| Author(s): | Levy, Gabriel |
| Title: | The Biblical polemic against divination in light of the domestication of folk psychology |
| Category: | book chapter |
| Length (pages): | 30 |
| Keywords: | literacy; relevance; RT; Davidson; writing; language; Hebrew Bible; prophecy |
| |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes that the polemic against divination in the Hebrew Bible should be understood in the context of the invention of writing. The polemic was a result of reflection on folk psychology made possible by robust literacy. The first part of this paper presents some background about the production of scrolls and the effects of literacy. I then use the communication theories of Wilson, Sperber, and Davidson to generate five communicative principles in the domain of folk psychology, which I argue change in the context of ‘advanced’ literacy. The effects of writing on the communicative principles are understood in terms of the differences between divination and prophecy. I argue for a new form of Biblical criticism that I term cognitive criticism. |
| |
| Remarks: | |
| |
| Email: | gjl @ umail.ucsb.edu |
| Bibliography: | |
| URL: | |
| Downloadable files: | ARC-6-DivinationpolemicpaperLEVY.pdf |
| |
| Submitted: | 14/11/2006 10:06:21 (DD / MM / YYYY) |
| Published: | 14/11/2006 12:42:14 (DD / MM / YYYY) |