WHEN DID LUKE WRITE? THE QUESTION OF AD 70 - Andrew Larkin
AD 70 and the Dating of the New Testament
A number of years ago, John A.T. Robinson, former Bishop of Woolwich (who could hardly be accused of being an evangelical) wrote a book called Redating the New Testament, which argued all the New Testament books were written before AD 70, i.e. before the fall of Jerusalem. Given the significance of that event, he comments:
“One of the oddest facts about the New Testament is that what on any showing would appear to be the single most datable and climactic event of the period – the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and with it the collapse of institutional Judaism based on the temple – is never once mentioned as past fact.”[1]
Most of the time, arguments from silence are not the grounds on which to make a case. After all, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Not mentioning AD 70 does not necessarily mean the books were written before that date although with, for instance, the book of Hebrews, the lack does seem significant.
I think it doubtful all the New Testament books were written before AD 70 although I believe the majority probably were. Why does it matter? In some areas, it does not. Little is to be gained if estimates around the writing of some books is a year or two out. It does matter with Paul’s letters, where some scholars argue he did not write all the letters attributed to him and thus date them much later. Those issues around reliability and authenticity are important. Dating may also affect how we understand some passages and how we understand things such as prophecy. Thinking about the gospels, there is a difference between, for example, the gospels being written using eyewitness testimony or decades after the first generation of Christians have died.
For those who want to read further on the gospels as eyewitness testimony, Richard Bauckham’s, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses is outstanding. It is around 500 pages, but is well worth the time spent invested in reading it. Given how expensive it is, however, people may prefer the booklet, The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, available at:
https://grovebooks.co.uk/products/b-48-the-gospels-as-eyewitness-testimony
[1] John A.T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament, p.13