A question about William L. Petersen

[Giuseppe]

I would like to know:

• If is it true that W.L.Petersen places the Gospels in the second century CE

• What are his reasons to do so

Thanks in advance

[Secret Alias]

Since holding a second century dating for the gospels is a surprising - to say the least - conclusion it would be highly surprising to find anyone who holds such a position before the recent collapse of civilization we are currently living through. That doesn't mean that at least one or two writers in the pre-apocalyptic period might have sympathies for such an opinion. But expecting to find such an opinion is sort of like opening random oysters and expecting to find a pearl in each one.

[Giuseppe]

What I find surprising about your view, is that you place the epistles after the 70 CE with extreme easiness, while in the same time you are obstinate to place the gospels before the 100 CE. Do you realize that not only the 'pauline' epistles, but also the pseudo-pauline epistles don't mention the Gospels ? The writing of all these epistles under the false name of Paul (even if my preferred mythicism requires genuine epistles of Paul) requires a long interval of time where no gospel Jesus is mentioned.

Probably I am a caveman for you Americans, here in a remote village of Veneto in Italy. But what do you mean by 'pre-apocalyptic period' ?

[arnoldo]

as another perhaps non native english speaker the following context clue
we are currently living through.
would appear to indicate the pre-apocalyptic period as right now.

Does this Petersen entertain and/or dismiss the idea of a 2nd century written gospel based on earlier oral traditions?

[Secret Alias]

His principle concern is uncovering a lost gospel which he assumes is related to the Gospel of the Hebrews from what I remember. My point is, dating the gospels wasn't a big concern.

[Irish1975]

... the recent collapse of civilization we are currently living through...

If anyone wants to dish further about the pit of hell we're descending to in the US three days from now, there's a thread in the Lounge.

Stay sane, stay safe.

[MrMacSon]

I would like to know:

• If is it true that W.L.Petersen places the Gospels in the second century CE

• What are his reasons to do so

Thanks in advance

Who is William L Petersen?

Why can't you do your own research?

---

for posterity

'The Diatessaron and the Fourfold Gospel', 2004, in, 'The Earliest Gospels: The Origins and Transmission of the Earliest Christian Gospels; The Contribution of the Chester Beatty Gospel Codex P45'

Patristic and Text-Critical Studies: The Collected Essays of William L. Petersen

• eg. -
• chap 19 From Justin to Pepys: The History of the Harmonized Gospel Tradition, pp.272–300
• chap 23 Constructing the Matrix of Judaic Christianity from Texts, pp.362–379
• chap 24 The Genesis of the Gospels, pp.380–413
• chap 25 The Diatessaron and the Fourfold Gospel, pp.414–436
• chap 27 Textual Traditions Examined: What the Apostolic Fathers Tells Us about the Text of the N.T. in the Second Century, pp.470-88
• chap 28 Canonicity, Ecclesiastical Authority, and Tatian’s Diatessaron, pp.489–516
• chap 32 The Syro-Latin Text of the Gospels, or How the “Western Text” Became a Phantom, pp.581–589

[MrMacSon]

Since holding a second century dating for the gospels is a surprising - to say the least - conclusion it would be highly surprising to find anyone who holds such a position before the recent collapse of civilization we are currently living through. That doesn't mean that at least one or two writers in the pre-apocalyptic period might have sympathies for such an opinion. But expecting to find such an opinion is sort of like opening random oysters and expecting to find a pearl in each one.

There are several scholars who argue some or all of the canonical gospels are post-Marcion. One even posits Marcion is and became popular fiction and simple used the time stamp and reference to real people in the start, viz.

...In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar,
......Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea,
.........Jesus descended [out of heaven] into Capernaum, a city in Galilee,

to anchor the chief character in time and place to give the accounts about Him credibility.

And while that and those scholars' arguments have nothing to do with a US-centric view of the world, the popularity of those gospel stories then, ie. in the 2nd century, do reflect similar apocalyptic times: both the two Roman-Jewish Wars and the beginning of the wobbles of and in the Roman Empire.

[Secret Alias]

Ecclesiastes 12:12

[Peter Kirby]

• If is it true that W.L.Petersen places the Gospels in the second century CE

Who is William L Petersen?

Petersen passed away in 2006.

https://www.sbl-site.org/publications/a ... icleId=631