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

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.

Review Quotes

"Because the Bible is written Scripture, it is only natural that we read and interpret it as literature. What is often lost is appreciation for the Bible's orality. In this concise and insightful book, Brent Sandy shows how modern readers can recognize Scripture's oral dimension and reach a whole new level of insight. Hear Ye the Word of the Lord will serve both church and academy well."

"Brent Sandy wakes up readers to the fact that while reading seems natural to us, it was not natural to ancient people, people who first experienced the events of the Bible. With conversational prose arranged in digestible sections, Hear Ye the Word of the Lord offers a fresh approach to this vital aspect of ancient cultures, so that those who hear it walk away not only much better informed concerning orality, but also inspired to engage with Scripture more holistically, creatively, and therefore, more faithfully. Sandy's contribution will tune our ears to listen better to the One speaking to us through Scripture."

"Brent Sandy's work on the orality of the gospel for the first two centuries has tremendous implications for the relation between church and Bible, and even the relationship between salvation and justification. I recommend this book for all those interested in these profound subjects."

"God's Word moved from being spoken and heard to being written and read. As Christianity moved westward, hearing as a community changed to reading as an individual. We now prefer written to oral. Brent Sandy urges us to allow a reader to perform Scripture. When, in a booming voice, the reader exclaims, 'The voice of the Lord twists the oaks, ' we feel God's majesty. When the reader shouts 'Hosanna!' the electric energy of the triumphal entry courses in our veins. Sandy reminds us as a group: hear the Word of the Lord."

"In the way of Tertullian, What hath textuality to do with orality? Brent Sandy dispels and distills several misunderstandings for modern readers and interpreters of the Bible who regularly forget that people living in biblical times didn't enjoy individual, leather-bound copies of God's Word. Rather, living in oral cultures, they heard the Scriptures read aloud. Sandy takes us on an important journey to appreciate how understanding orality and oral cultures informs our interpretation of Scripture beyond what the world of the written text imparts to us in isolation. This book is a godsend for preachers and teachers who must grapple with both the textuality and orality of Scripture."

"Long overdue, Sandy's latest contribution reminds digital natives around the globe of the 'big forgot' in relation to canon construction, interpretation, and communication-its original oral nature. The Bible's relational, experiential-based text, Sandy correctly concludes, requires an oral hermeneutic. Such will offer 'hearers' a richer, more robust understanding of Scripture without devaluing the inspired text. Timely, thorough, trustworthy."

"To read well, we have to listen well. This book shows how God communicated for the ear, not primarily for the eye. Realizing this can help us hear, heed, treasure, and rightly handle the Word of life."

"What would happen if we reminded ourselves every time we encountered the Bible that most all of its original audiences were listeners rather than readers? What would happen if we tried to read it not in a monotone but in a way intended to animate people with tone of voice and cadence, or if we retold biblical stories true to their historical contexts in first-person narrative? Brent Sandy challenges us to better understand the Bible's orality and reawakens our interest in its content. Thanks, Brent!"

"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."

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.