Posted on 01/25/2014 6:51:38 AM PST by GonzoII
Not in Israel.
You appear to be in far over your head on this. Study has always been job one in Israel. They have always been the most literate people on Earth.
I have posted twice for a total reference to 4 experts who support my position.
There was NO economic reason for everyone to know how to read and write in biblical times.
You simply do not know what you are talking about.
Not all Jews could read, only the elite.
The experts I posted put the number between 1.5% and 20% literacy.
Not every early Christian was a Jew, so again your history is flawed.
“Robert Stein: Literacy rate in biblical times
William Harris- 5-10% (Ancient Literacy)
Catherine Hezser- 10-15% (Jewish Literacy in Roman Palestine)
Harry Gamble- 15-20% (Books and Readers in the Early Church)
Col. 4:16; 1 Thess.5:27; Rev.1:3; 22:18; 1 Tim. 4:13; Acts 15:21,31; Luke 4:16-21
“These, and the other letters of the New Testament, were meant to be read aloud. If, as I assume, Paul was a careful writer, he would therefore have penned these letters more for his readers’ ears than for their eyes”
“... the New Testament writers anticipated that the members of this corporate audience would not have individual copies of their works before them, but that someone would read aloud what they have written... The main sense involved was not their eyes but their ears, and the experience was not a visual one but an auditory one.
“... the person who brought the gospel to them... knew the context of the work and may very well have practiced reading the goepel aloud before he read it publicly...”
Very few schools of theology would disagree with Alfred Edersheim, Ph.D. See Sketches of Jewish Social Life IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST.
If Jesus never carried around the Old Testament Books, on his travels, if the Apostles never handed out flyers and tracts and copies of Old Testament writings and Christian Scripture, that alone proves my point.
Scripture was RARE!
Christianity didn't even exist until after Pentecost.
Jesus quoted directly from Scripture, and the Jews knew the OT from memorization. After Pentecost it was Paul's letters, which first became important. They are for the most part very short, and we know each church would immediately copy their letter and pass it on to the next church. The first Christians used inexpensive papyri for his letters, and that is why we have very few first century manuscripts.
The level of freedom permitted to minor variation in these papyri speaks to the view of canon in the second century. Such deviations as misreading, transpositions, and nonsense readings were allowed to stand uncorrected. This suggests that such deviations were considered minor—and the text was still flexible. This conclusion is supported by the authority of oral tradition in this period and the common practice of loose quotation by early church writers (Aland, The Significance, 117–18; Comfort, The Quest for the Original Text, 21).
The disorganization and irregularity of the New Testament texts indicate the early Christians’ view of sacred texts. The early papyri are allowed far greater scribal alteration than later manuscript families. This may be connected to the lack of sufficient institutional structure before the early fourth century (Aland, The Significance, 64). The Greek manuscripts are written with varying levels of scribal skill. The presence of a number written in a calligraphic script—such as the Numbers—Deuteronomy manuscript—indicates that professional scribes were enlisted in Egypt for the production of some Christian codices even before the religion gained licit status (Kenyon, The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, ix).
Why was the invention of the printing press so important, if you think it was so easy to copy or mass produce the written word?
The printing press certainly helped, but your use of the word rare is overdone.
>> “There was NO economic reason for everyone to know how to read and write in biblical times.” <<
.
Here is where you fall on your face.
Israel was never about economics. Israel were the people “called by his name.” There always was a strong spiritual reason for Israel’s literacy; Yehova equipped them to retain their language and culture through the dispersion. This is why Paul found the Galatians and the Colossians still observing their feasts and Sabbaths, and being persecuted for doing so.
And yes, faith does come through hearing, and that is the reason why the Jerusalem Council was able to advise their new converts to the Way of Yeshua that “Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.” (Acts 15)
Your “experts” are expert at being “Hellenistic” and “Romish “ christians, not at “The Way of Yeshua HaMassiach.”
>> “Not every early Christian was a Jew...” <<
.
True, some were “The lost sheep of the House of Israel” in dispersion, and they were the ones to whom Yeshua was sent by the Father. (Matt 15:24)
The two houses of Israel accounted for well over 95% of Yeshua’s followers.
“Always” is a strong word.
Moses and others had frustrations with Israel losing her way more than once in history.
You need to get over your bigotry.
I have deliberately tried to post only from Protestant historians, due to your bigotry and your inability to accept arguments, even if documented, from those who you do not consider to be your “equals”.
Gold is a rare metal even though a majority of the population might own a small amount of gold and even though nearly everyone has seen gold in America.
Gold is still rare.
The Sacred Scripture was rare in the early Church.
>> “You need to get over your bigotry.” <<
LOL!
You need to get over yourself!
“Protestant” historians are just as catholic as catholic ‘historians.’
Yeshua’s Way has little to nothing to do with either.
Read the gospels without your romish glasses, and see what Yeshua is telling you.
>> “The Sacred Scripture was rare in the early Church.” <<
.
No, it definitely was not!
Read Acts 15:21 as many times as it takes for the message to sink in. Their message was just as much for you as it was for the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel. (who you probably are part of anyway, “they are as the sands of the sea”)
You have a habit of posting verses that do nothing at all to support your position.
Read them again, they totally support my position.
How many in each Synagogue?
And it was SPOKEN not read.
Again, if there is ONE set of Scripture per household that is not rare.
If there is one set of Scripture per 1,000 that is obviously rare.
If there is one set of Scripture per 10,000 that is very rare.
Scripture was not only rare, it was heavy and fragile and hard to transport and hard to copy.
With Nomadic people, how many could not attend Synagogue due to travel?
You kick against reality.
Read Josephus and see that your picture is way out of focus. The northern tribes were not nomadic, but well established in Asia Minor. They are the people to whom Paul, Peter, and James wrote in their epistles (by their own words). The “strangers.”
We are discussing a DIVERSE population.
Not all were nomadic but many definitely were.
Dan was the “serpent.”
Dan established himself too though, as in MaceDNia, and Dansk.
The recipients of the epistles were not nomadic at the time that they were written. They were the dominant peoples in the cities to which the epistles were sent in many cases.
The House of Israel is at this time the economically dominant people of the world. This was prophesied by Jacob as he died in Egypt. (Genesis 48 and 49)
May I suggest you invest in a set of the Early Church Fathers. Try reading for a change.
I suggest you read from the links I have posted.
I never said that the ENTIRE Early Church was Nomadic during the ENTIRE period from AD 1 to AD 400.
However, there absolutely were some very turbulent periods of time, in that 400 years, and there were millions of very good Christians who NEVER read the Bible from themselves.
The Faith was an ORAL tradition. Even my FR debate opponents on this thread have resorted to posting links on some points which ALSO reference the “Oral Tradition” in their links.
Sacred Scripture was rate, fragile, expensive and only the ELITE had access to it.
The rest had it read to them.
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