Publication Timeline of the New Testament

I have compiled the estimated publication dates of the New Testament books into a visualization. The dates are based on the analysis of D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo in their textbook An Introduction to the New Testament. I have chosen dates that generally, though not precisely, align with their conclusions (which I tend to agree with) and represent dates assuming a non-pseudonymous authors. In this context a book/letter is pseudonymous when it is written in the name of someone else who is not the original author, for example a fan or follower of Paul instead of Paul himself. While there are an overwhelming number of historical manuscripts available for the books of the New Testament compared with other historical documents of the same time period, the publication dates are not known precisely and must be estimated based on what information we have about the authors and their historical context. As such, these dates represent estimates based on historical information and are debated. If you want more information about that debate, the textbook mentioned above gives excellent overviews of the debate for each book.

Updates:
– August 2025: I have updated the date of Jude to be: 50s-late 60s. This better represents the predominant scholarly view that Jude was written prior to 2 Peter. Carson and Moo do mention this in their textbook from which all these dates are derived. I didn’t quite understand this on a first reading and therefore I’m updating it now.

New Testament Publication Timeline – Blue/Grey Color Scheme