58 Chris Keith To what extent this competency level is reflective of his training under Gamaliel (Acts 22,3) or his Diasporan hometown of Tarsus, or both, however, is not entirely clear (83). Combined with an everyday immersion in a Greek-speaking culture, one need posit little beyond the initial stages of literate education in order to account for the level of grapho-literate competency in Greek that Paul displays in the aforementioned passages of explicit writing. However, while Paul may not appear to have travelled far enough down the Greek pedagogical path to be able to compose lengthy and intricate texts, what grapho- literacy in Greek he had would have placed him in the top echelon of Jewish society (in terms of literacy). More importantly, this is something he wanted his audience to know. University of Edinburgh Chris KEITH New College Mound Place Edinburgh EH1 2LX-UK SUMMARY Recent research in the school papyri of Egypt, especially Oxyrhychus, has illuminated our understanding of the pedagogical process in the Greco-Roman world. Particularly interesting in this respect is the acquisition and social function of grapho-literacy (i.e., the ability to compose writing). Since few were literate, and of those few, fewer could read than could write, understanding how one gained grapho-literacy, who gained grapho-literacy, and how that literacy was employed in day to day life shines new light on passages such as 1 Cor 16,21, Gal 6,11, Col 4,18, 2 Thess 3,17, and Phlm 19. In these passages, Paul draws attention to the fact that he has personally written in the text. This paper will argue that these passages are not merely interesting asides, but rather significantly heighten the rhetorical force of the text. They draw attention not only to Paul’s grapho-literacy, but also to his ability to avoid using it. (83) G.F. Moore (Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era. The Age of the Tannaim [Cambridge 1927-1930] I, 322) claims “Hellenistic Jews” (by which he means those outside Palestine and Babylonia) were taught the scriptures in Greek. Likewise, M. HENGEL, The Pre-Christian Paul (London 1991), posits that Paul would have received a Greek-speaking Jewish elementary education consisting of the LXX (38; and thus Greek was his mother tongue), but that he returned to Jerusalem as an adolescent, where he honed his oratorical skills in Greek-speaking synagogues (58). However, MacDonald (“Literacy”, 72, n. 72, 73) notes the lack of evidence for Jewish Greek education in the Diaspora. Hezser (Jewish Literacy, 90) observes that Josephus “is the only Jew who explicitly describes the way he learned Greek and received an education”. See Josephus, Ant. 20.12.1.