Jamie Graham— Abram Quote:The Relationship Between Christianity and the Spread of the Alphabet

 “Thus it was that the progressive spread of Christianity was largely dependent upon the spread of the alphabet, and, conversely, that Christian missions and missionaries were by far the greatest factor in the advancement of alphabetic literacy in both the medieval and the modern eras.” (Abram p. 254)

    In Abram’s The Spell of the Sensuous he comments on how the spread of Christianity went hand in hand with the spread of the alphabet/literacy. This made me consider what implications this had for oral cultures. Christian missionaries effectively spread literacy because the technology of the alphabet was essential to replacing the existing oral world view. Oral traditions are inherently fluid and constantly adapting, forgetting outdated information to reflect present needs. Christianity, however, requires fidelity to a fixed, unchangeable text (the Bible) written centuries ago. To establish Christian authority, missionaries had to install the alphabet as the sole technology capable of storing God’s eternal truth.

    I think this introduction of the alphabet must have shifted toward the individualism that we experience today, dissolving communal authority. In an oral cultures, knowledge and authority often resides with the elders who collectively possess the memory. Literacy encourages the individual reader to engage silently and directly with the text, bypassing the need for a communal interpreter. This personal relationship with the sacred text aligned with the Christian emphasis on individual conscience and personal salvation.


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