{"id":11,"slug":"jesus-and-the-apostolic-church","essay_date":null,"essay_publisher":null,"essay_headings":null,"published_draft":1,"created_at":"2026-07-25 12:21:52","updated_at":"2026-07-27 12:21:19","two_column":0,"doi":null,"author_bio":null,"historiography_period":null,"period_sort_order":0,"abstract":null,"footnotes":[],"breakouts":[],"identifiers":[],"links_evidence":[],"links_context":[],"title":"Jesus and the Apostolic Church","author":null,"body":"The Gospels and the New Testament Epistles are the primary historical documents about Jesus from the Apostolic period. This is the window of living memory from Pentecost (circa mid 30s AD) to the end of the first century. The Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD disrupted the very early church and is a significant historical marker for dating the New Testament documents. The two earliest Christian documents; *1 Clement* (90 AD) and the *Didache* (70 AD) are important; both for their historical testimony about Jesus, but also provide evidence for how Jesus was interpreted in this first period of history after Jesus. The final interpretive theme from this period to consider is Gnosticism.\n\nThe two dominate critical historical schools for interpreting Jesus and the very early church can be characterized as 'fragmentation' - sometimes known as 'The Bauer Thesis'(Vanhoutte, 2019), and 'discontinuity' - sometimes known as 'The Tübingen Hypothesis' (Britannica, 2026). The fragmentation school argues that multiple versions of Christianity competed until orthodox Christianity became the dominate view after Nicea in 325 AD.  The discontinuity school sees a sharp break between Jesus and the Apostle Paul.  The traditional Christian interpretation focuses on continuity between Jesus and Paul, and the emerging consensus of orthodoxy. The data and events from the first century are both evidence for each interpretative framework, and at the same time viewed through the lens of that framework. \n\n**New Testament Documents**\n\nThe biographical information we have about Jesus comes from the Gospels.  While the purpose of the Epistles, is either pastoral and or theological, they provide incidental confirmation of various historical details about Jesus. For the traditional Christian school of interpretation; genre, setting, audience and authorial intent is vital for understanding the purpose of the document (Osborne, 1991 & Burridge, 1992). While historical details are a part of the Gospel's primary purpose - presenting Jesus as an authentic person (Bauckham, 2017), they are secondary to the purpose of the Epistles - pastoral or theological communication (Weima, 2016). Nonetheless the Epistles contain small historical details that both help date the documents themselves or provide incidental historical verification about Jesus. (Barnett, 1997) \n\n**Jerusalem 70 AD and dating the New Testament Documents**\n\nPeople the same age as Jesus would have lived on average until their early 70s. (Finley, 1984) If Jesus died between 30 and 35 AD then his contemporaries would've died around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. A twelve-year old child at the time of Jesus's death and resurrection would have survived (on average) until almost the end of the first century. The New Testament documents seem to be composed towards the end of the Apostolic period, so the very-early church would've relied on the reported living history of early disciples or testimony of people present at the time of the events ().\n\nBecause the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD is both an attested event and a disruptive one (), it forms a significant marker for dating New Testament Documents. By and large, Evangelical Christian scholarship prefers an earlier composition within living memory of Jesus but mostly prior to 70AD. Critical scholarship generally favours later dating of the New Testament documents after 70 AD. The two main Evangelical arguments are that the destruction of Jerusalem was part of the Gospel 'mini-apocalypses' (Matthew 24-25 and Mark 13), and that the Epistles would've included even small hints that such a disruptive event had occurred. Critical scholarship relies in part on the paucity of manuscript fragments until well into the second century. For example even the earliest manuscript 𝔓52 is dated to c124 AD at the earliest (Nestle Alland).\n\n**Jerusalem 70 AD and the disruption of the very early church**\n\nThe destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Legions in 70 AD was a profoundly disruptive event for the very early church. \n\n**1 Clement and Didache**\n\n\n\n**Gnosticism**","keywords":[],"mla_sources":[{"id":7,"mla_website_title":null,"mla_website_url":null,"mla_website_date":null,"mla_website_author":null,"mla_website_publisher":null,"mla_book_title":"The Hermeneutrical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation","mla_book_author":"Grant Osborne","mla_book_publisher":"InterVarsity Press","mla_book_date":"1991","mla_book_page_reference":null,"mla_journal_article_author":null,"mla_journal_article_title":null,"mla_journal_title":null,"mla_journal_volume":null,"mla_journal_issue":null,"mla_journal_date":null,"mla_journal_page_reference":null,"published_draft":0},{"id":8,"mla_website_title":null,"mla_website_url":null,"mla_website_date":null,"mla_website_author":null,"mla_website_publisher":null,"mla_book_title":null,"mla_book_author":null,"mla_book_publisher":null,"mla_book_date":null,"mla_book_page_reference":null,"mla_journal_article_author":"Kristof Vanhoutte","mla_journal_article_title":"A heretical tale about heresy or when words do matter","mla_journal_title":"HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies","mla_journal_volume":"75","mla_journal_issue":"3","mla_journal_date":"2019","mla_journal_page_reference":null,"published_draft":0},{"id":9,"mla_website_title":"Tübingen theory","mla_website_url":"https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tubingen-theory","mla_website_date":"2026","mla_website_author":null,"mla_website_publisher":"Britannica","mla_book_title":null,"mla_book_author":null,"mla_book_publisher":null,"mla_book_date":null,"mla_book_page_reference":null,"mla_journal_article_author":null,"mla_journal_article_title":null,"mla_journal_title":null,"mla_journal_volume":null,"mla_journal_issue":null,"mla_journal_date":null,"mla_journal_page_reference":null,"published_draft":0},{"id":10,"mla_website_title":null,"mla_website_url":null,"mla_website_date":null,"mla_website_author":null,"mla_website_publisher":null,"mla_book_title":"Jesus and the Logic of History","mla_book_author":"Paul Barnett","mla_book_publisher":"InterVarsity Press / Apollos","mla_book_date":"1997","mla_book_page_reference":null,"mla_journal_article_author":null,"mla_journal_article_title":null,"mla_journal_title":null,"mla_journal_volume":null,"mla_journal_issue":null,"mla_journal_date":null,"mla_journal_page_reference":null,"published_draft":0},{"id":11,"mla_website_title":null,"mla_website_url":null,"mla_website_date":null,"mla_website_author":null,"mla_website_publisher":null,"mla_book_title":null,"mla_book_author":null,"mla_book_publisher":null,"mla_book_date":null,"mla_book_page_reference":null,"mla_journal_article_author":"Richard A. 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