When were the Gospels written and why?

[pgnat1]

I know most scholars believe the four Gospels were written around 60-90 A.D. If this is true, why is there such a large gap between them and the time of Jesus’ Resurrection? Were the Apostles evangelizing orally during that period? Was there an official Church organized before the Gospels? And I know Tradition tells us as Catholics that the Gospels were written according to whomever (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), but because of the gap, is it possible it was written by people in close relation to the Gospel writers?

Sorry about the numerous questions

:manvspc:

 

[bilop]

I know most scholars believe the four Gospels were written around 60-90 A.D. If this is true, why is there such a large gap between them and the time of Jesus’ Resurrection? Were the Apostles evangelizing orally during that period? Was there an official Church organized before the Gospels? And I know Tradition tells us as Catholics that the Gospels were written according to whomever (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), but because of the gap, is it possible it was written by people in close relation to the Gospel writers?

Sorry about the numerous questions

:manvspc:

Yes, 60-90 AD, with St. John being the last (he was the youngest Apostle, and only one to die a natural death at a very old age).

Yes, the Apostles were evangelizing around the world, Peter and Paul in Rome, Thomas in India, etc.

I imagine that while the people who knew Jesus were still alive, personal witness was the most powerful. As the persecution began, and the eyewitnesses started to be killed or die, it was deemed necessary to write things down to preserve them.

God Bless.

 

[pablope]

I know most scholars believe the four Gospels were written around 60-90 A.D.

There is scholarship opinion that Matthew may have been written around the 50s AD.

If this is true, why is there such a large gap between them and the time of Jesus’ Resurrection?

 

[pgnat1]

Thank you for your replies. A book I might want to get is “The Fathers Know Best” I heard that it is a great reference tool :newidea:

 

[pablope]

Thank you for your replies. A book I might want to get is “The Fathers Know Best” I heard that it is a great reference tool :newidea:

Yes…there is also a blog about the book led by its author…jimmy akin.

Just google the book’s title…and add blog at the end.

 

[Publisher]

Mark and Matthew were written to “fill the void” of liturgical needs which arose in the early Christian movement as it sought to participate in the liturgical life of the Jewish year…since prior to the Fall of Jerusalem, had a predominantly Jewish following.

They also were written to set down a “rememberance” of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth as the realization dawned upon those first disciples that the returning King of Israel was not returning as quickly as thought. Paul in his earlier letters provides a view of an expectacy that this present age was winding up…in his later letters…that view has been modified to answer the questions of why Jesus had not returned as those first disciples believed he would…they were written out of the religious necessity that arose in corporate worship and liturgy.

 

[aragonjohn1]

• catholic.com/magazine/articles/are-the-gospels-myth
• philvaz.com/apologetics/ShreddingTheGospels.htm#eyewitness
• scripturecatholic.com/scripture_alone.html#tradition-I

hope this helps : )

Shalom
God bless

 

[thistle]

I know most scholars believe the four Gospels were written around 60-90 A.D. If this is true, why is there such a large gap between them and the time of Jesus’ Resurrection? Were the Apostles evangelizing orally during that period? Was there an official Church organized before the Gospels? And I know Tradition tells us as Catholics that the Gospels were written according to whomever (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), but because of the gap, is it possible it was written by people in close relation to the Gospel writers?

Sorry about the numerous questions

:manvspc:

Read this:

churchinhistory.org/pages/booklets/authors-gospels-1.htm

 

[patrick457]

I know most scholars believe the four Gospels were written around 60-90 A.D. If this is true, why is there such a large gap between them and the time of Jesus’ Resurrection?

According to one opinion, the very first generation of Christians at first thought that since Jesus would return soon anyway there was no need to write things down. This was not a problem since Jewish culture was an orally-based one anyway and the ancient memory was apparently stronger than ours. Instead, different sayings and episodes from His life were passed down in an oral fashion (this was, after all, an oral culture), apparently usually as a way to win new converts, as instruction for the faithful, and as an arsenal against opponents. However, as decades passed, there was still no sign of the Lord, while some of the eyewitnesses are either dead or in faraway places. It was only by that time that people realized that they need to write down what they know in order to preserve it for future generations.

I’ll tell you something: a gap of forty to seventy years isn’t “large” by historical standards. Heck, the Buddha’s teachings were handed down by his disciples orally for more than four hundred years before they were finally put into writing. Arrian and Plutarch wrote biographies of Alexander the Great more than four centuries after he died, yet both of these are generally considered more or less reliable.

Were the Apostles evangelizing orally during that period? Was there an official Church organized before the Gospels?

Yes, and yes!

And I know Tradition tells us as Catholics that the Gospels were written according to whomever (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), but because of the gap, is it possible it was written by people in close relation to the Gospel writers?

Could be, who knows? I don’t see why the traditional identification could at least in essence be correct, however, since it’s attested pretty much early. Even if they were not the ones who actually dipped the pen in the papyrus, so to speak (in the ancient world, when you wanted to ‘write’ something you usually had someone - an amanuensis - do the actual writing for you anyway), it’s still likely that the traditions recorded in the gospels do come down from them.

 

[Augustine3]

Mark wrote his gospel because the Roman Christians asked him to put into writings