Some Ramblings on the Reformation, Book Culture, Orality and Identity Issues In Biblical Scholarship and Bible Translation 1

It has been a few years now that Performance Criticism has appeared on the Biblical Scholarly field as a new perspective on Scripture interpretation and Scripture use. The formation of an academic discipline to study the actual influence of orality and performance, in the widest possible meaning of the word, of ancient Scripture composition and dissemination and the actual use and engagement with Scripture texts over the centuries has been a welcome addition to the academic toolbox. There are some already who can see this kind of academic "innovation" as fad, the new thing, something trendy and yet another way of moving away from good thorough Biblical scholarship. And there are some who mistakenly use this "new perspective" as a cudgel to bring down what they perceive as old fashioned, passé, useless, time constricted; the naive edifice of our past scholarly traditions.

Let me start by saying that to me the discipline of redaction, literary and other criticism, et al, are in fact complemented by Performance Criticism and vice versa; it is not a matter of an evolutionary selective better understanding but rather a selective focusing of yet another aspect which was always there and mentioned in the history of Scripture dissemination. It is a peculiar fact of Biblical studies history that, for example, that rhetorical criticism could arise to prominence but for a while in many circles neglected the the oral and gestural performance aspects, which are very basic to the ancient Greco-Roman rhetorical manuals!

As we think about the Reformation and its positive sides in challenging the status quo and the powers that be and its dark side in,for example, Martin Luther's virulent anti-Semitism and his explicit siding with the powerful against the German peasants, my mind always wanders to the use of the Book(books)and of writing/reading as a measure of intelligence and of profound spirituality. In Greco-Roman times we know that often the scribes and secretaries were slaves and from ancient times we see that the philosopher , the wise man, or the king could often not read and write himself. The reformation has brought with it an emphasis on print and on the book, on education by reading and writing which although very important, at times has become an ideological weapon of oppression against the great mass of people who are complete or functional illiterates, "those without the letter", "the hoi polloi", the "Am H'aretz".

One of the great benefits of Bible translation, besides the spiritual one, is that it does stimulate reading and writing and that Christian education and Bible engagement has led and does lead to the growth, emancipation of people groups. Bible translation in any language can offer the opportunity for emancipation and validation. Of course, history and present times show all too well that the same text(s) can and have been used to abuse, oppress and to dehumanize.

This "thing" about bringing orality and performance to the table as an important way of looking at the world and looking at the Bible hits a very profound cord with me as a person who has been formed by Western academia - for which I am very grateful - , while having his feet in the performance and oral oriented culture of the Creole Caribbean culture. Locked in the liminal reality of the-being in-between in terms of geography, language use, racial mixture and cultural creolization, I found in Performance Criticism an ally. Not so much a way to say this is a better way or even a weapon to fight the snobbery of the book culture to which part of me intrinsically belongs, but there was a deep sense of discovery and validation. Something from deep within which is part of who I am was being recognized by the academia and in the scholarly approach to the texts. Finally, Biblical studies and theoretical reflection had caught on with a key aspect of Christian practice and the reality of the masses' life in an explicit way.

I have come to realize that, just like in the case of the reformers, one cannot separate biography from theology and indeed, God speaks through our biography (individual and collectively). So in my case, I cannot but be emotionally, mentally and thus very personally involved, when talking thinking and acting out the Sacred text in a more than verbal and written manner. Do I want to throw away books and book culture? No, absolutely not! They have been my first friends and companions from early childhood, helping me escape the existencial reality I was born in. Do I think that languages that have no Scripture translation should be forced to be only content with oral texts? God forbid! But neither should they be deprived of their own orality through which the Spirit, collectively, does speak.

Decades ago, before I ever heard of Performance Criticism or orality studies, when studying with joy and enthusiasm in the class rooms of the great Western academic tradition of the Netherlands, I always sensed I was missing something and maybe "not being myself" totally, when taking on the academic garb . I remember one time in particular when I had to do a presentation for a philosophy class. I had prepared the paper according to academic requirements and decided that I would throw in a bit of "performance", bringing the text and the person of the Greek philosopher to life. The professor said afterwards: "Good presentation! But that latter part can better not be included, it lowers the academic value of what your doing." Or something to that effect. (I notice that as the years go by, this story in my mind has mushroomed its apocryphical syblings). It was only years afterwards that I realized what those words and other more subtle and implicit attitudes over years of education had done to me ---for a time I even fell in the trap of trying to be scholarly in the image of that professor or the institutions he represented.

Thank God, those times are behind us and we see that performance and orality is becoming a normal part of, for example, a meeting like the Society of Biblical Literature. I know this story is not unique and in a sense is actually true for all cultures that have encountered the Bible, even the "subculture" of the downtrodden masses in the so called global North!

Just wanted to share, for what it is worth, that to some of us the turn to orality and performance is not just a matter of academic practice or evolution, - or for sure not some type of avant garde snobbery - but rather a deep sense of validation of who we are and have been as a people. Without wanting to fall into the post-modern abyss of absolute relativity and total irrelevancy, it is so true thtat Scripture reading and scholary pursuit of the same cannot but be biographical and intensely incarnational and an embodiment on so many different levels.