Dio, you can’t say things like, “If Jesus was from Galilee as the Gospels claim” and then say that anything else the Gospels say is fiction.
You can’t. You either need to say, “I don’t know” or take what the Gospels tell you and consider the nature in which they were written, the historical context, and the history of Jewish education. It’s OK to look at the Gospels with a critical eye - I certainly would - but it is NOT okay to dismiss the Gospels while calling Jesus a man from Galilee. Then when someone says, “Where is your source?” you say, “The Gospels claim it so.” derrh
And then you try to redefine a word again! Social classes are* not* caste systems. Again, you have your words confused. :rolleyes: While there was limited mobility among paternal lines - someone from the Tribe of Benjamin would never be a Levite - you’re suggesting that whatever social or economic class one was born into, one would stay in. That’s not correct. At. All.
The OP asked if Jesus was literate. We don’t know. So we take into account what we do know. Well, that doesn’t get us anywhere. Josephus is only somewhat reliable. We have to look at the Gospels. If we question their validity then the only thing we can do is throw our hands up and say, “I donno. Impossible to say.” If that is your position then SAY THAT and leave the thread be.
Some of us like investigating the mysteries and unknowns of history. That’s what makes SD so great. If you can’t participate productively, then state your “I donno” piece and move on.
I participated because I thought the question interesting. I don’t have a background in Ancient Hebrew or Biblical Greek, but I did receive a rather sound Jewish education (and one that never stops for most Jews). I gave a perspective of what it may have been like for a first century Jewish boy. I took what the Gospels claimed (cause that’s what we’re working with), what I’ve learned from the 10,000 lectures on Jesus given by Jewish historians, some logic, and then I made my conclusions.
Did it ever occur to you that it’s entirely possible that early Christians painted Jesus as a poor man risen to fame because of his Godly enlightenment? This would show that salvation was available to every man, and that wealth and status could easily blind you. Don’t you think it’s possible that Jesus *wasn’t *the son of a poor carpenter? Maybe he was the son of an architect.
If you want to consider historical context then you need to consider the political reality of Jews from 100 BCE to 100 CE and the Nazarines’ shift away from Judaism and into “Christianity” as they dealt with their own political troubles.