Corpus-Paul

["Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT comcast.net>]

on 1/19/05 6:31 AM, George F Somsel at gfsomsel AT juno.com wrote:
> 
> While I would not suggest that the society of the time was literate in
> the same sense that ours today would be considered to be (and even less
> that of a generation or two previous to the current), let us not suppose
> that the audience to which these writings were addressed were by any
> means ignorant.  To use an example outside of the Pauline corpus, the
> Apocalypse abounds in references which are only understandable to one who
> has a most intimate knowledge of the OT writings.  If the hearers
> themselves were unable to ferret out the allusions, presumably there was
> someone there who was thus capable who would in turn explain it to the
> audience generally.

George,
I was not discussing ignorance, and it should be pretty clear that I am
discussing the reception of letters that expect much from the recipients. In
a largely oral culture folks could memorize circles around most of us. What
I am trying to bring to bear is literacy. According to prevailing wisdom,
literacy was limited for the most part to elites and retainers, and guesses
range from 3% to 10% for the Roman Empire, with slightly higher in some
Greek cities, and lower in rural settings. Recent work on Paul's communities
suggests most if not all of the members were poor to relatively poor, not
elites, maybe a few at retainer level. Hence, the low end of literacy is
probable. There is quite a debate going on now about literacy levels in
Judea and within Diaspora Jewish communities, but the numbers for literacy
are generally still quite low (surprising to me to learn). It is an open
question how the receptions of these letters worked, but the topic of
literacy and orality as well as manuscript availability does bear on the
topic at hand. Why was appeal to Scripture as authority made, where and how
was Scripture accessed by the recipients, and who was presumed to be
available to explain it, are just the kind of questions being raised.

Regards,
Mark
-- 
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
Rockhurst University
Co-Moderator
http://home.comcast.net/~nanosmd/