Do the catholic letters reflect the generation after the letters of Paul and the Gospels?

Answer 1

A:Paul wrote his letters during the period from the 40s to perhaps the early 60s of the first century. New Testament scholars date the gospels as: Mark, approximately 70 CE; Matthew, 80s of the first century; Luke, 90s or perhaps very early in the second century; John, early second century.

The catholic epistles are those that were actually addressed to the universal Church rather than to particular Christian communities. They are James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John and Jude, and sometimes also 2 John and 3 John. The date of authorship of James is uncertain, variously being estimated as before 62 or as late as 130 CE. Judecarelessly self-identifies itself as a pseudepigraphical work of the second century. 2 Peter must be somewhat later than Jude, since it copies almost all of that epistle. 1 Peter is thought to have been written quite early in the second century, although by a different author than 2 Peter. Finally, the epistles of John are believed to have been written shortly after the fourth gospel, following a split in the Johannine community.

From this, it can be seen that it would be difficult to speak of the general, or catholic, epistles definitely as reflecting a generation after Paul and the gospels. The first gospel, Mark, was from the generation following Paul, and might have been influenced by his epistles. The remaining gospels are themselves from a generation that followed Mark. Most of the catholic epistles are later than the gospels, but by less than a generation, or more than one generation.