Was 1 Clement Written BEFORE Some of the New Testament?

[00:00:01] Was First Clement written before some of the New Testament Written by Bart Ehrman read by Ken Teutsch this will be my final post on the Book of First Clement. Now that I've summarized what the book is about and said something about its author, I can turn to the question of when it was written. [00:00:21] The time of its writing is an important question for a reason you might not suspect. [00:00:27] It is almost always said. I myself regularly say this as a kind of simple shorthand, knowing that it's probably not literally true that the books of the New Testament are the earliest Christian writings we have. [00:00:42] In fact, if, as is often thought, Revelation was written around 95 CE and 2 Peter around 1:20 and acts possibly around then as well, then a couple of other Christian books may have antedated them, including First Clement and the Didache, two of the Apostolic Fathers. [00:01:03] The letters of Ignatius of Antioch were almost certainly written around 110 CE. [00:01:09] So the big question here is when did this anonymous author from Rome write the Book of First Clement? [00:01:16] This is an edited version of my discussion in my edition for the loeb Classical Library, Volume 1, Harvard University Press, 2003 There are some things we can say with relative certainty about when the letter of First Clement was written. [00:01:34] It predates Dionysius of Corinth and hegesippus somewhat before 170 CE on the one hand, so it was before that. [00:01:43] On the other hand, it refers to the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul, usually placed in the reign of Nero circa 64 cell, so it must have been written sometime after that. [00:01:54] So, for virtual certainty, between 65 and 170 CE or so. [00:02:01] The book has been traditionally dated to 95 to 96 CE, based on the indication of Eusebius in his Church history that it was written near the end of the reign of Domitian, Emperor from 81 to 96 cell. Support for the dating was found in the ancient view, also advanced by Eusebius, that during his final years Domitian instigated a persecution of Christians in Rome. [00:02:28] This context of persecution was used to explain the opening of the letter, which speaks of the sudden and repeated misfortunes and setbacks we have experienced, which were taken then to refer to the arrest and prosecution of Christians during a domitianic reign of terror. [00:02:46] This view of the historical context is by now by and large rejected. There is nothing in the Epistle that suggests it was written in the context of persecution. The misfortunes and setbacks could just as easily have been internal struggles within the Church. [00:03:03] Moreover, there is no solid evidence from the period itself of a persecution of Christians under Domitian. [00:03:10] Even so, a date near the end of Domitian's reign is altogether plausible. The epistle could not have been written much later. It indicates that the deaths of Peter and Paul took place within our own generation and assumes that there are still living leaders of the Christian churches who had been appointed by the apostles of Jesus, that is sometime no later than early in the second half of the first century, chapters 42 and 44. [00:03:38] Moreover, there is no indication that the hierarchical structures later so important to proto orthodox Christians, in which there was a solitary bishop over a group of presbyters and deacons, was yet in place. [00:03:52] Some scholars have gone so far as to claim that the letter may well have been written then, much earlier than traditionally supposed, possibly prior to 70 CE. [00:04:02] But the letter calls the Corinthian church ancient, which seems somewhat inappropriate if it were only 25 or 30 years old. It also assumes that some churches in the author's day are headed by leaders twice removed from Jesus, apostles appointees of those ordained by the apostles. [00:04:23] And finally, it suggests that the bearers of the letter from Rome have been faithful members of the church from youth to old age, which must make them older than their mid-40s. Chapter 63. [00:04:37] For these reasons, it appears best to assume a date sometime near the end of the first century, possibly, as traditionally thought, in the mid-90s during the reign of Domitian. [00:04:48] I'm thinking 9596 CE or so is on target.