It is now October, and if you have been following the recent “tech” articles in the UCRMN newsletters, you are aware of the planned obsolescence of Microsoft’s Windows10 operating system in favour of their Windows 11. Moreover, you will be aware of the many problems involved in this transition. Let it be sufficient to know that we have done a workshop Zoom session on how to move to a Linux-based operating system for your computer should it now be unable to perform this update due to inadequate hardware. Yes, this transition to Linux is free, so review the newsletters from the start of 2025. However, I am going to regress in technology in this article to the time of Paul, and the technology that would have been used 2000 years ago.
As many of our readers might be aware, I have been hand-copying the Bible with a dip pen and bottled ink for over a year now. Lately, I have been fashioning my own feather quill pens and even making my own ink. It has been an informative exercise in making me more aware of the obstacles that Paul and the writers and copyists of the Bible faced until the invention of the printing press.
Firstly, we must understand the the writing tools of the past were rather rudimentary, namely a pen made out of reeds, papyrus from plants, parchment from hides, and carbon ink from lamp black. In addition, there were wax tablets available, but these were only good for small notes. Certainly a letter like Romans would require a great deal of supplies to write. A scribe or secretary would be hired or, in Paul’s case, a volunteer might be available. The speed of writing was extremely slow, as I have found doing my own copying of biblical texts. Thus, dictation would be almost syllable by syllable. It was certainly not like our experience with a modern keyboard or speech-to-text computer software. Therefore, a letter like Romans would require a great deal of time to even write. There would also be the necessity to make multiple copies. Then, it would need to be delivered to individual communities of faith. A postal system as we know it today only existed for the Roman government, and it was like the old “pony express”. It was only able to operate seasonally. So too, would be the case for Paul’s Christians who needed to walk or take ships to transmit the letter. Winter closed many mountain roads, and winter storms precluded sea travel through much of the Roman empire. In the end, a letter would have cost thousands of dollars to produce and send out to various congregations. One item that would be quite different than what we experience today is that the messenger who brought the letter would read it aloud in front of the community. This situation is much like the fashion in the time of Jane Austen in the early 1800s. Letters were read aloud in the family setting, and perhaps even shared with local friends or relatives as well. Yes, that too, is the fashion of Paul almost 2000 years earlier.
Now I want you to imagine that a person arrives at your church on Sunday morning with a letter like Romans, and reads it to the congregation for the first time. I should mention that oratory was also a taught skill in the ancient world, so the reading would have been much more dramatic that the droning of scripture that many of us experience today. Wow! What an event! What an experience! And at what a cost! Perhaps, we can now appreciate that we take our modern conveniences a little too much for granted, and perhaps we have become less inspired because of the ease and marginal cost.
Many people avoid Linux operating systems, not only because the don’t like change, but also because it is free, and they think that because it is free, it must be of little value. Maybe it is time for us to rethink what is truly of value in our lives.
Rev. Martin Dawson, Cornwall PEI