D
Des
Guest
So what we have here is strong evidence literacy rates were high in the 1st century up to the forth century and into the forth century, as well!!!I came upon this quote provided by a Catholic purely by accident:
133 The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, **by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. **Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. [DV 25; cf. Phil 3:8 and **St. Jerome, Commentariorum in Isaiam libri xviii prol.L 24,17B]—Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed., © 1994/1997 United States Catholic Conference, Inc.
If the forth and fifth centuries were the height of illiteracy as was previously suggested, why did Jerome “forcefully” stress the importance of these illiterates to “frequently” read the Scriptures???
Ginger
You may have misread that. That entire line isn’t St. Jerome’s. Look to end of the verse and notice the numbers 112. Then go to the bottom of the CCC and it shows the reference it used in saying this.
Phil 3:8 is the red part.
St. Jerome’s is the Blue part.
The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.
I can’t find in full, St. Jerome’s writings online to confirm this either.
You also have to be suggesting that everyone back then had their own Bibles for St. Jerome to forcefully want ALL Christians (both literates and illiterates included) to read Scripture for themselves. But we know that’s not the case.