IN RESPONSE TO MY POSTS ON SECRETARIES AND THE BOOK OF 1 PETER, SEVERAL PEOPLE HAVE RAISED THE QUESTION OF WHETHER PETER WAS HIMSELF LITERATE (ABLE TO READ, OR MORE SIGNIFICANTLY, TO WRITE). THIS IS THE FIRST PART OF WHAT I SAY IN MY BOOK FORGERY AND COUNTERFORGERY; THE SECOND PART WILL BE IN THE NEXT POST.
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In his now-classic study of ancient literacy, William Harris gave compelling reasons for thinking that at the best of times in antiquity only 10% or so of the population was able to read [Ancient Literacy; Harvard University Press, 1989]. By far the highest portion of readers was located in urban settings. Widespread literacy like that enjoyed throughout modern societies requires certain cultural and historical forces to enact policies of near universal, or at least extensive, education of the masses. Prior to the industrial revolution, such a thing was neither imagined nor desired. As Meir Bar Ilan notes: “literacy does not emerge in a vacuum but rather from social and historical circumstances.”
Moreover, far fewer people in antiquity could compose a writing than could read, as shown by the investigations of Raffaella Cribiore, who stresses that reading and composition were taught as two different skills and at different points of the ancient curriculum. …
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AUG
Wait a minute how can the 10% figure be right for Jews? In the synagogue after the age of 12 the men could read from the OT and then spoke of what he read ,ie, preaching to the congregation . Please comment. Is the NT version of Jesus doing this via Isaiah and saying it is fulfilled also a fabrication?
Yes, the scholars that I quoted are arguing that this idea about synagogue schools where every boy learned to read is a legend. Not true, historically, for the first century.
Peter in Acts 3 refers to Jesus as ‘the author of life’. Did a forger put those words into Peter’s mouth?
Not a forger (a forger is an author who claims to be someone famous, when s/he is someone else). But someone probably did “make up” the account.