Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

John Van Seters. "Oral Patterns or Literary Conventions in Biblical Narrative." In Oral Tradition and Old Testament Studies. Ed. Robert C. Culley. Special issue of Semeia, 5, i:139-54.

Responds to Gunn (1974a, 1974b), "who has challenged the thesis that a scribal convention is operative in the battle reports of the O[ld] T[estament] and has sought to show that prose patterns in Judges and Samuel may represent oral narrative formulae" (p. 139). Finding Gunn's choice of examples to be narrowly selective, Van Seters argues that these patterns are best explained in terms of common authorship or direct literary borrowing. See further Gunn 1976b.
Area: BI