Orality

We were privileged to have Dr. James B. Slack for two sessions last week. He gave an excellent talk on “Orality”, which recognizes that many cultures (including the tribes of the Amazon) put the emphasis on storytelling to preserve history and culture and to educate their people. Historically, missionaries have brought the Bible and “non-oral” teaching to oral cultures, and ignored oral methods of teaching.

Oral cultures have very distinctive traits, which must be addressed if we are to reach the “orals” their hearts. We can come to them with our words, our expository preaching and our examples. By the grace of God, some may “get it”, but the teachings are unlikely to be taken to heart, remembered or reproduced by someone who grows up in an oral culture.

Having studied American Sign Language and having lived with and ministered to the Deaf, I confess that I found this particular topic absolutely fascinating. Jim was rattling off the many characteristics present in an oral people group, some of which are:

• Emphasis on storytelling to teach and to preserve culture
• Reluctance to ask questions
• Unfamiliarity with rationality and logic
• Respond emotionally to ideas contrary to accepted teaching
• Very tight cultural relationships which orals are reluctant to severe
• Repetition is important
• Inability to understand or remember outlines

As I listened, I couldn’t help but think that he was describing so many of the characteristics and culture of the Deaf. I immediately checked online to see if someone else had made the connection and found thousands of links pertaining to that.

Another application of this address is the education of small children, since they love stories and are (as yet) unable to read and think logically. It really made me think about how I can better communicate with Ian in the future.