Scholarly Reading
5/28/26
Robinson, John A.T. (1976). "Chapter 1: Dates and Data." (pp. 1-12). In Redating the New Testament. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock. (Personal Library)
Robinson observes that while conventional wisdom would say dates of events should be well established in the scholarly community, because we have a great deal of information in the biblical accounts which is dependent on other dates, a change in understanding of one event may drive adjustment of many dates which are known by their relationship, rather than by independent, fixed points (Robinson 1976, p. 1). He illustrates the effect in terms of carbon dating, which was used in 1949 to expand a 500 year period of history to about 1,500 years, thus rearranging expectations about an overall cultural timeline for early European history (Robinson 1976, p. 2). Further adjustments, related to dendrochronology, starting in 1966, changed assumptions to call for events to have occurred much earlier than the carbon dating assumptions of 1949. Such inquiries in other fields led Robinson to ask questions about possible "deductions from deductions" within biblical scholarship (Robinson 1976, p. 3).
Robinson briefly summarizes the assumptions of New Testament dating, as they stood about the year 1800, in 1850 (Robinson 1976, pp. 3-4), in 1900 (Robinson 1976, pp. 4-6), and in 1950 (Robinson 1976, pp. 6-7). From the assumptions of about 1800, in which the authorship of the documents is as ascribed in the letters and, in the case of the Gospels and Acts, assumed in early traditions, the time span was expanded by theories about literary style. After about 1900, the dating assumptions tended to contract back to the first century, though authorship was a matter of debate.
We note this volume has a copyright of 1976. Robinson discusses in some detail a New Testament introduction by Norman Perrin, from 1974 (Robinson 1976, pp. 7ff). Perrin describes the church as gradually developing into an "institution" toward the middle of the second century. Robinson duly questions what Perrin would assume the church was prior to that time (Robinson 1976, p. 8). The schema used may well be driven by Perrin's theological or cultural assumptions rather than by "any serious wrestling with the external or internal evidence for the dating of individual books" (Robinson 1976, p. 8).
Robinson's questioning of assumptions about the dating of texts led him to ask if there is a compelling reason to date John's Gospel near the end of the first century (Robinson 1976, p. 9). Robinson finds a good deal of evidence for John's lack of dependence on the Synoptic Gospels, as well as a linguistic similarity to Dead Sea Scrolls, suggesting to him a context more like the period of 66-70 than the period of 95-100. This conclusion, however, may change our understanding of the comparative dates of the other Gospels and of their relationships to the Epistles (Robinson 1976, p. 10).
Robinson's pursuit of the question of John's dating led him, in the end, to push the hypothesis of dating to its limits, evaluating whether an earlier date than previously assumed might be possible (Robinson 1976, p. 10). He freely admits there is much more that could be done to evaluate chronology. However, Robinson considers his evaluation to open enough questions in biblical study to be of interest to the scholarly community as a whole (Robinson 1976, p. 11).
5/28/26
Robinson, John A.T. (1976). "Chapter 1: Dates and Data." (pp. 1-12). In Redating the New Testament. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock. (Personal Library)
Robinson observes that while conventional wisdom would say dates of events should be well established in the scholarly community, because we have a great deal of information in the biblical accounts which is dependent on other dates, a change in understanding of one event may drive adjustment of many dates which are known by their relationship, rather than by independent, fixed points (Robinson 1976, p. 1). He illustrates the effect in terms of carbon dating, which was used in 1949 to expand a 500 year period of history to about 1,500 years, thus rearranging expectations about an overall cultural timeline for early European history (Robinson 1976, p. 2). Further adjustments, related to dendrochronology, starting in 1966, changed assumptions to call for events to have occurred much earlier than the carbon dating assumptions of 1949. Such inquiries in other fields led Robinson to ask questions about possible "deductions from deductions" within biblical scholarship (Robinson 1976, p. 3).
Robinson briefly summarizes the assumptions of New Testament dating, as they stood about the year 1800, in 1850 (Robinson 1976, pp. 3-4), in 1900 (Robinson 1976, pp. 4-6), and in 1950 (Robinson 1976, pp. 6-7). From the assumptions of about 1800, in which the authorship of the documents is as ascribed in the letters and, in the case of the Gospels and Acts, assumed in early traditions, the time span was expanded by theories about literary style. After about 1900, the dating assumptions tended to contract back to the first century, though authorship was a matter of debate.
We note this volume has a copyright of 1976. Robinson discusses in some detail a New Testament introduction by Norman Perrin, from 1974 (Robinson 1976, pp. 7ff). Perrin describes the church as gradually developing into an "institution" toward the middle of the second century. Robinson duly questions what Perrin would assume the church was prior to that time (Robinson 1976, p. 8). The schema used may well be driven by Perrin's theological or cultural assumptions rather than by "any serious wrestling with the external or internal evidence for the dating of individual books" (Robinson 1976, p. 8).
Robinson's questioning of assumptions about the dating of texts led him to ask if there is a compelling reason to date John's Gospel near the end of the first century (Robinson 1976, p. 9). Robinson finds a good deal of evidence for John's lack of dependence on the Synoptic Gospels, as well as a linguistic similarity to Dead Sea Scrolls, suggesting to him a context more like the period of 66-70 than the period of 95-100. This conclusion, however, may change our understanding of the comparative dates of the other Gospels and of their relationships to the Epistles (Robinson 1976, p. 10).
Robinson's pursuit of the question of John's dating led him, in the end, to push the hypothesis of dating to its limits, evaluating whether an earlier date than previously assumed might be possible (Robinson 1976, p. 10). He freely admits there is much more that could be done to evaluate chronology. However, Robinson considers his evaluation to open enough questions in biblical study to be of interest to the scholarly community as a whole (Robinson 1976, p. 11).
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