How did the synoptic gospels come to be written where and when?

Answer 1

EARLIER DATING

The Synoptic Gospels are the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They are called 'synoptic' because they are all chronological accounts of the three-and-a-half-years of Jesus Christ's life on earth from His birth to His crucifixion and resurrection. They are all similar but each is slightly different, and no one Gospel is the basis of the others.

Various very broad ranges of dates such as the folowing have previously been put for the Gospels:- Matthew: 37 to 180ad/ce

Mark: 40 to 175 ad/ce

Luke: 50 to 170 ad/ce

However, this wide range can be furthur narrowed down quite easily because, unlike the Egyptians, the jews recorded details of not just their victories but also all their defeats. . Their biggest defeat both militarily and psychologically was the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70AD, but this crushing defeat upon the "Chosen People" is not mentioned in the past tense in any of the Synoptic Gospels or the Gospel of John. This means that all the Gospels must have been written before 70AD.

Modern theologians put the following dates for the Gospels:-

MATTHEW Late 50's to early 60's; written from Antioch of Syria

MARK Late 50's to early 60's; written from Rome.

LUKE 60-61AD; written from Rome. {He also wrote 'Acts' in 63AD from Macedonia]

{ For these dates see "The Untold Story Of The New Testament Church An Extraordinary Guide To Understanding the New Testament" " by Frank Viola 2004 ISBN 0-7684-2236-1 . It is NOT available on the Net.]

Answer 2

All the New Testament gospels were originally written anonymously and only attributed the the apostles whose names they now bear, later in the second century. Since it is unlikely that the gospels were really written by these apostles, it is not necessary to suppose that they were written during the lifetimes of the apostles.

Internal evidence has been used to date Mark convincingly to approximately 70 CE.

Matthew is considered by scholars to have been written during the 80s of the first century, although Raymond E Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) cautions that a tolerance of ten years either side of this decade should be allowed.

Luke was probably written late in the 90s of the first century, or quite early in the second century.

Since John was inspired by Luke, it must be the last of the New Testament gospels. It was written early in the second century, and is known to have been mentioned in 135 CE.

Answer 3

A:Three of the four New Testament gospels are known as 'synoptic gospels': Matthew, Mark and Luke. This is because when placed side by side - seen 'with the same eye' (synoptic) - many passages can be seen to have been copied verbatim from an original text. They are moderately similar in their accounts of the life and mission of Jesus, giving another explanation for the term.

Biblical scholars have demonstrated that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were actually based on Mark's Gospel, with Matthewcontaining some 600 of the 666 verses in Mark, often word for word in the original Greek language, and Luke a somewhat lesser number because of the 'Missing Block'. This contradicts the widespread assumption that Matthew was written by an eyewitness to the mission of Jesus, but the gospels were actually anonymous throughout the first century and only attributed to the apostles whose names they now bear later in the second century. New Testament scholars say that Matthew simply could not have been written by an eyewitness to the events described. They beleive that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke copied further material from the hypothetical 'Q' document, which seems to have been unknown to the author of Mark.

Mark's Gospel was written approximately 70 CE. Some suggest it was written in Rome, which is certainly possible. However, the people of Rome spoke Latin, whereas Mark was written in Greek Koine, the language of the Near East. We do not really know where this gospel was written, but somewhere in the Near East is most likely.

Matthew is believed to have been written in the eighties of the first century and Luke was written around the end of the century.

Answer 4

A:It has been well established that the first New Testament gospel, and therefore the first synoptic gospel, is Mark's Gospel. In fact, the term 'synoptic' comes about because when the three gospels are laid in parallel and read synoptically ('with the same eye') in the original Greek language, it can be seen that there is a literary dependency among them. New Testament scholars have proven that much of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke was copied from Mark, meaning that it must be the first of the synoptic gospels.

This tells us which gospel was the first to be written, but not who wrote it. All the New Testament gospels were originally anonymous until they were attributed by the Church Fathers to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John later in the second century. Scholars say there is no good reason to accept those attributions so they remain anonymous, although we continue to use these traditional names for convenience. Mark's Gospel was certainly the first synoptic gospel to be written, but we do not know who wrote it.

Answer 5

The synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark and Luke, so called because they agree moderately well on the life and teachings of Jesus. Together with John, they form what is known as the narrative gospels, which are the gospels now found in the New Testament.

Mark Papias, around 130 CE attributed Mark's Gospel to the disciple Mark. Among those who give credence to this tradition, the usual understanding is that Mark wrote just before or after Peter's death and thus in the mid- or late 60s. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says there is wide scholarly agreement that Mark was written in the late 60s or just after 70.

Matthew

Matthew is clearly dependent on Mark, and must therefore have been written somewhat later. It is generally considered to have been written in the 80s CE.

Luke

Luke is also clearly dependent on Mark, and is often attributed to the 90s CE. However the book's apparent dependence on the works of Josephus suggest a date early in the second century CE.

Answer 6

Most modern scholars agree that Mark (Roman name - John was his Jewish name - see Acts 12:12 and 13:5, 13) wrote his Gospel in Rome under Peter's supervision (see 'Prologue to Mark') and after Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans about 56-57 AD).

Additionally, Irenaeus dated the writing of the Gospel of Mark to circa 67 AD. Clement of Alexandria and Origen date this writing earlier when Peter was still alive. And a later tradition, recorded by Eusebius circa 340 AD stated that it was written during the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54). An inscription on later manuscripts date Mark's Gospel to circa 39-42 AD.