Quote:Incorrect yet again. The 6th century B.C. (which is when most sceptically thinking scholars believe the O.T. to be written) - was written at a time of widespread literacy among the Jews.
The N.T. was also written in a time of high literacy rates.
Not likely, Danny. What we have written from that time/place are mainly commercial in nature. These were pre-literate societies. A handful of scribes worked for the elites and took care of the record keeping. When Finkelstein and Redford assert that the OT tales were written in the late 7th/early 6th centuries it must be taken in the context that few people could 'read' and even fewer could 'write.' Creating the story as an oral tale which could be told to the masses makes much more sense.
We have no evidence whatsoever that there was any great literary center in Jerusalem.
For more on the subject I suggest:
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?i...0674033818
Quote:Ancient Literacy
William V. Harris
Harris estimates that even in that alleged paragon of enlightenment, Athens, only some 5% of the population was literate at all and only the top tier of that capable of reading advanced philosophical texts.
There are degrees of literacy. The Romans taught their soldiers rudimentary Latin for army record-keeping. But being able to read the duty roster to see who is cleaning the latrines is a far cry from reading Plato in Greek which is what the elites were doing.
