ORAL TRANSMISSION OF THE GOSPEL

ORAL PERIOD

This refers to the period when the massage was transmitted orally i.e. by word of the mouth. This could easily be person to person contact or a preacher could talk to a group of people. One could say at this oral period started after Jesus’ resurrection up to 64 AD when the first gospel was written.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORAL PERIOD

-There was oral transmission of the gospel massage.

– It was a period of anxiety about the 2^nd coming of Christ, parousia.

-Christians or Disciples were busy preaching trying to convert as many people as possible.

-Table fellowship or Lord’s Supper activities were very common.

-Catecluetrical activities were also common; this is where Christians were being given instructions after being baptized.

– Internal persecution was common; this was related to the hostility the Jews were conflicting to the converts.

– There was also external persecution mainly from Roman Catholic particularly Emperor Nero.

-Christians started moving out of the synagogue and started establishing their own churches.

-Majority of the people were illiterate.

-People in the Middle East had a high sense of memory so they learnt by memorizing the information.

– Christians started meeting informally in people’s houses.

– They started using Old Testament pictures as written documents.

– Some letters stated appearing during this period for example the letter to the Corinthians, Galatians etc.

– Some creatures stated making missionary journeys.

– Christians stated recognizing themselves as the next Israel

– Finally the influence of the Holy Spirit was very strong.

ADVANTAGES OF ORAL TRANSMISSION OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE

• It could be faster because it could be person to person contact.
• It’s cheap and it was a solution of the expensive material.
• There was no storage problem.
• The method had a geometrical multiplication effect.
• One preacher could preach to so many people at a time.
• Some preachers were eye witnesses of Jesus so they would give autherithic massages.
• There was room for variety of preachers.
• It had a charismatic advantage.
• The method gave room for listeners to ask questions.
• This method was in line with Jesus way of teaching.
• Any occasion could be used to preach the massage.
• The blind people would receive the massage.
• If it was person to person and there was an element of personal touch wed mod rejection was minimized.
• People in the Middle East had a high sense of memory.
• It was advantageous to the illiterate

DISADVANTAGES OF ORAL TRANSMISSION OF THE GOSPEL

• This method is subject to distortion by different preachers.
• Those who lost memory would be hindrance to the massage being transmitted properly.
• The eye witness would gradually die so the authentic massage would gradually disappear.
• There is no room for deeper criticism of the massage.
• There were no records for this was dangerous mainly when persecution started taking place.
• There is always the rib of language.
• Additions and conditions are normally many.
• The method very much relied on the influence of the holy spirits.
• Preachers faced hostility.
• The deaf couldn’t hear/ character of the preacher influenced the massage.

     Get to know more about Oral tradition Gospel preaching in the video below