Section 04
5 years, not 500
The earliest creed about the resurrection dates within five years of the crucifixion. The Gospels are inside the lifespan of named eyewitnesses.
Paul’s earliest letters date to ~50 AD. Mark, the earliest Gospel, ~65 to 70 AD. Matthew, Luke, Acts in the 70s and 80s. John ~85 to 95 AD.
Plutarch wrote about Alexander roughly 400 years after Alexander. We still treat Plutarch as a serious source. The New Testament is in a different category: written inside living memory.
The 1 Corinthians 15 creed was received by Paul during his Damascus conversion (~33 AD) or Jerusalem visit (~36 AD). The resurrection claim is original to the movement.
This passage represents a very early tradition. Most scholars think that Paul received it within just a couple of years of Jesus’s death.
Bart Ehrman (agnostic), How Jesus Became God, 2014, p. 138.
By the numbers
- Paul’s earliest letter
- ~50 AD
- Mark composed
- ~65 to 70 AD
- John composed
- ~85 to 95 AD
- 1 Cor 15 creed dating
- 3 to 6 years post crucifixion
- Plutarch on Alexander
- ~400 years after
Strongest counter position
Robert Price and other Jesus mythicists push composition dates later. This is a fringe position rejected by virtually all professional scholars, including agnostic ones.
What this does not prove
Mainstream dates have ranges. The site uses the central range, not the earliest possible dates favoured by some conservative scholars.
Citations
- 1 Corinthians 15:3 to 7.
- Bart Ehrman, How Jesus Became God, 2014.
- A. N. Sherwin White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, 1963.
Goes deeper