Dating the Gospels Early

A Primer on the Gospels' Dating (Part One)

A friend recently suggested that I write an April Fool’s piece in which I date all of the Gospels early. By early, he meant before Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE.

I liked the idea at first. But on second thought, I don’t think that an early dating of the Gospels quite meets April Fool’s criterion of being obviously foolish on reflection.

To lay my own cards on the table: I am not persuaded that the Gospels were written before 70 CE. But I’m also fully aware that there are many (proper) scholars, far more intelligent and erudite than myself, who have defended this view.

Thus, while apologists routinely offer a rather weak reason for dating the Gospels prior to 70 – the accusation that our field is inflicted with anti-supernaturalist bias – this does not negate the fact that there is a more serious, positive case to be made.

In this post, I want to outline some of the reasons for dating the Gospels early. Then in a follow up post, I will offer my arguments for dating the Gospels when I do.