My opposition, on this thread, has provided all the evidence I need to make my case that Sacred Scripture was RARE during the time of Jesus and the Early Church.
Your postings almost all prove my point. While you deny that there was an “Oral Tradition” in the Early Church, you admit that the early Church Fathers MEMORIZED Scripture as it was, indeed, not practical to carry rare, expensive, heavy scrolls around with them.
Lets say that each Apostle taught regularly to maybe 10 people, during travels. (I would go with a bigger figure but I don’t think many will argue with 10). So, that Apostle is ONE person, speaking to 10 who most likely have not been in contact with Jesus, directly, and most likely have not, themselves, read any portion of Sacred Scripture, directly.
That would be 10 to 1 ratio of those who had actually heard Jesus or read the writings of the other Apostles.
You admit that the Early Church MEMORIZED and then PREACHED, but why on Earth recite MEMORIZED teachings to those who already knew such passages of Sacred Scripture?
The vast majority of Early Christians learned with their ears not with their eyes, they HEARD the Word, most did NOT read the Word.
That does not mean that they were RARE. That's an assumption.
And *I* memorize Scripture. Do you think Scripture is *rare* these days because of that?
The vast majority of Early Christians learned with their ears not with their eyes, they HEARD the Word, most did NOT read the Word.
Prove it.
Provide the links to the sources that document this. Otherwise it amounts to nothing more than speculation and opinion.