Joe - You wrote "I really don't think the Hebrew or Christian scriptures were written to "control people's thinking." In many ways, they seem to be a perfect example of the "folk process"

Agreed. What I meant was that the powerful Church of Rome and the powerful Byzantine Church used them later to control people's thinking...for the benefit of the Church as a power structure.

Despite that, I'm sure there were some genuinely spiritual people in the main church structure at the time. But they may have been much in the minority.

Other than that...what Mark said. :-)