Were the written Gospels destroyed in the destruction of the second temple?

[PolarExpress]

Hi, something that troubles me is that the gospels, some say were written before the destruction of the second temple-because the prophecy of it’s destruction is only a prophecy. And Jerusalem was the headquarters of this new Christianity, The first council in Jerusalem e.t.c. This makes me think the first copies of the Gospels were probably in Jerusalem. If all this is true, when Rome besieged Jerusalem, were the written gospels destroyed?
Thanks, this is probably a stupid question.

 

[Dan_Defender]

I don’t believe so. Remember Christians left Jerusalem before the siege in 67 AD and would have taken all their books with them. I believe there is a tradition that Simon the Zealot led them out of Jerusalem to Pella, across the Jordan.

 

[Fauken]

Even if they were destroyed, considering the culture at the time, I find it very hard to believe that none of them were memorized. Books were not available then like they are today, after all. The Apostles and their successors weren’t exactly carrying copies of the Torah and the Epistles on their backs.

 

[joeybaggz]

I would wonder why, given the animosity of the Jews at that time, to the presence of followers of “The Way” (the term Christian hadn’t even been thought of yet), the disciples and apostles would have their “books” and writings in the Temple. I would think they would be reserved where the apostles and disciples were. And I doubt that was 24/7 in the Jewish Temple.

 

[BartholomewB]

Yes, but the destruction of the city wasn’t limited to the Temple alone. If there were any Christians left in Jerusalem in 70, they may very well have been killed, and their property destroyed, along with so many others.

However, as @Dan_Defender said, I believe Pella, rather than Jerusalem, had become the main center for Jewish Christians by then.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

at this time, it was not christianity , it was the Jesus Movement and we were considered a Jewish sect. Mark and Paul were active before AD70. I believe Luke and Matthew and certainly John, after. But both Matthew and Luke were not in Jerusalem when they were writing their Gospels.
And certainly Paul was living in the Diaspora.

There was another rebellion, shortly after this one, and ended up with the remnant leaders holding out on the cliffs of Masada. That is an horrific event.

 

[midori]

The Council of Jerusalem took place around AD 50.

Remember Paul was imprisoned in Rome from AD (60-62?) (61-63?), and was martyred sometime around AD 65-67, as was Peter.

Here are some of Paul’s journeys:


And here are some of the other apostles’ journeys:


If you remember, the earliest Christians believed Christ’s return was imminent. It wasn’t until the Apostles began dying off and being martyred that it occurred to them to start writing things down, so that things would be preserved beyond their lifetimes. Up until then, it had been mostly an oral tradition, because they expected all this to happen during their lifetimes.


But by this point, the persecution that Christianity underwent had the effect of spreading it far beyond Judea.