Quote:how did they keep on believing without a book to sustain their belief?
Widespread literacy is a result of 19th century liberalism. Prior to that few people outside the elites were literate anyway.
Prior to organized religions - which seem to have begun with the agricultural revolution - "religion" was animist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animism At best, you would have a shaman who pretended to communicate with the "spirits" the same way modern preacher con men pretend to communicate with their fucking god. It was a master/apprentice type of relationship in which the supposed knowledge was passed along orally.
Even the earliest organized religions were mainly priest-based in which the priests took care of the supplications to the gods and the people did what the hell they were told to placate the gods. Even as late as the early xtian period there were many so-called "Mystery Cults" which passed knowledge from masters to novices without benefit of written works. It seems logical that whatever the earliest forms of xtianity were began this way too.
