When Was Revelation Written?

The issue of the date of the book of Revelation came up in a recent thread. I think Revelation was written near the end of the first century, probably in the 90s.

Steve and one of the commenters in that other thread have discussed some of the internal evidence. I would argue that the internal evidence supports a late date. The condition of the churches in chapters 2-3, for example, makes more sense if Revelation was written late in the first century rather than in the middle of the century. Contrast what John wrote to the Ephesians to what Paul wrote to them and about them. The differences are better explained if a larger amount of time had passed between the Johannine and Pauline documents. The criticisms of the Ephesians in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 2 Timothy 1:15 don't seem to be widespread enough or of a similar enough nature to what John writes about to justify placing Revelation 2 in a context that's close to the pastoral epistles. The wealth and complacency of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 make more sense later than earlier, since an earthquake significantly damaged the city in the early 60s. Polycarp, when writing to the Philippians about how Paul had commended the Philippians to churches that knew the Lord at the time, comments that "we had not yet known him" (Letter To The Philippians, 11). Most likely, since Polycarp is discussing churches, the "we" he has in mind is his church, the church of Smyrna. The implication, then, is that the church of Smyrna hadn't been established yet at the time when Paul was commending the Philippians to the churches, a timeframe that seems to extend into the 60s. Yet, Revelation 2:9 suggests that the church of Smyrna had faithfully endured suffering to a significant enough extent to be publicly commended for it by Jesus. While it would be possible for the Smyrnaean church to have been formed in the 60s, after which it rapidly gained the status Jesus describes in Revelation 2:9 before the end of the 60s, the passage makes more sense if Revelation was written later. For these and other reasons, I think the balance of the internal evidence favors a later date for Revelation.

So does the external evidence. John seems to have lived to an unusually old age. See here and here. There's early and widespread testimony to the effect that John's gospel was written later than the other gospels, and his references to himself as "the elder" (2 John 1, 3 John 1) are best explained as reflections of his old age. While two or three decades or more may have passed between the writing of Revelation and John's other documents, a later date for Revelation has the advantage of lining up with a timeframe when John seems to have been doing a lot of writing. Irenaeus suggests that Revelation was written during the time of the emperor Domitian, in the late first century (Against Heresies, 5:30:3). (Ireaneus isn't dating John's death to the reign of Domitian. Elsewhere, Irenaeus says that John lived until the time of Trajan. See Against Heresies 3:3:4. His comments in 5:30:3 make the most sense as a reference to when John received his revelation at Patmos.) Clement of Alexandria gives an account of events that occurred late in John's life, and the events seem to have happened shortly after John was released from Patmos (Who Is The Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?, 42). Given the overlap between Clement's account and what other early sources say about John (e.g., his residence in Ephesus), it's likely that Clement is agreeing with the timeframe referred to by those other early sources. The implication is that Revelation was written during John's old age, probably close to the end of the first century. Victorinus refers to John's authorship of Revelation at the time of Domitian (Commentary On The Apocalypse Of The Blessed John, 10:11). Eusebius also dates John's time at Patmos to the reign of Domitian, attributing the report to "early Christian tradition" (Church History, 3:20). Jerome also dates Revelation to Domitian's time (Lives Of Illustrious Men, 9). No other dating of Revelation is supported by such early, widespread, credible testimony. Every alternative dating has much weaker external evidence.