“They Understand Only from their Stories”: Oral Bible Performance as Embodied Communication in a Southeast Asian Hindu Context

Primary research conducted in a Southeast Asian Hindu context found an atypically high percentage of Christian workers, both local and expatriate, prefered using oral Bible storying in evangelism and discipleship. This finding was made more surprising by the diversity of denominations and ministries employing multimodal oral approaches. Explanations for this phenomenon differed. Expatriate missionaries appealed to pragmatism, observing that oral methods seemed to function well when other strategies had not. Hindu background believers, however, concluded that oral delivery of Scripture was effective due to the religious context and specifically Southeast Asian Hindu views of sacred texts.

Hinduism generally believes that the spoken versions of their sacred texts are more authoritative and spiritually beneficial than written texts. These particular Southeast Asian Hindus are similar in their emphasis on the ritual recitation of texts; however, they also reverence some of their sacred texts to the point of fear.

The use of oral strategies in this context is not merely a pedagogically suitable strategy for reaching oral preference learners. Orality works well in this and other contexts because oral approaches are more continuous with their existing cognitive categories for religious expression. This is a case of religious localization that relies heavily on comparative theologies of sacred texts, and it holds implications for oral strategies in other contexts.