I think the most obvious possibility is that they weren’t written down while Jesus was alive (or shortly after the resurrection) because there was nothing interesting to write.

Posted: May 10th 2009

See all questions answered by Eric_PK

Since the canonical gospels (_Matthew_, Mark, Luke and John) supposedly contain the “good news” about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, it stands to reason they would have had to have been written after the events they describe. Of the four, Mark is though to have been the first one and was written about 40 or more years after Jesus’ death. All of this is a bit sketchy since no one is really sure exactly when the events recorded actually occurred.

There are all sorts of possible reasons why the gospels were written when they were written. One is that they were written at different times and for different audiences. But any assignment of motives to the people who did the writing is speculative at best.

A more interesting question, I’ve always thought, is why Jesus wrote nothing down himself. If this truly was a god walking among men, it seems to me he missed a golden opportunity. And even if he was simply a prophet or teacher, it seems a curious failing. Here again, all we can do is speculate.

Posted: May 10th 2009

See all questions answered by George Ricker

Because it took a while for the gospels, as the pure biography of the historical Jesus, to be passed on by word of mouth and infused with ancient pagan and Zoroastrian legends.

Posted: May 10th 2009

See all questions answered by Reed Braden

Since the gospels cover the period of Jesus’ supposed execution, there was no way they could have been finished while he was alive.

The real question is why they weren’t written until many years after that event. Nobody knows, but there are a few hypotheses.

It’s very likely that the apostles themselves did not write the gospels; they were simply named after them to achieve an air of authenticity. The apostles were very busy people after Jesus was supposedly crucified; not just the Romans but their own followers would have been after them. Even once they were preaching the resurrection, they did better business by word of mouth. There were no printing presses and there was no such thing as a pamphlet, and anyway literacy in the area was about 3%.

The average life expectancy at the time was 25-30 years, though a few lived to be much older. Coincidentally, that’s about the earliest estimate of how long after Jesus the first gospels were written. Consider that together with the literacy rate, and most people who had actually seen Jesus before his execution were dead, unable to remember or unable to write when the gospels were first spread. This could have been an intentional state of affairs, to make sure there were no contradictory accounts. Of course only the above circumstantial evidence exists for this, but the means, motive and opportunity were all there.

Read around, find the other explanations which are out there, and see what you think.

Posted: May 9th 2009

See all questions answered by SmartLX