# Bible literacy in the days of illiteracy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267 "2025-03-28T17:30:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/1 "2025-03-28T17:30:21Z")
How familiar was the average Christian of the contents of the Bible back when most people couldn’t read Latin, let alone read at all? Would they be familiar with all the stories, even the more salacious ones? Would they know anything about the more minor prophets such as Obadiah or Haggai? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/2 "2025-03-28T17:39:01Z")
I’m guessing during those time, people were preoccupied in providing a living and so got their bible info during service. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/3 "2025-03-28T17:50:32Z")
Increased literacy, the invention of the printing press, and the rise of Protestantism all coincide. Martin Luther is famous for using the printing press to spread his ideas, including Protestantism. I bring that up because the Catholic Church, especially in those days, was all about the average layperson getting their knowledge of religion and the Bible from their priest. The whole idea of the average person reading the Bible to form their own ideas came about with the Protestant reformation. IIRC was one of the the points of contention that Martin Luther had with the Catholic Church. To make a long story short, the average Catholic (since we’re largely talking about the times before Martin Luther and Henry VIII if we’re talking about widespread illiteracy) got most of their knowledge from what their priest taught at Mass, not from reading the Bible themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/4 "2025-03-28T17:52:38Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I’m guessing during those time, people were preoccupied in providing a living and so got their bible info during service. That’s probably true, but keep in mind that it still leaves an awful lot of time to hear about Bible info. Medieval Christian communities had lots of religious holidays, way more than we have public holidays today; the feasts of most saints of any note were public holidays, with the results that in some areas, a third to almost a half of the days of the year were non-working days on which you were supposed to attend church. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/5 "2025-03-28T17:57:15Z")
And don’t forget that churches in the pre-Reformation period were often highly decorated with frescos or mosaics of Bible stories. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/6 "2025-03-28T17:59:24Z")
At least in England, organizations like guilds used to put on religious plays which often used characters and stories from the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/7 "2025-03-28T18:04:24Z")
My grandmother grew up in Mexico (born 1895), her and my grandfather would wake up at maybe 1:00 at night to walk to the sunrise service. She was assigned to learn several passages from the Bible from childhood and put them to memory as part of her obligation to the church. At 98 we took my niece (her grandniece) to see her and she held her hand tightly and recited what seemed to be about 12 minutes of the Bible (in Spanish) as a blessing to her. When she died at 103 the preist at her funeral explained this ability/obligation to everyone and everyones face was awestuck that people could actually do that. She had well over 103 direct blood desendants present, I guess she fullfilled her obligation to the church. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/8 "2025-03-28T18:07:39Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I bring that up because the Catholic Church, especially in those days, was all about the average layperson getting their knowledge of religion and the Bible from their priest. The whole idea of the average person reading the Bible to form their own ideas came about with the Protestant reformation. The Catholic Church had its periods of being adamantly, at times violently, against lay people reading the Bible, hence knowing what was in it. Thomas More ordered people burned at the stake for translating and printing the bible into a language that the common folks could speak. And he was canonized in 1935. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/9 "2025-03-28T18:11:53Z")
The Gutenberg press wasn’t even invented until 1440 AD, so most religious content was handed down from generation to generation in the form of stories. I believe Old Testament script was carried around by the Israelites in the Ark of the Covenant, which was considered holy along with its contents. So, the large majority of Hebrews didn’t read anything. When the New Testament came along, the disciples and apostles told the stories, and what is known as “The Gospels”, purportedly written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were the first written texts. Unlike the OT that was written in Hebrew specifically for the Jewish people, the NT was written in Koine Greek, a very common language spoken in that region at that time. After the death of Christ, the apostles began to take the religion to the Gentiles, people of other countries and traditions. That’s when the apostle Paul wrote his letters to the churches. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/10 "2025-03-28T18:14:23Z")
The sermons were in English (or whatever the local vernacular was ) throughout the middle ages so that was were the vast majority of people got their biblical knowledge. There were passion plays and such but the vast majority of biblical knowledge (and any kind of outside knowledge, besides gossip and oral folk tales) came from the clergy via sermons. Their importance to medieval life cannot be over stated. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/11 "2025-03-28T18:42:16Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I believe Old Testament script was carried around by the Israelites in the Ark of the Covenant, which was considered holy along with its contents. So, the large majority of Hebrews didn’t read anything. What? If we are to believe the Tanakh, Josiah is the last person to have seen the Ark and he purpotedly lived c. 640-609 BCE, i.e. before the the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. And since most of the Tanakh was written during and after the Exile, the script was hardly carried around in the Ark. The Ark was for the Ten Commandments. > [@Jasmine](#): > > “The Gospels”, purportedly written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were the first written texts. What, again? Paul’s letter predates the Gospels with up to half a century. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/12 "2025-03-28T18:42:56Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > To make a long story short, the average Catholic (since we’re largely talking about the times before Martin Luther and Henry VIII if we’re talking about widespread illiteracy) got most of their knowledge from what their priest taught at Mass, not from reading the Bible themselves. I know that. I’m wondering how much of the Bible the priests taught. For example, could most people at least name every book? (“Habakkuk? Our priest never mentioned any Book of Habakkuk. Sounds made up.”) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/13 "2025-03-28T18:50:19Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > What, again? > Paul’s letter predates the Gospels with up to half a century. Correct. Their source material was written and was, IIRC, just prior to Paul. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/14 "2025-03-28T18:55:31Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > At least in England, organizations like guilds used to put on religious plays which often used characters and stories from the Bible. This was going to be my response. Lots of Bible stories were staged and that was a major source of familiarity. To be clear, though, a story being presented theatrically meant something really different a few hundred years ago. More details: > **[Mystery play](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_play)** > > Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song. They told of subjects such as the Creation, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel, and the Last Judgment. Often they were performed together in cycles which could last for d As ... ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/15 "2025-03-28T19:14:49Z")
The Catholic Church has a long history of standardising liturgy, including readings from scripture. Priests are not free in choosing the passages from the Bible (“pericopes”) that are read during Mass; they’re predefined and collected in books (“lectionaries”) that specifically contain pericopes in the sequence in which they’re intended to be read over the course of a liturgical year. To my knowledge these don’t go through every line of the entire Bible, but the most important bits (the gospels, the psalms, and the prophets from the Old Testament) are well covered, and have to my knowledge been since the Middle Ages, even though the precise sequence has been reformed many times. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/16 "2025-03-28T19:17:08Z")
While Mass was conducted in Latin (with a few local exceptions) [homilies in the vernacular could optionally be included](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridentine_Mass). They were not a formal part of Mass. Over at the Internet Archive there’s a modern english translation of old english homilies from c. 1000 CE. My skim of the first few dozen pages or so didn’t reveal a lot of direct biblical quotation. > **[The Homilies Of The Anglo-Saxon Church, Volume 1 : the first part containing...](https://archive.org/details/HomiliesOfTheAngloSaxonChurchV1/page/n9/mode/2up)** > > The Homilies Of The Anglo-Saxon Church, Volume 1 \[you are here\] The Homilies Of The Anglo-Saxon Church, Volume 2 Digitized by Google. It’s a 600+ page book, without an index unfortunately. Methinks the answer to the OP is in there (at least for England), but it would require hours to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/17 "2025-03-28T19:25:40Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The Gutenberg press wasn’t even invented until 1440 AD, so most religious content was handed down from generation to generation in the form of stories. The standard canon of the Christian Bible was compiled and standardised long before the invention of printing, and the church, especially monasteries, preserved and passed down this standard canon throughout the Middle Ages. A hand-copied Bible is still a Bible; you don’t need printing to have a religion based on a sacred scripture. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/18 "2025-03-28T19:26:52Z")
But printing allowed for more continuity, didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/19 "2025-03-28T19:27:21Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > > [@Jasmine](#): > > > > The Gutenberg press wasn’t even invented until 1440 AD, so most religious content was handed down from generation to generation in the form of stories. > > The standard canon of the Christian Bible was compiled and standardised long before the invention of printing, and the church, especially monasteries, preserved and passed down this standard canon throughout the Middle Ages. A hand-copied Bible is still a Bible; you don’t need printing to have a religion based on a sacred scripture. Yep. Although it’s not exactly clear when different portions of the Bible made the transition from oral to scribed. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267/20 "2025-03-28T19:30:06Z")
It allowed for cheaper, and hence more widely available, copies. But in terms of continuity of the text, printing didn’t make that much of a difference. It’s true that Bible scholars will occasionally question the veracity or interpretation of a particular verse on the basis of the argument that the error of some scribe who was copying the text in the Middle Ages corrupted a passage; but the overall compilation of the books that make up the Bible occurred long before Gutenberg. Otherwise, Gutenberg wouldn’t have known which version of the Bible to print. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-literacy-in-the-days-of-illiteracy/1016267.md?page=2)