MISQUOTING JESUS
The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
by Bard D. Ehrman C 2005
Harper/SanFrancisco publishers
page 38... "As it turns out, even defining what it means to read and write is a very complicated business. Many people can read but are unable to compose a sentence, for example. And what does it mean to read? Are people literate if they can manage to make sense of the comic strips but not the editorial page? Can people be said to be able to write if they can sign their name but cannot copy a page of a text?...'
"Throughout most of antiquity, since most people could not write, there were local "readers" and "writers" who hired out their services to the people who needed to conduct business that required written texts; tax receipts, legal contracts, licenses, personal letters, and the like...'
