Author: Graham, William Albert [1943- ]
Title: Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion
Description: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, (1987). orig.boards. 23x15cm, xiv,306 pp. Some minor rubbing to binding extremities. VG. ¶ Contents: Written and Spoken Words: Writing and written culture; The print textuality of modern culture; Books, reading and literacy in the premodern west; Written and Spoken Scripture: Scripture in Judeo-Christian perspective; Holy writ and holy word; Scripture as spoken word: the Indian paradigm; Part III. 'An Arabic Reciting': Qur'an as Spoken Book: Revelation and recitation; Muslim scripture as spoken word; Voicing the Qur`an: questions of meaning Part IV. 'The Lively Oracles of God': Bible as Spoken Word: The spoken word of Christian holy writ; God's word in the desert; Hearing and seeing: the rhetoric of Martin Luther; Conclusion. [" Explores the nature and function of scripture as a global religious phenomenon. Graham probes the history of literacy, focusing on our relationship to books and the written word in the modern West and its background in Western civilization; he then considers the oral functions of scriptual texts in several major literate traditions in history. Beyond the Written Word examines the problem of scripture and the importance of holy writ and holy word in religious life, concentrating on the unique orality of Indian sacred texts. Using the Hindu case as a paradigm for oral scripture, the study contemplates the oral dimensions of the Qur'an and the Christian Bible. Graham's multi-disciplinary approach makes this work of interest to students of comparative religion, history, anthropology, and philology, and to the clergy of several faiths." - Publisher's description]

Keywords: History of Religion, Comparative, Sacred Books, Koran Bible, Islam Christianity, Theology, Word of God, Oral Written, Scripture Islamic