Abstract:What would make the evangelists take pains to utilise writing even if they could still proclaim the gospel orally? This article argues that a plausible answer to this question can be offered when one gives due attention to four intentional uses of writing in an oral society: to help memory; to overcome geographical distance; to freeze a specific version of the tradition; and to increase the authority of a message. Although the dominant means of communication in the first-century Mediterranean world were oral delivery and aural reception, ancients intentionally chose the medium of writing because it was more effective than oral communication in fulfilling certain tasks. This article then argues that these intentional uses of writing may well have met the needs of the evangelists, who wished to convey a specific portrayal of Jesus more powerfully in various regions and for succeeding generations.

中文翻译：

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福音传道者决定写作的可能动机：探索口头社会中写作的有意使用

摘要：传福音的人虽然可以口头传福音，但有什么原因会让他们苦于写作？本文认为，当我们适当注意口语社会中写作的四种有意用途时，可以为这个问题提供一个合理的答案：帮助记忆；克服地理距离；冻结特定版本的传统；并增加消息的权威性。尽管第一世纪地中海世界的主要交流方式是口头传递和听觉接收，但古人有意选择了书写媒介，因为在完成某些任务时，文字比口头交流更有效。然后这篇文章认为，这些有意使用的写作很可能满足了福音传道者的需要，