The Interplay Between Written and Spoken Word in the Second Testament as Background to the Emergence of Written Gospels

Although comprised of self-consciously written texts, the New Testament reflects an intersection between oral and written words and worlds. In this paper, I undertake a survey of the New Testament with respect to the language of written and spoken word in an effort to identify where they overlap, ways in which they shape one another, places where they describe distinct worlds, and the social dynamics associated with each kind of word. In the conclusion I suggest ways in which the interplay between written and spoken word led to the emergence of the Gospels.