14
major consideration in analyzing the Synoptic gospel origins then there should be evidence that
the communities in which they were written valued and indeed thrived in an oral/aural setting.
Scholars such as James Dunn have recognized that much of the Jewish society of the Second
Temple period would have been illiterate.49 Opinions vary, but experts like W.V. Harris estimate
that “the combined literacy level in the period before 100 B.C is unlikely to have much
exceeded 10%.”50 Profession determined literacy as well. People that worked as farmers or
unskilled laborers were probably not literate.51 The vast majority of soldiers were probably
illiterate as well.52 Some slaves were educators and were taught to read in order to serve in this
capacity, however, this was certainly the exception as most could not read or write.53 On the
49
James D. G. Dunn, The Oral Gospel Tradition (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2013), 290.
William V. Harris, Ancient Literacy (United States of America: Harvard University Press, 1991), 329.
51
John S. Kloppenborg, Excavating Q (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 166-67.
52
Ibid, 167.
53
Ibid, 166.
50