Sound Mapping the New Testament

In the Hellenistic world, writings were read aloud, heard and remembered. But modern exegesis assumes a silent text. According to Margaret Lee & Brandon Scott, the disjuncture between ancient and modern approaches to literature obscures the beauty and meaning in writings such as the New Testament. Further, the structure of a Hellenistic Greek composition derives from its sounds and not from the meaning of its words. Analysis of the sound dimension, they argue, is therefore foundational to interpreting the composition. Sound Mapping the New Testament opens with an exploration of writing technology in the Greco-Roman world. It then turns to Hellenistic literary criticism for descriptions of grammar as a science of sound and literary composition as a woven fabric of speech. Based on these perspectives and a close analysis of writings from the four gospels, Paul, and Q, it advances a theory of sound analysis that will enable modern readers to hear the New Testament afresh.