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The scholar Birger Gerhardsson offers up a sharp, contrasting view to that of Bultmann and the
form critics in regards to oral tradition. Where the form critics provided a much looser,
uncontrolled view of orality that shaped the Jesus tradition through various communities,
Gerhardsson’s model drew from a much more structured and rigid form of rabbinic Judaism’s
methods for transmitting oral information. This model is centered on memorization or as Bailey
defines it: “formal controlled oral tradition.”86 He (Gerhardsson) cited the methods employed
by the rabbis from the Tannaitic and Amoraic periods and posited that this was most likely the
way oral tradition was transmitted in the early Christian communities.87 In these rabbinic
traditions, exact and accurate transmission was of the utmost importance.88 There were
individuals that were equipped with the specific skills needed to ensure the accurate
preservation of tradition.89 In these traditions students were taught to read the scriptures by
pouring over them incessantly until they were memorized.90 This memorization was vital for
accuracy in recitation, preservation, and also for the scripture’s use in a liturgical setting.91
In a similar way, students at schools of learning were taught the oral Torah by trained
teachers until they had memorized the material.92 It was through this repetitive recitation
86
Bailey, 5.
Kelber, Chapter 1.
88
Ibid.
89
Ibid.
90
Ibid.
91
Ibid.
92
Ibid.
87