Sermons as Platforms for Textualizing Secondary Orality

Abstract This paper investigates the textualization of sermons in two closely related cultures, namely Christianity and Judaism in third and fourth century CE Caesarea. In this mediterranean city, the Church Father Origen and Rabbi Abbahu were active, among other things delivering sermons to their respective communities, which were highly literate and versed in the Holy Scriptures. The paper points to significant differences between the processes of textualizing and transmitting this type of secondary orality in the sermons among Christians and Jews respectively.