There has been much debate among researchers about the presence of formal education in Ancient Israel. There are scholars who believe the development of the linear alphabet led to widespread literacy in Ancient Israel and other parts of the Near East. However, there are others who believe, that while the linear alphabet was less extensive than the previously, pictographic texts used by the Phoenicians and Egyptians, there was still a learning curve which would have taken more than just a few days to learn. Even if it was possible to learn the alphabet in a few days and even be able to read shortly thereafter, it did not necessarily mean a person could write. By looking at the morphology of words and even the use of proper grammar in certain texts including proper spacing between words, found in the archaeological record, researchers can see that certain individuals had more skill when it came to executing the letters of the alphabet properly and consistently and create sentences that made sense while others could perhaps write the alphabet but not necessarily in a uniform and concise manner. This would suggest there was a certain amount of formalized training when it came to literacy. It would also suggest a learning curve when it came to writing as well as different skill levels when it came to literacy. The Development of literacy was a gradual process and probably had more to do with a changing economy rather than based solely on the development of the linear alphabet. Perhaps one of the largest challenges this field of study has had to overcome and is still overcoming is the integration of both Biblical evidence of literacy as well as evidence of literacy found in the archaeological record. William Schniedewind states that “on...
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...e not necessarily able to write but archaeological discoveries…show that writing and reading were widely practiced…” (Millard 45)
Works Cited
King, Philip J., and Lawrence E. Stager. Life in Biblical Israel. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001. Print.
Mandell, Alice. "Literacy, Iron Age." The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Archaeology. Ed. Daniel M. Master. 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Millard, Alan. "Literacy in the Time of Jesus- Could the Words of Jesus Have Been Recorded in His Lifetime?" The Biblical Archaeology Review 29 (2003): 36-45. Print.
Rollston, Christopher A. "Scribal Education in Ancient Israel: The Old Hebrew Epigraphic Evidence." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 344 (2006): 47-74. Print.
Schniedewind, William M. "Orality and Literacy in Ancient Israel." Religious Studies Review. 26.4 (2000): 327-332. Print.
Without the Mesopotamians we would not have all the luxury we have today. Could you ever imagine a world without writing? You may think, life would not be so bad without it, but without writing we would not have stories, we could not write to the bank, we could not text. Two major contributions made to society were the first forms of writing known as Cuneiform and Hammurabi’s Code.
Anson Rainey and R. Steven Notley are the authors of The Sacred Land Bridge, which is an Atlas of the biblical world and includes maps, pictures, and historical cementation as to the significance of this region. The biblical world that this atlas focuses on is defined as the eastern Mediterranean littoral, or more commonly called the Levant in modern archeological discussions. In my critique of this book I will be focusing on pages 30-34 which will define the boundaries and explain the importance of the Levant.
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
Writing is one of the many factors which can lead to an unequal world. Writing was “One of the most important inventions in human history” (Prososki, “Writing”). It was believed to come from the Fertile Crescent called Sumer around 5,000 years ago. Over the years, writing has advanced as people created writing and printing systems, which were able to reach
Tigay, Jeffry. “'Heavy of Mouth' and 'Heavy of Tongue' on Moses' Speech Difficulty.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (Oct., 1978): 57-67
Writing is perhaps the most important building block of communication - after verbal speech, of course. Writing, like most of human civilization, has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia. The first writing systems began in a style known as cuneiform (Cuneiform, 2013). These wedge-shaped markings have their roots in Sumerian culture and were used predominantly for record keeping and accounting. At the archaeological site of Uruk in what is modern day Iraq, a great wealth of knowledge has been gained from the artifacts located there. Uruk was a ceremonial site and is home to the world’s oldest known documented written documents (Price and Feinman, 2013). The documents discovered list quantities of goods that may have been stored at Uruk, leading archaeologists to believe that writing in this part of the world was developed primarily to keep lists of transactions and stockpiled quantities of goods located at the site.
“I would at time feel that learning to read and write had been a curse rather than a blessing.” In the Autobiography The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass An American Slave by Fredrick Douglass, Fredrick unfolds his journey being a young boy that is born into slavery, believing that it was normal, and was educated by his Mistress. His Mistress was able to teach him the alphabet before Fredrick’s Master, the mistress’ husband, disclosed the “lessons”. Being that it was forbidden to educate slaves in their society, the Master warned his wife that if anyone found out that she was educating a slave there would be consequences. Since Fredrick had at least knew his alphabet, he knew that he could learn more, where his motivation to expand his literacy, was awoken.
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
Humans have been using written language to communicate ideas with one another since as early as 3200 BCE in Mesopotamia. Since then, every great civilization has had a written language, each with its own unique characteristics. However, it was the writin...
LaSor, W., Hubbard, D., Bush, F., & Allen, L. (1996). Old Testament survey: The message, form, and background of the Old Testament (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans
Hirshman, M. G. (2006). A rivalry of genius: Jewish and Christian biblical interpretation in late antiquity. Albany: State University of New York Press.
"Open Book Newsletter No. 1: The Bible and Western Literature by Peter J. Leithart January, 1991." Biblical Horizons » No. 1: The Bible and Western Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
... helped the architecture to have accurate measurements . Another civilization that also developed a system of writing was China. The written language could be easily to read and understand, but when they spoke it it was difficult to understand. This civilization had a big advantage with the system of writing because all parts of china everyone could learn the language even if they already spoke a different language. This helped make a great civilization because it unifies a large and diverse land and this helped to control it easier. One disadvantage it has is that the writing system has a lot of things to memorize. So if you were a wealthy kid and went to a good school you could memorize the major part of the language, but if you were in the lower class and went to a cheap school then you had trouble learning the language because they didn’t teach the whole language
Collins, John J. A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007.
Literacy is a powerful and important skill that every person should have the chance to learn. Literacy allows a person to have a successful career and education, communicate with other people, and form and express educated opinions and thoughts. The struggles of an illiterate person are shown in an excerpt from “Learning to Read and Write,” which was written by a former slave, Fredrick Douglas. Throughout the excerpt, Douglas describes the many obstacles and hardships he faced while learning to read and write. In one instance, he shows how literacy plays an important role in having and keeping a job.