...The most common objection is that people living in oral cultures had better memories than most of us and could be counted on to tell stories exactly as they heard them, time after time, without changing them in the least.
......1. Unfortunately for this view, anthropological studies of the past twenty years have shown convincingly that this isn't the case at all. In fact, the concern for verbal accuracy that is behind this theory is a concern found exclusively in written cultures where accounts can be checked to see if they are consistent.
......2. In oral cultures, the natural assumption is that stories are to be changed, depending on the audience and the situation.
..........— Bart D. Ehrman (1955 - ), American New Testament scholar, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From the syllabus notes for his
New Testament course from
The Teaching Company.