An Archimedean Point for Dating the Gospels

Abstract Based on new arguments for a pre-66 CE dating of John’s Gospel, this article argues that John’s early date and Luke’s late date (between 93/94 and 130 CE ) establish the direction of dependency in the special, verbatim Johannine–Lukan parallels which have long been recognized. It shows how these parallels are part and parcel of John’s argument, and how and why Luke made use of them. This also raises the question of how Matthew and Mark fit within this new chronological framework. The article suggests that Matthew’s “thunderbolt from the Johannine sky” is indeed derived from John, together with John’s narration of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene. Mark’s Gospel, however, seems to have been written around the same time as John’s Gospel, so that Mark was not familiar with John. Another implication of this rearrangement is that the presumption of the source Q is no longer necessary.