Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament: The Evidence for Early Composition

This paradigm-shifting study is the first book-length investigation into the compositional dates of the New Testament to be published in over forty years. Jonathan Bernier argues that the majority of the New Testament texts were composed before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE—which, with the notable exception of the undisputed Pauline Epistles, is twenty to thirty years earlier than typically supposed by contemporary biblical scholars. Bernier also considers several early Christian texts that are often dated around the same time as the New Testament—namely, 1 Clement, the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas. Whereas these texts are usually dated to the late first through the mid-second century, Bernier argues that most should be dated to the first century.

What emerges is a revised view of how quickly early Christians produced what became the seminal texts for their new movement. New Testament scholars, professors, and students of the New Testament, pastors, and church leaders will value this work.