When were the Gospel's in the Bible written and when were the Gnostic Gospel's written?

Question

As you can see from the responses, there is a wide discrepency about all of these dates.

Answer 1

The short answer is that any extant gospels are rewrites from 2nd to 4th century.
That is to say that documents written on the media of that time did not survive well enough to provide scholars a complete working tool from which to translate.
Scholars are therefore left with re-writes or recreations by followers doing their best to remember the old stories.

There are early assumptions as to when one or the other gospel was written and by whom. The assumption that the synoptics, for example, were written by the individual whose name appears associated with the document is no longer accepted by scholars. These gospels were almost certainly decided upon by committee and revised as needed to satisfy the effort to construct a cohesive missive.

Dates beginning at about 40 or so years after the time of Jesus and ending at about 100 CE plus are popular, if faulty. The stories derive from those times but the documents were re-created, if you will, sometime in the 4th century.

Secondly, the Gnostic gospels require no church and that reason alone is sufficient for the organized church not to include them in any official cannon.

Additionally consider that since no original writings survive save a very few remnants and the greatly deteriorated segments discovered over time in the caves near Jerusalem, from the over 25 or so “gospels” the church only found four to be acceptable most likely due to the overwhelming contradictions resplendent in the many.

Constantine is credited with the effort to “revive” the stories of early Christianity and therefore the main reason that Christianity survived as a new, if renamed, form of Judaism.

He apparently made this effort to reconstruct the various Christian writings that may have survived the exigencies of time and travel only to be systematically destroyed by the Roman Army at the order of Diocletian, Constantine’s predecessor, to avoid civil war.

Constantine was probably motivated more by the desire to avoid civil war rather than some religious epiphany. The rumors that Constantine was “converted” on his death bed are almost certainly apocryphal.

This information abounds on the web and if we were motivated to give thanks to any of the various 2,500 or so gods invented by Mesopotamians, such motivation I fail to possess, we could thank them for the web.

Always remember to do your own research, should you be seriously interested in a verified answer.

Jim D

Answer 2

Mark was the first gospel written. it was written no earlier than 70 CE, and most scholars put it at around 90 CE. The other gospels were based on Mark, and were written in the second century. John was the last gospel written.

The earliest Christian writings in the New Testament were the epistles of Paul, starting with Corinthians and 1 Galatians. They were written around 40 CE.

The remarkable thing about the earliest writings is that they do not mention an Earthly life for Jesus. The only actual events ascribed to him are a crucifiction, death, and resurrection, but those are never placed in any Earthly location.

The Gospel of Truth was written somewhere in the mid second century, probably between 140 and 180 CE. I don't know when the others were written.

Adam, you are repeating the church line, but those dates are not supported by research and evidence. Matthew, Luke, and John are obviously based on Mark. Mark mentions the destruction of the temple, so could not have been written before 70 CE.

Answer 3

All were written during the same general time period during the first few hundred years following Jesus return to heaven. The gnostic gospels were not discovered, translated and published until the past 50 years. Fortunately the church has not had the iron fisted control over the gnostic gospels that they have had over the bible. the authenticity and authority of the message from Jesus is not compromised.

Answer 4

I think the synoptic gospels were written about 120-150 CE. Most of the gnostic gospels were written at about that time or later, but the gospel of Thomas and the gospel of Judas are probably older than the synoptic gospels. It doesn't really matter when the the texts were written because early Christianity was a secret society and things were not written, they were whispered. Actually, I would say mainstream Christianity is a corruption of gnostic Christianity.

Also, Paul's letters were written much earlier than the gospels. You will also notice that he doesn't mention miracles or a literal resurrected body of Jesus. That is because such mythologies were added later, and when Paul says "another gospel" he is referring to what would later become mainstream christianity.

Answer 5

The earliest book of the New Testament is thought to be Galatians, which was written in about 50 A.D. The last, Revelations, is thought to have been written in about 90-95 A.D., when Jesus's disciple John was exiled. All the rest were written somewhere in between.

Some scholars, however, point towards an earlier date, perhaps as far back as 40-45 A.D.

The "gospels" known as "Gnostic" originated from somewhere in the second century. Most scholars think most of them were written in about 150 A.D.

Answer 6

The first gospel in the new testament was written about 40 years after the death of Christ.
Sorry, can't answer about the gnostic gospels.

Answer 7

It's my understanding they were ALL written during the same time-frame; the Gnostic Gospels were considered for inclusion in the Bible, but were declared Heresy and excluded because they were not in alignment with the message the Church wanted the Bible to teach.

Answer 8

The gospels were written some time after Christ's death. Sorry I don't have any info about the gnostic gospel.

Answer 9

The gospels were written between 50-90 A.D, which was during the time of the eyewitnesses to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The Gnostic gospels are usually dated in the late 2nd century to the early 3rd century, after eyewitnesses to Jesus were already dead.

Answer 10

As far as I know, the first formal presence of gnosticism began 200 years after Christ.
I've heard it said that Mary Magdelene was a gnostic apostle- which I find utterly ridiculous, since she would have been long dead before gnosticism even became a faith option...
re: Gospel of Mary.