Abstract
This essay explores the rich interactions between the fields of folklore and biblical studies over the course of the 20th century until the present. The essay argues for the continued relevance of folklore and related fields to an appreciation of ancient Israelite cultures and their artistic inventions. It concludes with several case studies that underscore the fruitful realizations that emerge from this sort of interdisciplinary humanistic work.
Highlights
The fields of biblical studies and folklore studies have always shared much in terms of content and methodology
One thread in this work engages with the texture of biblical literature, questions about oral composition, oral-traditional style, and the implications of finding such evidence in biblical literature
The emphasis is on particular styles of repetition and formulicity and interest in the performance settings and occasions in which such works may have been created, shared with audiences, and preserved
Summary
The fields of biblical studies and folklore studies have always shared much in terms of content and methodology. The emphasis is on particular styles of repetition and formulicity and interest in the performance settings and occasions in which such works may have been created, shared with audiences, and preserved Another related thread of study deals with content, that is motifs and recurring patterns within literature, whether narratives or other forms, and again with the implications of such forms for an appreciation of Israelite culture, contexts, and concerns. The findings of Near Eastern archaeologists, pots and statuary, burial sites and the remains of dwellings, monumental buildings and simple structures, contribute to the study of ancient Israelite cultures and worldviews as do biblical descriptions of physical and embodied behaviors in ritual processes and prophetic activity In these ways, as with folklorists, scholars of the Hebrew Bible engage with “texture, text, and context” to use terminology offered by folklorist. Alan Dundes (1980a, p. 20): style and choice of language; content and patterns of content; and setting and cultural location
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