"Writing:" An Outline

Varied Authors. Encyclopedia Britannica (15^th Ed.). “Writing.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.

Writing is defined as a “system of human intercommunication by conventional visible symbols.  Two stages: (1) simple combination of pictures without a correspondence to linguistic elements (= semasiography) and (2) signs of writing, pictorial or linear, as substitutes for oral language (words, syllables, distinct sounds, etc.)

Still stunned (though it's unjustified given my wider experiences, "really knowing better" than to be surprised, but still--oddly and recently--stunned) by a recent TEC cleric who never studied a lick of Hebrew, Greek or Latin. A graduate of Sewannee too. What do they teach down there?  Or, at Virginia Seminary? I ought not be stunned, but am. Actually, am somewhat troubled by Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) Horton's systematic in terms of exegesis as well; I hope I’m wrong on the latter. We're mindful of Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) Wilhelm Hengstenberg'sl point:  "If you want to be a theologian, you need to be a theologian of the Old Testament first."  How does one do that without studying Hebrew?

The nature and origin of writing

1.      Communication as systems of signs

2.      Writing as a system of signs

3.      Evolution of writing

A.    Pictures

B.    Forerunners of writing

C.    Logosyllabic writing

D.   Syllabic writings

E.    Alphabetic writing

4.      Typology of writing

A.    Semasiography

B.    Phonography

C.    Metagraphy

5.      Writing systems

A.    General characteristics

B.    One origin or many

C.    Modern writings among “primitive societies”

D.   Specialized forms

Systems of writing

1.      Alphabetic writing

A.    Theories of the origins of the alphabet

B.    Development and diffusion of alphabets

C.    Major alphabets of the world

D.   Attempts to make an ideal alphabet

2.      Hieroglyphic writing

A.    Development of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing

B.    Characteristics of hieroglyphic writing

C.    Hieratic script

D.   Demotic script

E.    Decipherment of hieroglyphic writing

3.      Cuneiform

A.    Origin and development of cuneiform

B.    Spread and development of cuneiform

C.    Decipherment of cuneiform

D.   Influence of cuneiform

4.      Chinese and Japanese logosyllabic writing

Adjuncts to writing

1.      Punctuation

A.    Punctuation in Greek and Latin

B.    Punctuation in English since 1600

C.    Punctuation in French, Spanish, German and Russian

D.   Punctuation in Oriental and African languages

2.      Shorthand

A.    History and development of shorthand

B.    Modern symbol systems

C.    Modern abbreviated longhand systems

D.   Machine shorthand

E.    Alternatives to shorthand

The act of handwriting: calligraphy

1.      Greek handwriting

A.    Origins to the 8^th century A.D.

B.    8^th to 16^th centuries

2.      Latin handwriting

A.    Ancient Roman styles

B.    The Anglo-Celtic and other “national” styles (5^th to 13^th centuries)

C.    Carolingian reforms in the scriptorium (8^th and 9^th centuries)

D.   The black-letter, or Gothic, style (9^th to 15^th centuries)

E.    The scribes of Humanism (14^th to 16^th centuries)

F.     Writing manuals and copybooks (16^th to 18^th centuries)

G.   Revival of calligraphy (19^th and 20^th centuries)

3.      Early Semitic writing

A.    Old Hebrew

B.    Spread of Aramaic to the Middle East and Asia

4.      Arabic calligraphy

5.      Indic [sic] calligraphy

6.      East Asian calligraphy

A.    Chinese calligraphy

B.    Korean calligraphy

C.    Japanese calligraphy