Orality, Literacy and Memory in the Composition and Transmission of Christian Ezra Apocalypses

Abstract

ABSTRACTA cluster of Christian Ezra apocalypses from the 2nd to 9th century, namely the Greek Apocalypse of Esdras, the Greek Apocalypse of Sedrach and the Latin Vision of Ezra, clearly draw their inspiration from the first-century Jewish apocalypse 4 Ezra (2 Esdras 3–14) and share many common features among themselves. Yet conventional textual criticism has failed to offer a satisfactory explanation to account for their similarities and divergences both among themselves and vis-à-vis other apocalyptic works not in the pseudonym of Ezra. This article presents an alternative approach to explain textual relationship by taking into account 1) the role orality played in the process of composition, performance and transmission; 2) the interplay of orality and literacy; 3) the role of memory in the formation of traditions; and 4) eventually viewing textual relationship not as stemmatics but a network of traditions in a common religious and intellectual context.