A Christian of the first century was introduced into a way of life and under way, on the way, was told the things necessary for his becoming a missionary himself, a witness, a confessor, possibly a martyr. To hear was nothing but the first step for telling others. Not curiosity but salvation was served. And its continuous flow was achieved by the foolishness of oral preaching. The tremendous novelty of the written Gospels, therefore, was that anything written should rank as Gospel truth at all.

rosenstock-heussy, fruit of lips, p.26