diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index 763a27a92..047f6ca6b 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ This part of the configuration concerns anything that can affect the whole site.
   - This should also include the subpath if you are [[hosting]] on GitHub pages without a custom domain. For example, if my repository is `jackyzha0/quartz`, GitHub pages would deploy to `https://jackyzha0.github.io/quartz` and the `baseUrl` would be `jackyzha0.github.io/quartz`
   - Note that Quartz 4 will avoid using this as much as possible and use relative URLs whenever it can to make sure your site works no matter _where_ you end up actually deploying it.
 - `ignorePatterns`: a list of [glob](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glob_(programming)>) patterns that Quartz should ignore and not search through when looking for files inside the `content` folder. See [[private pages]] for more details.
+- `defaultDateType`: whether to use created, modified, or published as the default date to display on pages and page listings.
 - `theme`: configure how the site looks.
   - `typography`: what fonts to use. Any font available on [Google Fonts](https://fonts.google.com/) works here.
     - `header`: Font to use for headers
diff --git a/quartz.config.ts b/quartz.config.ts
index 447039d62..64e86dce0 100644
--- a/quartz.config.ts
+++ b/quartz.config.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ const config: QuartzConfig = {
     },
     baseUrl: "quartz.jzhao.xyz",
     ignorePatterns: ["private", "templates"],
+    defaultDateType: "created",
     theme: {
       typography: {
         header: "Schibsted Grotesk",
diff --git a/quartz/cfg.ts b/quartz/cfg.ts
index e3fee360f..21e03016a 100644
--- a/quartz/cfg.ts
+++ b/quartz/cfg.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { ValidDateType } from "./components/Date"
 import { QuartzComponent } from "./components/types"
 import { PluginTypes } from "./plugins/types"
 import { Theme } from "./util/theme"
@@ -22,6 +23,8 @@ export interface GlobalConfiguration {
   analytics: Analytics
   /** Glob patterns to not search */
   ignorePatterns: string[]
+  /** Whether to use created, modified, or published as the default type of date */
+  defaultDateType: ValidDateType
   /** Base URL to use for CNAME files, sitemaps, and RSS feeds that require an absolute URL.
    *   Quartz will avoid using this as much as possible and use relative URLs most of the time
    */
diff --git a/quartz/components/ContentMeta.tsx b/quartz/components/ContentMeta.tsx
index 715c0f469..3e1b70112 100644
--- a/quartz/components/ContentMeta.tsx
+++ b/quartz/components/ContentMeta.tsx
@@ -1,15 +1,16 @@
-import { formatDate } from "./Date"
+import { formatDate, getDate } from "./Date"
 import { QuartzComponentConstructor, QuartzComponentProps } from "./types"
 import readingTime from "reading-time"
 
 export default (() => {
-  function ContentMetadata({ fileData }: QuartzComponentProps) {
+  function ContentMetadata({ cfg, fileData }: QuartzComponentProps) {
     const text = fileData.text
     if (text) {
       const segments: string[] = []
       const { text: timeTaken, words: _words } = readingTime(text)
-      if (fileData.dates?.modified) {
-        segments.push(formatDate(fileData.dates.modified))
+
+      if (fileData.dates) {
+        segments.push(formatDate(getDate(cfg, fileData)!))
       }
 
       segments.push(timeTaken)
diff --git a/quartz/components/Date.tsx b/quartz/components/Date.tsx
index f4b284af9..0530a373a 100644
--- a/quartz/components/Date.tsx
+++ b/quartz/components/Date.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,16 @@
+import { GlobalConfiguration } from "../cfg"
+import { QuartzPluginData } from "../plugins/vfile"
+
 interface Props {
   date: Date
 }
 
+export type ValidDateType = keyof Required<QuartzPluginData>["dates"]
+
+export function getDate(cfg: GlobalConfiguration, data: QuartzPluginData): Date | undefined {
+  return data.dates?.[cfg.defaultDateType]
+}
+
 export function formatDate(d: Date): string {
   return d.toLocaleDateString("en-US", {
     year: "numeric",
diff --git a/quartz/components/PageList.tsx b/quartz/components/PageList.tsx
index c55b53478..eb34f02f7 100644
--- a/quartz/components/PageList.tsx
+++ b/quartz/components/PageList.tsx
@@ -1,31 +1,36 @@
 import { FullSlug, resolveRelative } from "../util/path"
 import { QuartzPluginData } from "../plugins/vfile"
-import { Date } from "./Date"
+import { Date, getDate } from "./Date"
 import { QuartzComponentProps } from "./types"
+import { GlobalConfiguration } from "../cfg"
 
-export function byDateAndAlphabetical(f1: QuartzPluginData, f2: QuartzPluginData): number {
-  if (f1.dates && f2.dates) {
-    // sort descending by last modified
-    return f2.dates.modified.getTime() - f1.dates.modified.getTime()
-  } else if (f1.dates && !f2.dates) {
-    // prioritize files with dates
-    return -1
-  } else if (!f1.dates && f2.dates) {
-    return 1
+export function byDateAndAlphabetical(
+  cfg: GlobalConfiguration,
+): (f1: QuartzPluginData, f2: QuartzPluginData) => number {
+  return (f1, f2) => {
+    if (f1.dates && f2.dates) {
+      // sort descending
+      return getDate(cfg, f2)!.getTime() - getDate(cfg, f1)!.getTime()
+    } else if (f1.dates && !f2.dates) {
+      // prioritize files with dates
+      return -1
+    } else if (!f1.dates && f2.dates) {
+      return 1
+    }
+
+    // otherwise, sort lexographically by title
+    const f1Title = f1.frontmatter?.title.toLowerCase() ?? ""
+    const f2Title = f2.frontmatter?.title.toLowerCase() ?? ""
+    return f1Title.localeCompare(f2Title)
   }
-
-  // otherwise, sort lexographically by title
-  const f1Title = f1.frontmatter?.title.toLowerCase() ?? ""
-  const f2Title = f2.frontmatter?.title.toLowerCase() ?? ""
-  return f1Title.localeCompare(f2Title)
 }
 
 type Props = {
   limit?: number
 } & QuartzComponentProps
 
-export function PageList({ fileData, allFiles, limit }: Props) {
-  let list = allFiles.sort(byDateAndAlphabetical)
+export function PageList({ cfg, fileData, allFiles, limit }: Props) {
+  let list = allFiles.sort(byDateAndAlphabetical(cfg))
   if (limit) {
     list = list.slice(0, limit)
   }
@@ -41,7 +46,7 @@ export function PageList({ fileData, allFiles, limit }: Props) {
             <div class="section">
               {page.dates && (
                 <p class="meta">
-                  <Date date={page.dates.modified} />
+                  <Date date={getDate(cfg, page)!} />
                 </p>
               )}
               <div class="desc">
diff --git a/quartz/components/RecentNotes.tsx b/quartz/components/RecentNotes.tsx
index 2b61b39cb..673d08458 100644
--- a/quartz/components/RecentNotes.tsx
+++ b/quartz/components/RecentNotes.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ import { FullSlug, SimpleSlug, resolveRelative } from "../util/path"
 import { QuartzPluginData } from "../plugins/vfile"
 import { byDateAndAlphabetical } from "./PageList"
 import style from "./styles/recentNotes.scss"
-import { Date } from "./Date"
+import { Date, getDate } from "./Date"
+import { GlobalConfiguration } from "../cfg"
 
 interface Options {
   title: string
@@ -13,18 +14,18 @@ interface Options {
   sort: (f1: QuartzPluginData, f2: QuartzPluginData) => number
 }
 
-const defaultOptions: Options = {
+const defaultOptions = (cfg: GlobalConfiguration): Options => ({
   title: "Recent Notes",
   limit: 3,
   linkToMore: false,
   filter: () => true,
-  sort: byDateAndAlphabetical,
-}
+  sort: byDateAndAlphabetical(cfg),
+})
 
 export default ((userOpts?: Partial<Options>) => {
-  const opts = { ...defaultOptions, ...userOpts }
   function RecentNotes(props: QuartzComponentProps) {
-    const { allFiles, fileData, displayClass } = props
+    const { allFiles, fileData, displayClass, cfg } = props
+    const opts = { ...defaultOptions(cfg), ...userOpts }
     const pages = allFiles.filter(opts.filter).sort(opts.sort)
     const remaining = Math.max(0, pages.length - opts.limit)
     return (
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ export default ((userOpts?: Partial<Options>) => {
                   </div>
                   {page.dates && (
                     <p class="meta">
-                      <Date date={page.dates.modified} />
+                      <Date date={getDate(cfg, fileData)!} />
                     </p>
                   )}
                   <ul class="tags">
diff --git a/quartz/plugins/emitters/contentIndex.ts b/quartz/plugins/emitters/contentIndex.ts
index 4610cd410..1c7feaea2 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/emitters/contentIndex.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/emitters/contentIndex.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { GlobalConfiguration } from "../../cfg"
+import { getDate } from "../../components/Date"
 import { FilePath, FullSlug, SimpleSlug, simplifySlug } from "../../util/path"
 import { QuartzEmitterPlugin } from "../types"
 import path from "path"
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ export const ContentIndex: QuartzEmitterPlugin<Partial<Options>> = (opts) => {
       const linkIndex: ContentIndex = new Map()
       for (const [_tree, file] of content) {
         const slug = file.data.slug!
-        const date = file.data.dates?.modified ?? new Date()
+        const date = getDate(ctx.cfg.configuration, file.data) ?? new Date()
         if (opts?.includeEmptyFiles || (file.data.text && file.data.text !== "")) {
           linkIndex.set(slug, {
             title: file.data.frontmatter?.title!,