douglas

I did not know this. Would you make the same assumption about Jesus then? I've often wondered why Jesus did not put pen to paper. Was this something "prophets" did later in life?

douglas

Interesting! I know nothing about "liberal Christians" but will endeavor to learn.

Ben C Smith

Judaic tradition had both kinds of prophets, the writing (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and the nonwriting (Samuel, Elijah, Elisha). It may or may not mean anything with regard to writing, but the gospels seem to compare Jesus to Elijah or Elisha quite a bit. (To be fair, they also compare him to Moses and at least once to Jeremiah.)

Ben.

hatsoff

Given how little we know for certain about Jesus, I'd say it's impossible to answer that question with anything other than idle musing.

Not exactly. Believers of tradition use reasoning for establishing authors that non-Christians would not. The idea of "divine inspiration" plays a heavy role in Christians' determination of Biblical authorship. Because they place importance on such ideas, they believe there is enough evidence to prove Johannine authorship. Meanwhile, for those Christians who admit John may not have written the fourth Gospel, they often insist that its anonymity doesn't undermine its divine authority. This is evident in the case of Hebrews and Revelation, whose authors are much more commonly disputed within the Christian community, yet whose importance is relatively unwavering regardless.

Gamera

I think the consensus is that Jesus was trilingual, as many if not most Judean Jews of the time were. He spoke Aramaic, knew Hebrew, and probably spoke Greek, the lingua franca of the time. He clearly was literate since we have several examples of him reading (the Torah, the inscription on a coin, etc.).

Why he didn't write anything would be pure speculation, but it's hardly suprising. Most religious and philosophical leaders wrote nothing down, but left that task to their disciples. Socrates comes to mind.

WishboneDawn

Divine inspiration may play a part in many christians thinking but again, it's not part of liberal biblical scholarship or many liberal christian ideas. The bible/christian history course I'm taking, distributed through Anglican and Episopal churchs, makes it quite clear that the bible is a work of men, period.

In fact, in looking at liberal christian biblical scholarship and the secular ideas tossed around here about the bible, the only difference I can see is one of belief in god. Otherwise the ideas and theories seem pretty much the same.

hatsoff

Quite true. But it's not always that black and white, to be sure.

aa5874

The Jesus in the book called John apparently had no formal education, he may have been born educated, or should I say literate, knowing how to read and write since it is claimed He is the Son of God.

Look at John 7:15, 'And the Jews marvelled saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?

The observation of the Jews is similar to the apocryphal writing of 'The Infancy Gospel of Thomas' (VI. How Jesus was treated by the Master) The Jesus in John acquired his literacy by divine intervention.

HeretiKc

Let's also not forget the Naassene gospel (contained, in its entirety, in Hippolytus), which made use of John.

Gamera

The Greek word here is grammata, which can mean letters in the strict sense, but also in the figurative sense that we sometimes use letters -- i.e., learning. It also is used to mean "sacred writings" and "sacred learning," i.e., the Hebrew Scriptures.

I think the sense here is not that they're amazed that he can read (most Jewish males were expected to read the Torah), but that he was able to expound upon it in a learned manner. It's his "scholarship" they are amazed at, not his literacy.

That's why a number of translations of this passage don't use the word "letters"

Bible in Basic English
7:15 Then the Jews were surprised and said, How has this man got knowledge of books? He has never been to school.

Weymouth New Testament
7:15 The Jews were astonished. "How does this man know anything of books," they said, "although he has never been at any of the schools?"