Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

William J. Urbrock. "Formula and Theme in the Song-Cycle of Job." In Society of Biblical Literature, 1972 Proceedings (September 1-5), vol. 2. Missoula: Scholars Press. pp. 459-87.

Explains the discrepancies between the Masoretic and Old Greek texts of the Book of Job as the result of an oral tradition underlying the manuscripts, a "traditional song cycle" (p. 459). Illustrates formulaic and thematic content, giving numerous examples and discussing morphology at both levels. Notes traditional word-pairs as a formulaic device (as well as formulas and systems) and contends that "the Joban song-cycle... is built up entirely of themes common to the laments in the Psalter, in the so-called Confessions of Jeremiah and in the allied Book of Lamentations; of themes common to the traditional Wisdom of the biblical Book of Proverbs and of other Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom literature; and of other themes current in the hymnic, legislative, or folk-tale traditions of Israel and her neighbors" (pp. 471-72). Adds that oral transmission may well have continued after the initial encoding into written form.
Area: BI