rakovsky wrote: ↑Mon Jan 07, 2019 8:57 am
Shouldn't the Apocalypse of Peter be dated to at least
90-150 AD ...
Besides, I remember the dating for 4 Esdras being pretty flexible ...
I have a page on 4 Esdras too (Early Jewish Writings).
Daniel J. Harrington writes: "The narrative setting of 4 Ezra is the Babylonian exile in 557 B.C.E. Despite the fact that the historical Ezra led a group of returnees to Jerusalem some 100 or 150 years later, here he serves as the spokesman for the Jewish exiles in the sixth century B.C.E. However, the historical setting of 4 Ezra's composition seems to be the late first century C.E. This becomes most obvious in the vision of the eagle and the lion (11:1-12:51) where the eagle is clearly Rome and there are abundant references to the Roman emperors of the first century C.E. And so the Babylonian exile of the sixth century B.C.E. becomes the literary occasion for exploring the theological issues raised by the recent destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 C.E. under the Romans. The eagle vision reaches its climax with reference to the three 'heads'—the late first-century C.E. Roman emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian—who were responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and for the harassment of Jews afterward. Thus it appears that 4 Ezra was composed around 100 C.E. in the expectation of the imminent end of 'this age' (and the Roman empire) and the beginning of 'the age to come' (and the vindication of the righteous within Israel)." (Invitation to the Apocrypha, pp. 189-190)
David A. deSilva writes: "The focus of the vision, particularly underscored by the Messiah's indictment of the eagle during the reign of the third head, has led most scholars to suggest that the book was written during the last years of Domitian's reign. It is not to be inferred from this, however, that the author expected the end to come during that reign (Longenecker 1995: 13), for the text allows two puny wings to rule the empire in succession after the third head disappears (12:1-3). In fact, Domitian was succeeded by Nerva, an old senator whose reign was 'puny' (96-98 C.E.). Here the 'prophecy' fails, however, since the second puny wing, Trajan, turns out to be the most successful emperor since Augustus himself, reigning twenty years and expanding the empire's boundaries to their furthest reach. It is therefore quite possible that the author wrote during Nerva's reign or even at the beginning of Trajan's, which would bring us up to 100 C.E., the 'thirtieth year' after Jerusalem's destruction (see 3:1). If this is true, then it would be quite significant that the author presents the indictment of Rome by God's Messiah as an event already accomplished: the verdict had been rendered, and the sentence will soon be carried out." (Introducing the Apocrypha, pp. 331-332)
"... almost every critical biblical position was earlier advanced by skeptics." - Raymond Brown