Taliesin said:
I thought so too. From what I recalled from a religion class I took in high school, Revelation was written in about 180 AD or something, and almost certainly not by the John of the Gospels.
I was about to post this, but I decided I'd better check the figure first. I looked at a couple of .edu sites (the only ones I trust in this case), and they generally agreed on 95 AD. This might just be a very conservative estimate, though, or perhaps I was looking at the wrong sites.
If you can find a reliable source that puts the Book later than 95 AD, please post it, as this would only strengthen my earlier point.
Here are some reliable sources I dug up:
John's Authorship
Most ancient historians agree that the Apostle John was the writer of the Book of Revelation. Papias, who wrote in the first part of the second century AD, is said to have held the book to be of apostolic origin. Says Justin Martyr, of the second century, in his Dialogue With Trypho, a Jew (LXXXI): There was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him. (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, page 240)
Irenaeus speaks explicitly of the apostle John as the writer, as do Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, of the late second and early third centuries. Origen, noteworthy Biblical scholar of the third century, said: I speak of him who leaned back on Jesus breast, John, who has left behind one Gospel, . . . and he wrote also the Apocalypse. (The Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius, VI, xxv, 9, 10)
When John Wrote It
According to the earliest testimony, John wrote the Revelation about 96 AD, approximately 26 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. This would be toward the close of the reign of Emperor Domitian. In verification of this, Irenaeus in his Against Heresies (V, xxx) says of the Apocalypse: For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitians reign. (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, pages 559-60)
Eusebius and Jerome both agree with this testimony. Domitian was the brother of Titus, who led the Roman armies to destroy Jerusalem. He became emperor at the death of Titus, 15 years before the book of Revelation was written. He demanded that he be worshiped as god and assumed the title Dominus et Deus noster (meaning Our Lord and God). (The Lives of the Caesars (Domitian, XIII, 2))
Emperor worship did not disturb those who worshiped false gods, but the early Christians, who refused to compromise their faith on this point, could not indulge it in. Thus, toward the close of Domitians rule (81-96 AD), severe persecution came upon the Christians. It is thought that John was exiled to the island of Patmos by Domitian. When Domitian was assassinated in 96 AD, he was succeeded by the more tolerant emperor Nerva, who evidently released John. It was during this imprisonment on Patmos that John received the visions he wrote down.
