The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization

by Martin Puchner

It was there that he delivered his most famous sermon, a sermon that spoke to people directly in words they could understand, a speech about poverty, powerlessness, and persecution, but also about a new way of life. He told them that the world as they knew it was ending, and that their lives as they knew them would end as well. He told them to prepare themselves, to change, to follow him. Everyone he addressed, even the lowliest. There was only one group he did not like, whom he attacked directly: the guardians of the Bible. These scribes were charged with interpreting the foundational text of their culture, the text Ezra had instituted as scripture upon his return from exile. But Jesus did not accept the authority of these scribes. Like other rebels against foundational literature, like Confucius and Socrates (and perhaps the Buddha) before him, Jesus could have written words down. Like these other teachers, he chose not to. He had been raised in a scribal culture built on a sacred text, as he showed when battling the demon in the desert. But he refused to create a writing of his own.