Last week we talked about why oral tradition can be trustworthy. This week we widen the lens: a lot of what we assume about “oral tradition” also applies to written tradition, because in the ancient world writing and orality weren’t sealed-off categories.

We walk through Jan Vansina’s Oral Tradition as History to sort out key distinctions (oral history vs. oral tradition, “news” vs. interpretation, genres, and why stories inevitably get shaped in transmission). Then we connect the dots with David M. Carr’s Writing on the Tablet of the Heart, which argues that many ancient texts were written as memory aids for performance — more like a musical score than a modern book meant for silent, cold reading and reference.

If we take that seriously, it changes how we think about:

- why multiple textual traditions exist (including what we see reflected in the NT and preserved at Qumran),

- why scribal education mattered so much,

- and why the formation and stabilization of Scripture is a process — not a threat.

Resources mentioned

- Jan Vansina, [Oral Tradition as History](https://www.amazon.com/Oral-Tradition-History-Jan-Vansina/dp/0299102149/)

- David M. Carr, [Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature](https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Tablet-Heart-Scripture-Literature/dp/0195172973/)

Key ideas you’ll hear

- Oral history (within living memory) vs. oral tradition (passed between generations)

- “News” becomes interpretation, and memory fills gaps

- Genre and worldview shape meaning (and outsiders can misread both)

- The “floating gap”: why communities often remember origins + the near past most strongly

- Ancient “literacy” as oral-written mastery (memorize + perform + reproduce)

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: [genesismarksthespot.com](http://genesismarksthespot.com/)

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

00:00:00 What is “history”?
00:02:47 Oral and written tradition similarities
00:04:00 Two key books: Vansina + Carr
00:08:28 Vansina: memory, meaning, and why tradition exists
00:10:22 Oral history vs oral tradition
00:11:50 News vs interpretation vs fiction
00:17:42 Categories of oral tradition
00:24:53 The “floating gap”
00:31:30 How traditions stabilize, self-correct, or drift
00:35:09 Insider/outsider meaning; genre is culture-bound
00:41:03 What is worldview?
00:46:25 Carr: a new model of scribal writing
00:49:03 Literacy: memorize + perform + reproduce
00:54:09 Israel, canon, exile, and why this isn’t a threat
01:02:57 Diffusion of ideas isn’t “borrowing” or sinister polemic