Editing New Testament (section)

==Dating the New Testament==
{{main|Dating the Bible#Table IV: New Testament}}

There is no [[scholarly consensus]] on the date of composition of the latest New Testament texts. [[John Robinson (bishop of Woolwich)#Redating the New Testament (1976)|John A. T. Robinson]], [[Daniel B. Wallace|Dan Wallace]], [[William F. Albright]], [[Maurice Casey]], and James Crossley all dated many or all of the books of the New Testament before 70 AD.<ref>{{cite book |first = John Arthur Thomas |last= Robinson |title= Redating the New Testament | year = 2000 | orig-year=1976 |location= Eugene, Oregon |publisher=Wipf & Stock |isbn=978-1-57910-527-3 |page=352 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Casey |first= Maurice |author-link= Maurice Casey |title= Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian's Account of his Life and Teaching |year= 2010 |publisher= T&T Clark |page= 60-80 |isbn= 978-0567645173}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Crossley |first= James |title= The Date of Mark's Gospel: Insight from the Law in Earliest Christianity |year= 2004 |publisher= T&T Clark |page= 3 |isbn= 978-0567081957}}</ref> Jonathan Bernier's recent argument for early dates has enjoyed a positive reception, with endorsements from Chris Keith and Anders Runesson, among others.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Gabrielson |first= Timothy |title= Jonathan Bernier. Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament: The Evidence for Early Composition (Book Review) |journal= Bulletin for Biblical Research |year= 2024 |volume= 34 |issue= 1 |page= 118-121 |doi= 10.5325/bullbiblrese.34.1.0118}}</ref> Many other scholars, such as [[Bart D. Ehrman]] and [[Stephen L. Harris]], date some New Testament texts much later than this;{{sfn|Ehrman|1997|p=8|ps=: "The New Testament contains twenty-seven books, written in Greek, by fifteen or sixteen different authors, who were addressing other Christian individuals or communities between the years 50 and 120 C.E. (see box 1.4). As we will see, it is difficult to know whether any of these books was written by Jesus' own disciples."}}{{sfn|Harris|2010|p=20|ps=: Dates Jude and 2 Peter to 130–150 AD.}}{{sfn|Harris|1980|p=295|ps=: Virtually no authorities defend the Petrine authorship of 2 Peter, which is believed to have been written by an anonymous churchman in Rome about 150 C.E.}} [[Richard Pervo]] dated [[Luke–Acts]] to {{Circa|115 AD}},<ref name="pervo">{{cite journal| last1 = Pervo| first1 = Richard| author-link1 = Richard Pervo| title = Acts in Ephesus (and Environs) c. 115| journal = Forum | volume = 3 | issue = Fall 2015 | pages = 125–151 | year = 2015 | url = http://www.westarinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Forum-42-Challenging-Common-Conceptions-of-Early-Christianity.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302165929/http://www.westarinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Forum-42-Challenging-Common-Conceptions-of-Early-Christianity.pdf |archive-date=2 March 2021}}</ref> and [[David Trobisch]] places Acts in the mid-to-late second century, contemporaneous with the publication of the first New Testament canon.<ref name="trobisch-2007">{{cite journal |last=Trobisch |first=David |author-link=David Trobisch |title=Who Published the New Testament? |journal=Free Inquiry |volume=28 |issue=Dec. 2007/Jan. 2008 |pages=30–33 |url=http://trobisch.com/david/wb/media/articles/20071226%20FreeInquiry%20Who%20Published%20Christian%20Bible%20BW.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421231238/http://trobisch.com/david/wb/media/articles/20071226%20FreeInquiry%20Who%20Published%20Christian%20Bible%20BW.pdf|archive-date=21 April 2021 |quote=...Acts provides information that makes it possible to identify Luke, the author of the Gospel, as the doctor who travels with Paul and to identify Mark as someone close to Peter ''and'' Paul. This 'canon consciousness' suggests that the book of Acts was composed at a later date than is typically thought; this theory is supported by the first attestation of the book around 180 CE.}}</ref> Whether the Gospels were composed before or after 70 AD, according to Bas van Os, the lifetime of various eyewitnesses that includes Jesus's own family through the end of the [[First Century]] is very likely statistically.<ref>{{cite book |last= van Os |first= Bas |year= 2011 |title= Psychological Analyses and the Historical Jesus: New Ways to Explore Christian Origins |publisher= T&T Clark |page= 57, 83 |isbn= 978-0567269515}}</ref> [[Markus Bockmuehl]] finds this structure of lifetime memory in various early Christian traditions.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bockmuehl |first= Markus |author-link= Markus Bockmuehl |year= 2006 |title= Seeing the Word: Refocusing New Testament Study |publisher= Baker Academic |page= 178-184 |isbn= 978-0801027611}}</ref>

===External evidence===
The earliest [[Biblical manuscript|manuscripts]] of New Testament books date from the late second to early third centuries (although see [[Rylands Library Papyrus P52|Papyrus 52]] for a possible exception).{{sfn|Ehrman|2004a|pp=479–480}} 

===Internal evidence===
Literary analysis of the New Testament texts themselves can be used to date many of the books of the New Testament to the mid-to-late first century. The earliest works of the New Testament are the letters of the [[Paul the Apostle|Apostle Paul]]. It can be determined that [[First Epistle to the Thessalonians|1 Thessalonians]] is likely the earliest of these letters, written around 52 AD.{{sfn|Brown|1997|pp=456–466}}