Reliability of Oral Tradition

[powerpress]
In the modern world, oral means of communication are deemed inherently unreliable as we’ve all heard of the game of telephone where a phrase is whispered around a circle and it comes out nothing like the original.

But scholars have shown that in the ancient world, and to this day in some places, oral traditions were memorized and passed down to multiple generations without alteration.¹

When the apostles went out to teach the Faith, they did not whisper it in secret, but proclaimed it publicly to the multitudes.  Oral tradition was the normative means of passing on the faith, as St. Paul’s says in 2 Timothy 2:2, “what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

There is no evidence that a widespread change in belief took place among the early Christians.  Quite the opposite, at the end of the second century St. Irenaeus wrote that while the Church had spread over the entire known world, the Faith had been maintained in tact everywhere,² something only attributable to the Holy Spirit.

1 -  e.g., . Kenneth Bailey, “Informal, Controlled, Oral Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels” Asia Journal of Theology, 5.1
(1991)

2 -  Against Heresies 1:10:2 [ca. A.D. 180]

This is a FANTASTIC summation of the lives of Peter and Paul in the life of the early Church by Vatican Radio…don’t miss it!

 

From Vatican Radio:

Why Peter and Paul ?

Wherever you go in Rome you always see Saint Peter and Saint Paul linked together.

Their feast day too is celebrated on the same day . Shouldn’t they each have their own feast day?

The irony is that they fought mightily in their lifetime and not just about trivial things but about matters that went to the very heart of what Christianity is all about.

Listen to Scripture scholar Mark Benedict Coleridge , Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn:[powerpress = “Vatican-Radio”]

The Second Friday in Ordinary Time – from the Gospel of Mark the full reading and reflection

“Jesus appointed twelve to be with him”

an excerpt from today’s reflection by Don Schwager:

What is God’s call on your life? When Jesus embarked on his mission he chose twelve men for the task of preaching the kingdom of God and healing the sick in the power of that kingdom. In the choice of the twelve, we see a characteristic feature of God’s work: Jesus chose very ordinary people. They were non-professionals, who had no wealth or position. They were chosen from the common people who did ordinary things, had no special education, and no social advantages. Jesus wanted ordinary people who could take an assignment and do it extraordinarily well. He chose these men, not for what they were, but for what they would be capable of becoming under his direction and power. When the Lord calls us to serve, we must not shrug back because we think that we have little or nothing to offer. The Lord takes what ordinary people, like us, can offer and uses it for greatness in his kingdom. Do you make your life an offering to the Lord and allow him to use you as he sees fit?

“Lord Jesus, fill me with gratitude and generosity for all you have done for me. Take my life and all that I have as an offering of love for you, who are my All.”

for the full reflection visit : Daily Reading and Meditation