When Was The New Testament Written?

[Michael_Callen (Herculean Skeptic)]

@John_Harshman

Or you can believe that somebody wrote that into the story because it went along with the story, and name-dropping adds verisimilitude.

@John_Harshman

I wasn’t referring to any documents. By “a core” I referred to the actual (perhaps) existence of a preacher from Nazareth, possibly named Yeshua, who inspired Christianity. Of course the story would have been much embellished in the telling.

Thanks John. I’m getting closer to understanding, but not quite there. Can you comment on these points inline so that I can better understand your position? First, because this could all be moot, do you believe that Jesus Christ was a historical figure? I just noted your reference to “a preacher from Nazareth, possibly named Yeshua, who inspired Christianity.” Beyond that…

1. Do you, as @John_Dalton suggested, believe that there was a religion we now recognize as Christianity within a year or two after Jesus died? (JD, apologies if I did not accurately recap your belief.)
2. Do you believe that there were fundamental books (Matt., Mark, Luke, John, Acts, etc.) that existed contemporaneously with that religion (#1 above)? Or that there was exclusively an oral tradition to begin and books were only written later?
3. Do you believe that these books were then embellished later, or that they were inaccurate when penned?