I really hate to do this, especially when it concerns the
unresolvable debate over the
unprovable date for the writing of Revelation, but when I see such a bold claim as this, with little to no evidence in support of it, I feel compelled to raise a challenge.
Breetai said:
Also, the vast majority of scholars date the writing of Revelation long after AD 70.
Where is this "vast Majority" breet?
What constitutes a "vast majority" anyway?
Is majority opinion, in and of itself, proof of fact? (I say no to that BTW)
The following is a
PARTIAL list of scholars who advocate the neronain (pre70) date for Revelation. Although it is only partial, I think there are enough here to go ahead with my challenge.
I suppose a "vast majority" would have to be 2 to 1 at the very least, so Breet, if you can come up with 300 or so names of scholarly, published late date advocates, perhaps I'll begin to entertain your above assertion seriously.
--PARTIAL LIST OF EARLY DATE ADVOCATES--
Firmin Abauzit, Essai sur 1Apocalypse (Geneva: 1730).
Jay E. Adams,
The Time is at Hand (Philipsburg NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1966).
Luis de Alcasar,
Vestigatio arcani Sensus in Apocalypsi (Antwerp: 1614).
B. Aube
Karl August Auberlen,
Daniel and Revelation in Their Mutual Relation (Andover: 1857).
Greg L. Bahnsen,
"The Book of Revelation: Its Setting" (unpublished paper, 1984).
Arthur Stapylton Barnes,
Christianity at Rome in the Apostolic Age (Westport, CT: Greenwood, [1938] 1971), pp. 159ff.
James Vernon Bartlet,
The Apostolic Age: Its Life, Doctrine, Worship, and Polity (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, [1899] 1963), Book 2, pp. 388ff. [1]
Ferdinand Christian Baur,
Church History of the First Three Centuries, 3rd ed. (Tubingen: 1863).
Albert A. Bell, Jr.,
"The Date of Johns Apocalypse. The Evidence of Some Roman Historians Reconsidered," New Testament Studies 25 (1978):93-102.
Leonhard Bertholdt,
Htitorisch-kritische Einleitung in die sammtlichen kanonishen u. apocryphischen Schriften des A. und N. Testaments, vol. 4 (1812 -1819).
Willibald Beyschlag,
New Testament Theology, trans. Neil Buchanan, 2nd Eng. ed. (Edinburgh: T. &T. Clark, 1896).
Charles Bigg,
The Origins of Christianity, ed. by T. B. Strong (Oxford: Clarendon, 1909), pp. 30,48.
Friedrich Bleek,
Vorlesungen und die Apocalypse (Berlin: 1859); and
An Introduction to th New Testament, 2nd cd., trans. William Urwick (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1870); and
Lectures on the Apocalypse, ed. Hossbach (1862).
Alexander Brown (1878)
Heinrich Bohmer,
Die Offenbarung Johannis (Breslau: 1866).
Wilhelm Bousset,
Revelation of John (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck, 1896).
Brown,
Ordo Saeclorum, p. 679. 50
Frederick F. Bruce,
New Testament History (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969), p.411.
Rudolf Bultmann (1976).
Christian Karl Josias Bunsen.
Cambridge Concise Bible Dictionay, editor,
The Holy Bible (Cambridge: University Press, n.d.), p. 127.
W. Boyd Carpenter,
The Revelation of St. John, in vol. 8 of Charles Ellicott, cd.,
Ellicott's Commentary on the Whole Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, rep. n.d.).
S. Cheetham,
A History of the Christian Church (London: Macmillan, 1894) , pp. 24ff.
David Chilton,
Paradise Restored (Tyler, TX: Reconstruction Press, 1985); and
The Days of Vengeance (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1987).
Adam Clarke,
Clarkes Commentay on the Whole Bible, vol. 6 (Nashville: Abingdon, rep. n.d.).
William Newton Clarke,
An Outline of Christian Theology (New York: Scribners, 1903).
Henry Cowles,
The Revelation of St. John (New York: Appleton, 1871).
W. Gary Crampton,
Biblical Hermeneutics (n. p.: by the author, 1986), p. 42.
Berry Stewart Crebs,
The Seventh Angel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1938).
Karl August Credner,
Einleitung in da Neuen Testaments (1836).
R.W. Dale (1878)
Samuel Davidson,
The Doctrine af the Last Things (1882); "The Book of Revelation" in John Kitto,
Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature (New York: Ivison & Phinney, 1855);
An Introduction to th Study of the New Testament ( 1851 );
Sacred Hermeneutics (Edinburgh: 1843).
Edmund De Pressense,
The Early Years of Christianity, trans. Annie Harwood (New York: Philips and Hunt, 1879), p. 441.
P. S. Desprez, The Apocalypse Fulfilled, 2nd ed. (London: Longman, 1855).
W. M. L. De Wette,
Kure Erklamng hr Offmbarung (Leipzig: 1848).
Friedrich Dusterdieck,
Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Revelation of John, 3rd ed., trans. Henry E. Jacobs (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1886).
K. A. Eckhardt,
Der Id da Johannes (Berlin: 1961 ).
Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, rep. 1972), pp. 141ff.
George Edmundson,
The Church in Rome in the First Century (London: Longmans and Green, 1913).
Johann Gottfried Eichhorn,
Commentaries in Apocalypse (Gottingen: 1791).
Erbes, Die Oflenbawzg 0s Johannis (1891).
G. H. A. Ewald,
Commentaries in Apocalypse (Gottingen: 1828).
Frederic W. Farrar,
The Early Days of Christianity (New York: Cassell, 1884).
Grenville O. Field,
Opened Seals Open Gates (1895).
George P. Fisher,
The Beginnings of Christianity, with a View to the State of the Roman World at the Birth of Christ (New York: Scribners, 1916), pp. 534ff.
J. A. Fitzmeyer,
"Review of John A. T. Robinsons Redating the New Testament" (1977-78), p. 312. 52
J. Massyngberde Ford,
Revelation. Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975).
Hermann Gebhardt,
The Doctrine of the Apocalypse, trans. John Jefferson (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1878).
J.C.L. Giesler (1820)
James Glasgow,
The Apocalypse Translated and Expounded (Edinburgh: 1872).
Robert McQueen Grant,
A Historical Introduction to the New Testament (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), p. 237.
James Comper Gray, in Gray and
Adams Bible Commentary, vol. V (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, [1903] rep. n.d.).
Samuel G. Green,
A Handbook of Church History from the Apostolic Era to the Dawn of the Reformation (London: Religious Tract Society, 1904), p. 64.
Hugo Grotius,
Annotations in Apocalypse (Paris: 1644).
Heinrich Ernst Ferdinand Guenke,
Introduction to the New Testament (1843); and
Manual of Church History, trans. W. G. T. Shedd (Boston: Halliday, 1874), p. 68.
Henry Melville Gwatkin,
Early Church History to A.D. 313, vol. 1 (London: Macmillan), p. 81.
Henry Hammond,
Paraphrase and Annotation upon the N. T (London: 1653).
Harbuig (1780).
Hardouin (1741)
Harenberg,
Erkiarung ( 1759).
H. G. Hartwig,
Apologie Der Apocalypse Wider Falschen Tadel Und Falscha (Frieberg: 1783).
Karl August von Hase,
A History of the Christian Church, 7th cd., trans. Charles E. Blumenthal and Conway P. Wing (New York: Appleston, 1878), p. 33. 54
Hausrath.
Bernard W. Henderson,
The Life and Prim-pate of the Emperor Nero (London: Methuen, 1903).
Hentenius. [secondary source]
Johann Gottfrieded von Herder,
Das Buch von der Zukunft des Herrn, des Neuen Testaments Siegal (Rigs: 1779).
J. S. Herrenschneider,
Tentamen Apocalypseos illustrandae (Strassburg: 1786).
Adolf Hilgenfeld,
Einleitung in das Neun Testaments ( 1875).
David Hill,
New Testament Prophecy (Atlanta: John Knox, 1979), pp. 218-219.
Hitzig.
Heinrich Julius Holtzmann,
Die Offenbamng des Johannis, in Bunsens Bibekoerk (Freiburg: 1891).
F. J. A. Hort,
The Apocalypse of St. John: 1-111, (London: Macmillan, 1908); and
Judaistic Christianity (London: Macmillan, 1894).
John Leonhard Hug,
Introduction to the New Tesament, trans. David Fosdick, Jr. (Andover: Gould and Newman, 1836).
William Hurte,
A Catechetical Commentay on the New Testament (St. Louis: John Burns, 1889), pp. 502ff.55
A. Immer,
Hermeneutics of the New Testament, trans. A. H. Newman (Andover: Draper, 1890).
Theodor Keim,
Rom und das Christenthum.
Theodor Koppe,
History of Jesus of Nazareth, 2nd cd., trans. Arthur Ransom (London: William and Norgate, 1883).
Max R. King,
The Spirit of Prophecy (Warren, OH: by the author, 1971 )
Max Krenkel,
Der Apostel Johannes (Leipzig: 1871).
Johann Heinrich Kurtz,
Church History, 9th cd., trans. John McPherson (3 vols. in 1) (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1888), pp. 41ff.
Victor Lechler,
The Apostalic and Post-Apostolic Times: Their Diversity and Union Ltfe and Doctrine, 3rd cd., vol. 2, trans. A. J. K. Davidson, (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886), pp. 166ff.
Francis Nigel Lee,
Revelation and Jerusalem (Brisbane, Australia, 1985)
John Lightfoot (1658)
Joseph B. Lightfoot,
Biblical Essays (London: Macmillan, 1893).
Gottfried C. F. Lucke,
Versuch einer vollstandigen Einleitung in die Offenbarung Johannis, 2nd ed. (Bonn: 1852).
Chnstoph Ernst Luthardt,
Die Offenbarung Johannis (Leipzig: 1861).
James M. Macdonald,
The Life and Writings of St. John (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1877).
Continued...........