Foundations of Orality
Module 1
Lesson 2 – Disciplines of Orality
This lesson will focus on the 7 descriptive disciplines of orality employed by Jesus.
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The Best Teacher
Think about the favorite teacher you had…
😃🤔🤯 Why was this person your favorite teacher? Record an audiofile of yourself reflecting on what made this teacher so special.
The Master Teacher
Even in secular circles, Jesus is widely regarded as a master teacher.
😃🤔🤯 List at least 5 Bible passages of Jesus teaching. For each passage you enlisted, describe Jesus’ teaching approach, the audience, and the outcome of His lesson.
The “how” to say it
I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.
John 12:49, NLT
Today, most education, including theological education focuses on the content—on WHAT to say.
While content is king, what is the use if the content can’t be delivered?
Jesus understood HOW to package God’s message in a way, that people understood it clearly. People did not always agree with Jesus but they understood!
Communication model of Jesus
These are 7 distinct communication tools Jesus used to deliver His message and make it stick.
- Culture (Luke 10:25-37)
- Language (Mark 15:34)
- Literacies (Matthew 5:23-24)
- Networks (John 1:43-51)
- Memory (Luke 22:19)
- Arts (Matthew 26:30)
- Media (Luke 10:1)
😃🤔🤯 Find at least one more example for each communication tool Jesus used.
The 7 Disciplines of Orality
We call the 7 communication tools employed by Jesus the Disciplines of Orality.
Our Orality by Design module will come back to these 7 disciplines.
As you can see in the figure below, these 7 disciplines frame/package the content/message.
The Disciplines of Orality are also the foundation of the missiological definition of orality.
A complex utilizing 7 descriptive disciplines that expand the capacity of orality traits to help OTHERS receive, process, remember and pass on news, important information, and truths.
The 7 Disciplines of Orality are modeled after Jesus’ communication approach and have been proven to significantly increase the impact and retention of the message when all seven are applied.
The Orality Journal dedicated vol. 2 issue 2 entirely to the 7 disciplines of orality with a lead article by Charles Madinger serving as introduction.1
What follows now is a brief overview of the orality disciplines.
Culture 👓
What makes US us & them THEM?
Culture defines us. It is also what makes us different from others.
It shapes how we organize and understand the reality around us.
Here are just a few areas that our culture influences:
- Worldview
- Kinship
- Marriage & family
- Roles & relationships
- Appropriate dress & appearance
- Food and “manners”
- Stories, histories, myths
- Rituals, rites & celebrations
- Heroes
- Laws
- Taboos
- Symbols
- Technologies
😃🤔🤯 Consider a people group that is different from your own. If you’re living in a foreign country, think about the culture of your host country. Create a table like the one below to compare and contrast your culture with the other culture you’re reflecting on.
Remember, this exercise is about understanding differences, not determining which cultural traits are superior!
| My culture | Different culture |
|---|---|
| My worldview | Their worldview |
| My kinship system | Their kinship system |
| … | … |
Jesus & culture
The Biblical narrative did not occur in a vacuum. It was embedded in culture. So was Jesus. He was a contemporary of the Jewish culture of 2000 years ago.
😃🤔🤯 Read Luke 4:14-30 and make a list of at least 10 cultural references in the text.
Do you agree that knowing the cultural, geographical, political, economical, and historical background is helpful to understand the text?
Jesus knew and used His culture.
These are some examples from the text above: Jesus…
- began at His hometown synagogue: Jesus started His ministry by speaking at the synagogue in Nazareth, where He was well known.
- participated in the Sabbath gathering: He joined the community on the Sabbath, a day dedicated to worship and teaching in the synagogue.
- stood up to read from the Scriptures: Jesus was given the honor of reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, a significant moment in the Jewish tradition.
- rolled up the scroll with reverence: After reading, He carefully rolled up the scroll, showing deep respect for the sacred text.
- handed the scroll back to the attendant: He returned the scroll to the synagogue attendant, following the customary practice.
- quoted a well-known proverb: Jesus addressed the crowd, quoting the proverb, “Physician, heal yourself,” challenging their expectations.
- was taken out of town to be killed: His message provoked such anger that the people attempted to throw Him off a cliff, but He miraculously passed through the crowd unharmed.
Orality is about understanding and aligning with the communication preferences and tools specific to a culture. It’s recognizing how information is traditionally shared for more impactful communication.
Stay tuned; more content will be added soon!
Language 💬
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😃🤔🤯 Look for 2 or 3 volunteers for this activity and give each of them a pen and a piece of paper.
Don’t show them the geometrical figure and don’t look at their paper.
Use only words, describe the figure as they need to draw it on the paper.
After looking at the results: Are Language and Words sufissient for accurate communication?
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A Western teacher asks the students:
Use dandelion in a sentence.
African student answers:
De cheetah is faster dandelion.
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Literacies 🗺️
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Networks 🕸️
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Memory 🖼️
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Arts 🎨
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Media 📱
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Footnotes
- 📄 Madinger, Charles. “A Literate’s Guide to the Oral Galaxy.” Orality Journal 2, no. 2 (2013): 13–40. ↩︎
🎉Congratulations, you finished this lesson!
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