tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post3753957754624595262..comments2024-03-23T12:05:13.464-07:00Comments on Ideas: Iceland, Shari'a, and the Reliability of Oral TransmissionDavid Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-88893075508469639102012-04-23T09:38:39.304-07:002012-04-23T09:38:39.304-07:00An indication of how long oral transmission can la...An indication of how long oral transmission can last (& its weakness) is an early story of Merlin, probably about 500 AD which refers to him having flown the Stonehenge stones from Ireland.<br /><br />In fact they were mined in Wales about 3,100 BC. But Wales was, for the time, at a comparably vast distance & the variation is not spectacular. It seems that some knowledge of the stones being floated around Britain's coastline had been orally transmitted over a 3,600 year period.neil craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09157898238945726349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-70808356225488524092012-03-12T19:45:25.303-07:002012-03-12T19:45:25.303-07:00I have no idea how much is known about the origin ...I have no idea how much is known about the origin of the various documents and authors -- but the origin of "new" information should fit a gravity model. That's an approach I thought would be interesting as I read "The Truth About Cats and Dogs".SheetWisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13762534904369877435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-64668865152576744652012-03-12T19:31:33.520-07:002012-03-12T19:31:33.520-07:00Have you ever run across a book with the provocati...Have you ever run across a book with the provocative title <i>Who Wrote the Bible?</i> Its author makes the case that the Old Testament was in fact composed during a specific period in the history of monarchic Israel, and can be shown to be so from internal evidence. You might find interesting parallels in his arguments.William H. Stoddardhttp://whswhs.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-22146645599656202172012-03-12T14:10:38.353-07:002012-03-12T14:10:38.353-07:00The parallel makes sense as far as concern for gen...The parallel makes sense as far as concern for general veracity. Regarding law, however, the incentives seem to differ. Why bother to misrepresent Icelandic law? With Islamic law, original words continue to matter, so there is significant incentive to make favorable, possibly biased recordings. On the other hand, the countervailing incentive to check and document oral transmission should increase credibility, at least a little.blinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14029828823460781386noreply@blogger.com