WHEN WERE THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS WRITTEN? - Lawson C Briggs - January 1978

Lawson C Briggs

Less than two centuries ago the scholarly current first began to run toward a new and different view of the New Testament. The New Testament books were written, said the new views, neither when nor by whom - the Church and tradition had long supposed and incorporated into the very titles of the books in the Authorized and other versions. By 1850, the Tubingen school of biblical criticism prevailed. F. C. Baur, dominating the scholarly scene, questioned the authorship of every book except Revelation and four of the epistles of Paul. All the rest, including Acts and Mark, were placed well into the second century, far removed from the events they described - and from apostolicity! Once again, by 1900, the scheme had been modified. Harnack, for example, placed only Jude, James and II Peter in the second century. But views at that time were extremely varied and scholarly disagreements volatile. "By 1950 the gap between radical and conservative had narrowed considerably, and we find a remarkable degree of consensus." Thus John A. T. Robinson, in the introduction to his most recent book, delineates the progress of New Testament dating in a survey by fifty-year periods. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library