Hearing and Reading Biblical Texts: A Study of Difference - Mark 6:30 - 8:27a

Abstract

The thesis records a study of difference - the difference between reading and hearing biblical texts. It shows that the types of interpretation people make when reading such texts often differ from those they make when they are hearing the same texts read aloud. The extent of the difference is demonstrated in ten studies where theories relating to reading and hearing are applied to the Greek text of Mark 6:30-8:27a. The biblical texts used in the studies vary in the size, as do the themes and issues investigated. Despite this diversity the results are consistent across all ten studies. Almost all the assessments made in these studies are verified by independent data, such as the published opinions of biblical scholars and literary analyses of the Greek text. As elucidated in the thesis; the results attained, the method utilised and the theories employed are relevant for assessing the types of interpretation people are likely to make when reading and listening to other biblical stories. Because the research encompasses a literary issue and concerns the processes that are used in communication, the approach adopted is a literary one and the methodology incorporates media criticism and audience criticism. Other techniques, such as narrative criticism, rhetorical criticism, and reader response criticism are utilised extensively in the various analyses and assessments. The ten studies are preceded in the thesis by data as to the processes people use in reading texts and in listening to non-reciprocal speech. Such data includes information relating to experiments and studies into the communicative processes that have been carried out over the past fifty years. There is also data as to the theories that have been developed by scholars based on the results of such experiments and studies. These are the theories that are used in this thesis. There are also several analyses in the thesis which collectively demonstrate that texts used in Church liturgies should be those that have been specifically translated to meet the needs of listeners. This is a very important issue, because, even in very literate communities, there are still more Christians who listen to biblical texts being read than those who read such texts for themselves.