From the Amphitheatre to Twitter: Cultivating Secondary Orality in Dialogue with Female Preachers

Abstract

Ever since the theory of orality and literacy was introduced, it has provided scholars with a deeper understanding of the intertwined nature of culture and communication, as well as an appreciated tool for analysis. This is true also for the field of World Christianity. As the era of digital media emerged, the theory was developed as a tool to interpret digital culture as a ‘secondary orality’. This article critiques and cultivates this theory, by showing how the analytical tool of orality, literacy and secondary orality might be sharpened. This is done in dialogue with the practice of female preachers. Preaching thus serves as an example for a wider discussion on the development of the theory. The sharpening of the tool is done through letting the complexity of practices inform the theory. Through historical case studies of three strategically chosen female preachers, four questions are identified that would be important to consider when the theory and its developments are used in analysis: genre of communication, the categories of body and space, and how authority is construed. Finally, the cultivated theory is applied in the analysis of a female preacher in a digital culture and space.