How do historians date the Bible?

Question

Obviously if you're a Christian who takes the Bible and 4 Gospels literally I won't ask. But historians who claim the gospels written long after Jesus died (if he even lived), where do they get this info?

Ok, I've heard already that they writers were obviously NOT John, Luke, Mark, Matthew. But I just want to know how dating is measured, once I can get this solid, i think I can defend my view.

I am asking this after see "The God Who wasn't there"

PLEASE STOP telling me when they were written. I'm asking PROOF if you know any, faith doesn't work for me.

Answer 1

The Dead Sea scrolls comprise roughly 900 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea) in the West Bank. The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include practically the only known surviving copies of Biblical documents made before AD 100, and preserve EVIDENCE OF CONSIDERABLE DIVERSITY OF BELIEF AND PRACTICE within late Second Temple Judaism.

Many of the scrolls are now housed in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.

According to CARBON DATING, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS, and handwriting analysis the documents were written at various times between the middle of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. At least one document has a carbon date range of 21 BC–61 AD.

...

Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible were Masoretic texts dating to 9th century. The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls push that date back to the 2nd century BC. Before the discovery, the oldest Greek manuscripts such as Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus were the earliest extant versions of biblical manuscripts.

...

Hope this helps.

Peace be with you.

Answer 2

Well, this question requires a pretty long answer, and I'm not sure just how much of a mood I'm in for writing a long answer. I'll see if I can make this short, using a brief overview of the facts, and then if you need more details, I can either go back over it here, or you can email me (I'll put my email at the bottom).

1. It is from the earliest traditions that we believe we know who wrote the books of the New Testament. Those of us who believe it figure that the people at the time (or NEAR the time) would know.
2. As for the dates of the writing of the New Testament, there are several ways of dating (and none of them include how old the oldest extant manuscript is):
A. The internal test. This includes language used (as John_D_Ayer mentioned), as well as events described.
B. Where the oldest copies of manuscripts are found, and what language they're written in. For example, if a copy of Homer's Iliad was found that dated back to 200 B.C., and it was in China, or even in what is now Great Britain (and it was translated into either Chinese or the language that became English), it could be assumed that it had time to travel, AND to be translated. It's the same thing with the Bible. The copies that are possessed now are in MANY different languages.
3. The historians who give a much later date for the writing of the New Testament have a double standard when it comes to ancient manuscripts. Having copies of the New Testament that only date to about the fourth century means that it wasn't written until that time (according to them), while the fact that the gap between when Plato wrote his works and the oldest copy available is over a thousand years is irrelevant.

Try reading Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell, or Evidence for Christianity, by the same author. If that doesn't convince you, go into the sources that he names. Then look into THEIR sources. I'm only halfway through looking into McDowell's sources, but the more I search, the more I find that everything that's said about the Bible is true.

I hope some of this helps.

Answer 3

Hi and good morning S.A.....One proof of evidence was with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The whole entire O.T. (Old Testament) was written except for the Book of Esther. Now so far in my research on this particular topic I found the following: The Bible was not written in one specific year. The Bible is a collection of writings and the earliest ones were set down more than 3500 years ago. The first 5 books of the Bible are attributed to Moses and are commonly called the Pentateuch (meaning-5 scrolls). Now if I'm not mistaken, Moses lived between 1500 and 1300 B.C. or approximately. I would assume that the earliest writings were from songs and poetry and stories told from one generation to generation. Of course back in this era, no writings were developed yet so most of it was done orally probably with great accuracy and detail. Now the earliest writings began when symbols were scratched or pressed on clay tablets. The Egyptians refined this technique through their hieroglyphics. The Bible had stated that Moses was 'educated in all the learning of the Egyptians' so he would have known of this techinque. We also read the God gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the Finger of God. (The Ten Commandments). So with this in mind one has to figure that the Bible set down around 1400 B.C. The writings of the 30 or so contributors to the O.T. span a thousand years. Then in my research I had come to learn that there was a 500 year span when no writings were contributed to the Bible. Hmmm..find that interesting. The N.T. was written during a much shorter period. During the last half of the first century A.D. Hope this has helped. Have a great day!

Answer 4

Historians use the language the documents are written in and incidents discussed in the documents to date them. The process is error prone, although, it is more exact than it sounds.

Over time language changes. The usage of words, punctuations, etc, change. By comparing documents written on a known date to documents whose dates are unknown you can estimate an accurate time frame for their having been written.

HOWEVER

The biggest mistake that a lot of idiots make is believing that the earliest documents we have on anything from thousands of years ago are the first editions. In all probability the earliest known documents are "tenth" or "twentieth" editions. Copies made from copies and edited to be more readable at the time of copying.

This editing during republication is common today and was even more common when you had to hand copy everything. Individual copies of the same edition were different, to say nothing of different editions.

The reality is that we have no idea when "first editions" were published, what language they were published in or how many various and edited copies were distributed.

This is an interesting subject to study, and, most of the material is University level thesis or text books so the data has not been propagandized as much as some, except in anti-Christian or anti-religious literature.

If you avoid media like the stuff that interested you in the subject you can learn a lot about it.

Answer 5

It is believed John Mark the disciple wrote. Also Luke traveled with Paul, and met Peter. If these had been in error, there would have been enough people alive that knew the truth to discount them. Also an event such as the destruction of the temple would have been listed, so this puts an upper limit on the time.
This coincides with secular history books, too. See Antiquities by Josephus.

Answer 6

The oldest surviving and known fragment of the NT dates to 90AD, within 60 years of the crucifixion, and is from the gospel of John, which has always been considered the last one written. So-called scholars have said John's gospel wasn't written until 300 AD so they have been put in their place.

So we know the other gospel's predated 90AD. But Luke's gospel says many gospels were already written, and Luke's Acts of the Apostles ends before the death of Paul. Paul (and Peter) both died in 67 AD, so you know all the gospels (except John), all the writings of Peter, and all the writings of Paul PREDATE 67 AD. That is within 37 years of the crucifixion, well within the lifetime of any eyewitnesses.

Answer 7

The Gospels were written, about 70 ad not hundreds of years after Christ. If you read the Bible Luke traveled with Paul, and Paul meet the disciples so How can the gospels be written as far after Jesus death as people claim.

Answer 8

Isn't science grand? Their own dating techniques helped to fix the date of the ancient manuscripts, and archaeologists, linguists, and historians specializing in hermeneutics and historiography did the rest.

The verdict? It's all very true.

Sorry to disappoint you. Now let's see if science has the integrity to admit that the gospels and Acts were written within 10 years after the ascension of Christ to heaven. I mean, how is it that professional historians and archaeologists know this, but science spares no effort at constructing knowingly false assertions to the contrary. Of course, if I were an atheist scientist and my paycheck depended on my lack of intellectual integrity (publishing bias), I'd probably have no problem "intellectually"prostituting myself in such a fashion at all.

Answer 9

“The 66 books of the Bible were written on three continents. In three languages. By about 40 different people (kings, shepherds, fishermen, priests, and a physician). Over a period of about 1500 years. On the most controversial subjects. By people who in most cases had never met. By authors whose education and background varied greatly. Yet all 66 books maintain harmony with each other…as if written by one great mind. And indeed it was.” 2 Peter 1 verse 21 “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy spirit” Critics of the Bible have tried to say that certain “historical statements” in the Bible are not accurate but archaeologists have uncovered many discoveries that have proven the history of the Bible as accurate. The principles and the prophecies of the old testament as well as its history holds for us today as much relevance as it did for the Israelites in Jesus day and it blends perfectly with the new testament.

Answer 10

Read Josephus. He was a Historian around the time the gospel was first being preached.