In order to get a feel for the elapsed time between key New Testament events (such as the dates of the writing of the New Testament books) I have lined them up with the modern century. New Testament dates are often approximate and open to some dispute.
Note that over 30 years passed between the death and resurrection of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans during the Jewish revolt. Jerusalem was the center of the Christian Church during this period and was presided over by Jesus' brother James. This early period is described in the book of Acts of the Apostles. This is also the period of Paul's missionary work in Asia Minor.
This shows that an entire generation passed between the events of Jesus' life and their being recorded into the Gospels. Scholars argue that the choice of what was recorded had more to do with the situation of the early church at the time of their recording rather than with a concern about creating a historical biography of Jesus.
7-6(?) B.C. Birth Of Jesus 1894 4 B.C. Death of Herod the Great 1896
*************************************************************1900 ... *************************************************************1910 14 Death of Augustus Caesar 1914 outbreak of World War I 1917 US in WWI/Russian Revolution 1918 Armistice ending WWI *************************************************************1920 26 Pontius Pilate procurator 27 John the Baptist & Jesus 1927 Lindberg fly's Atlantic 28 Jesus in Jerusalem 29 John the Baptist beheaded 1929 Stock Market Crash *************************************************************1930 30 Jesus Death & Resurrection 1933 Hitler rises to power 36 Stephen 1st Martyr 37 Conversion of Paul 1939 Outbreak of WWII in Europe *************************************************************1940 1941 Pearl Harbor 43 Apostle James beheaded 1944 D-Day invasion 45 First Mission of Paul 1945 A-bomb/End of WWII 47 Famine in Palestine 1948 Truman elected President 49 Council of Jerusalem *************************************************************1950 50 James; Paul's 2nd Mission 51 I/II Thessalonians 52 Paul's visit to Jerusalem 1952 Eisenhower elected President 53 Paul's 3rd Mission 56 Phillipians 1956 Eisenhower reelected 57 I/II Corinthians,Galatians 1957 Hula Hoop 58 Romans *************************************************************1960 60 Paul's voyage to Rome 61 Colossians,Ephesians 1961 JFK elected President 62 Jesus brother James executed 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis 63 Mark,1 Peter 1963 JFK assassinated 64 Peter executed in Rome;Nero 1964 Beatles Invasion 65 1 Timothy,Titus 66 Revolt in Jerusalem 67 Hebrews,2 Timothy;Paul executed 68 Qumran destroyed 1968 Tet; King,RFK assasinated 1969 Moon Landing *************************************************************1970 70 Jerusalem falls, Temple burnt 1972 Watergate Break in 73 Masada falls;Revolt ended 1973 US out of Viet Nam;Nixon 75 Jude,2 Peter 1975 Fall of Saigon 1976 US Bicentennial 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis *************************************************************1980 1980 Reagan elected President 84 Matthew,Luke,Acts 1984 Reagan reelected 1988 Bush elected President 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall *************************************************************1990 1992 Clinton elected President 95 Revelation,John,1,2,3 John,Clement 1996 Clinton reelected 98 Didache *************************************************************2000
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