Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament: The Evidence for Early Composition

2023 Word Guild Award Winner (Biblical Studies)

This paradigm-shifting study is the first book-length investigation into the compositional dates of the New Testament to be published in over forty years. It argues that, with the notable exception of the undisputed Pauline Epistles, most New Testament texts were composed twenty to thirty years earlier than is typically supposed by contemporary biblical scholars. What emerges is a revised view of how quickly early Christians produced what became the seminal texts for their new movement.

Jonathan Bernier (PhD, McMaster University) is assistant professor of New Testament at Regis College, University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario. He is an expert in New Testament history and chronology and has written several books, including Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament.