lead pastor of Winona Lake Grace Church

About the Author

D. Brent Sandy (PhD, Duke University) taught New Testament and Greek at Wheaton College and chaired the Department of Religious Studies at Grace College. He is coauthor (with John Walton) of The Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and Biblical Authority and author of Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic.