Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word - Monoskop
Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word - Monoskop
Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word - Monoskop
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SOME THEOREMS 175<br />
religions have also been interiorized by <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> sacred<br />
texts: <strong>the</strong> Vedas, <strong>the</strong> Bible, <strong>the</strong> Koran. In Christian teaching oralityliteracy<br />
polarities are particularly acute, probably more acute than<br />
in any o<strong>the</strong>r religious tradition, even <strong>the</strong> Hebrew. For in Christian<br />
teaching <strong>the</strong> Second Person <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> One Godhead, who redeemed<br />
mankind from sin, is known not only as <strong>the</strong> Son but also as <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>Word</strong> <strong>of</strong> God. In this teaching, God <strong>the</strong> Fa<strong>the</strong>r utters or speaks His<br />
<strong>Word</strong>, his Son. He does not inscribe him. <strong>The</strong> very Person <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Son is constituted as <strong>the</strong> <strong>Word</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Fa<strong>the</strong>r. Yet Christian<br />
teaching also presents at its core <strong>the</strong> written word <strong>of</strong> God, <strong>the</strong><br />
Bible, which, back <strong>of</strong> its human authors, has God as author as no<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r writing does. In what way are <strong>the</strong> two senses <strong>of</strong> God’s<br />
‘word’ related to one ano<strong>the</strong>r <strong>and</strong> to human beings in history? <strong>The</strong><br />
question is more focused today than ever before.<br />
So are countless o<strong>the</strong>r questions involved in what we now know<br />
about orality <strong>and</strong> literacy. <strong>Orality</strong>-literacy dynamics enter<br />
integrally into <strong>the</strong> modern evolution <strong>of</strong> consciousness toward both<br />
greater interiorization <strong>and</strong> greater openness.