Film Comment: The Spirit of '76

The silly comedic (?) film, The Spirit of ’76 (1991), is almost totally negligible unless you are on a nostalgia trip to the Seventies.   You might wish to see it for its long list of cameo appearances by Tommy Chong, Julie Brown, Devo, Iron Eyes Cody, Don Novello, Carl and Rob Reiner, Moon Unit Zappa, and others.

The thin plot is basically this: three time travelers from 2176 [ Adam 11 (David Cassidy), Chanel 6 (Olivia d’Abo), and Heinz 57 (Geofff Hoyle}] set out for 1776 to recover the long lost history of America.  A malfunction in their time machine sends them to 1976, where they set out to find the meaning of America, not realizing that they have missed their mark by 200 years.

Just like the confused time travelers, we really do not understand what it was like to live in Roman Judea.  The average live span was about 35 years.  The majority of people were illiterate or very close to it.  Most people lived and died in the village in which they were born and did the same work their parents before them had done.  The Romans were a brutal and alien occupying force who could arrest or kill someone for little or no reason.  Though many/most were illiterate it was quite common for the men to have a deep knowledge of Jewish tradition, history, and the scriptures.

The modern student of scripture must realize that we read and see and hear through our modern filters.  When Jesus and the Apostles spoke, their listeners understood what they meant.   Some of their responses make sense only when we understand the historical and cultural environment in which they lived.  

Literacy in the Biblical Era

There are estimates that the level of literacy among the citizenry during the New Testament period was about ten percent.  Even though most people were illiterate, they were not stupid.  There was a long tradition of oral learning and memorization, producing many competent intellectuals and scholars of the Law.  Presumably, many scribes memorized large portions of the Torah and, at least some could read and write.

Raised in the royal Egyptian household, Moses (ca. 1200 BC/BCE)would have been literate, having received a royal education.

Ezra (5^th century BC/BCE) and his helpers taught the Torah to the Jewish population (Ezra 7:25)  The Torah was taught: Deuteronomy 31:12-13, 2 Chronicles 17:7-9, Nehemiah 8:7-8.

In the Pharisaic tradition, men, including Jesus, a carpenter, would stand and read the scriptures in the synagogue.   John 7:15.  “Never studied” meant that he had no formal training. (Other references to Jesus’ literacy: Luke 4:16-30, John 8:6..)

  

The sign on Jesus’s cross assumed that the people who saw the crucifixion would be able to read it.   It was written in three languages to make sure that everyone could read it. (Mark 15:26, Matthew 27:37, Luke 23:37, John 19:20)

The Jewish historian, Josephus (37 - ?100 AD/CE), spoke about Jewish literacy, “… we pride ourselves on the education of our children … (the Law) orders that (children) shall be taught to read …” (Against Apion 1:12.60 and 2.25.204)

On the question of female literacy in the biblical period, remember that this was a completely male-dominated society.  This is one reason that women were so drawn to the teachings of Jesus: He insisted on treating them as persons.  The early Christians continued this: Paul said there is no Jew nor Greek, no male nor female, no slave nor free.

One estimate has it that “for every five or six men who could read and write, there was one woman who was fully literate.” (David M. Scholer, “Writing and Literature: Greco-Roman”,” in Dictionary of New Testament Background, page 1283. Quoted in  JETS 50/4 (December 2007) 747–59, WOMEN’S EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SPEECH IN ANTIQUITY, by craig keener*

http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/50/50-4/JETS_50-4_747-759_Keener.pdf

When I was at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Greek scholar and professor, Pastor Frank Stagg, was speaking on the subject of women’s education in biblical times.  While acknowledging that most women of the time were intentionally kept illiterate, Dr. Stagg was sure that many wealthy women were privately educated.  He even discussed the possibility that the reason that the author of the book of Hebrews is not named is that the book was written by a woman.

 

Other interesting links.

“On Ancient Literacy Levels”

http://www.tektonics.org/tsr/tilliteracy.html

Jewish scripture and the literacy of Jesus, Craig A. Evans

http://www.craigaevans.com/evans.pdf

Josephus

http://elfinspell.com/Shotwell11.htm

 Women in Judaism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Judaism

Were there any female writers in the Bible?

http://www.preachitteachit.org/articles-blogs/ask-roger/post/archive/2010/september/article/were-there-any-women-bible-writers/

There Already, Waiting to Explode

Sequoyah (b. Ca 1760 d. 1843) was a Cherokee silversmith who, although he didn’t speak a word of English, noticed that the white men communicated using “talking leaves.”  He thought that this was a wonderful idea and decided in about 1809 to create a way to make “talking leaves” for the Cherokee language.

His first attempt was a logographic writing system (as in Chinese or Japanese).  He quickly realized that there were far too many Cherokee words for this to be practical.

What Sequoyah finally decided to do, rather than copying the English language alphabetic system, was to use symbols for each sound used in the Cherokee language (a syllabic system).  This resulted in 85 characters which represented all the sounds.

The Cherokee nation had no tradition of a written language, and there was some initial resistance, but Sequiyah’s alphabet began to spread rapidly among an excited populace, and, by 1825, it was declared the official written language of the Cherokee nation.  In the span of sixteen years, the Cherokees went from being totally illiterate to almost 100% literate.  I believe that Sequoyah’s alphabet awakened something which was already there among the Cherokee people.  It just needed a spark to make it explode.

The same principle applies to the unevangelized.  Many are aware that something is missing, that there has to be more to life than just living a few years trying to be happy and staying out of trouble … and then dying.  They are like the Cherokee tribe, ready to explode.  They just need to hear, they need a spark.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  Psalm 19:1-3 

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20