Rich Oliver

Well there's a few minor matters he could have cleared up. Like should we follow the Mosaic law or not? Is it important to be poor or poor in spirit. Was he God or not? Was he planning to return soon, later or never? Is stem cell research ok? Did he hand on his authority to the Papacy?

Clouseau

You need those clearing up? Oh dear, oh dear. Ok, stem cell is a grey area.

douglas

Don't know what Jesus would have said/written, but as it is written in the law, Deut 22:6 ...

In other words, it's ok to take the young (ie. stem cell), so long as you leave the mom.

Amaleq13

If HJ was an apocalyptic preacher, then I think we can add

d.) no reason to record anything since The End was coming soon

Doug Shaver

As I understand it, the scholarly consensus is that he probably was, for two reasons. (1) It is unlikely that a Galilean peasant would ever have learned to read and write. (2) If he could have put his ideas in writing, he would have, and if he had, it is extremely improbable that his writings would not have been preserved or least referenced in later Christian writings.

Not quite conclusive proof, but I think it passes the reasonable-doubt test.

No Robots

With 90%+ illiteracy in Palestine, and with an entourage of common folk, there was nobody to whom he could write. This was an oral society. The entire Talmud was consigned to memorization until c. A.D. 200.

Doug Shaver

Assuming his historicity, it's hard to say. It depends on how much of the gospel narratives is factual, and that's anybody's guess.

If he had anywhere near as many followers as the gospels suggest, many of them must have been literate just on probabilistic grounds. If you're asking just about the 12 disciples, one was supposed to have been a tax collector, and I should think it likely that anyone in that profession was probably literate.

Clouseau

Do you have any support for saying this?

Jesus wasn't a peasant. Was Galilee a particularly poverty-stricken region?

Why?

Diogenes the Cynic

My own source is JD Crossan's Historical Jesus, where he gives the 95-98% figure.
If he was of the artisan class (i.e. a tekton or "builder" which is the source of the "carpenter" tradition) then he belonged to a subsistence class which actually ranked below that of peasants in 1st Century Palestine. They were basically day workers doing piece work on walls and houses for farmers.
Yes. Unless you were Greek, anyway.

Clouseau

But how does he get that figure? In any case, 'probably' is as good as useless, in view of the character of the person under discussion.

Who made and repaired doors and roofs, made furniture, carts and ploughs, as well as building houses?

Evidence?