Was Jesus literate?

glorfindel · #1 06-17-2006, 12:16 PM

Where can I find evidence (biblical or historical) that demonstrates whether Jesus could read and write? If he could write, why didn't he?

Davidius · #2 06-17-2006, 05:14 PM

There is at least one instance in which Jesus reads a scriptural passage from the Old Testament in front of a synagogue. As to why he didn't write... I don't know. Since most people in his day were illiterate and wouldn't be able to read what he wrote, maybe he decided that the best way to spread the word was by preaching. Just a guess.

Davidius · #3 06-17-2006, 05:16 PM

There is at least one instance (from the Gospels) in which Jesus reads a scriptural passage from the Old Testament in front of a synagogue. As to why he didn't write... I don't know. Since most people in his day were illiterate and wouldn't be able to read what he wrote, maybe he decided that the best way to spread the word was by preaching. Just a guess.

PLOlover · #4 06-20-2006, 04:53 AM

It's pretty clear in the gospels, that when the disciples ask him why he speaks in parables and stuff , Jesus tells them it is so that most people will not be able to understand him.

Luke 8.10 and I think something similiar in the other three gospels too.

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KJV: And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
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Given that sort of mindset, that his teachings were not for everyone, it is easy to see why he chose a more esoteric method of instruction.

CORed · #5 06-20-2006, 05:38 PM

A carpenter's son in the middle east in that era? Most likely illiterate.

SamIAm · #6 06-21-2006, 02:10 PM

[ QUOTE ]
A carpenter's son in the middle east in that era? Most likely illiterate.

[/ QUOTE ]Yeah, if you take a random sampling from carpenters, sure.

Chances are he couldn't walk on water, either. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
-Sam

CORed · #7 06-21-2006, 02:57 PM

Well, until Gutenberg invented (or borrowed from the Chinese) movable type, literacy was pretty rare everywhere. It's kind of hard to teach people to read when books are a rare and very expensive commodity. So, it's not impossilbe for Jesus to have been literate, but given that he was from a working class family, it's certainly the way to bet. I'll leave arguments based on sripture to the believers.

LadyWrestler · #8 06-21-2006, 04:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Where can I find evidence (biblical or historical) that demonstrates whether Jesus could read and write? If he could write, why didn't he?

[/ QUOTE ]

He could read and write, and He did both. The evidence is in the Gospels.

PLOlover · #9 06-21-2006, 06:35 PM

Yeah, he wrote some stuff in the sand when they were gonna stone the prostitute.

This thread kinda sheds some light on that, btw. If literacy was so rare, perhaps most if not all of the people could not even read what he wrote in the sand, but he did it just to add to his authority so they would listen to him, as a person able to write was almost certainly someone in a position of some power who should be listened to.

LadyWrestler · #10 06-21-2006, 06:40 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, he wrote some stuff in the sand when they were gonna stone the prostitute.

This thread kinda sheds some light on that, btw. If literacy was so rare, perhaps most if not all of the people could not even read what he wrote in the sand, but he did it just to add to his authority so they would listen to him, as a person able to write was almost certainly someone in a position of some power who should be listened to.

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]