What's the birthdate of Jesus of Nazareth, assuming he existed?
Upvote:6
The short answer is we aren't sure.
There are two basic methods that are commonly used to derive a birth year based on information from the Gospels.
The first is the nativity accounts in Luke and Mathew. Both reference the reign of Herod the Great. Since he died in 4 BC, that means it couldn't possibly have been any later than then. The main issue with this approach is that the nativity stories aren't generally accepted as historical. Worse yet, Luke also said it happened during the Census of Quirinius, which was 4 AD*.
The second is to take Luke 3:23's statement that Jesus was "about 30" when he started preaching, and try to work back from there. Combine this with some knowledge of the dates of the death of John the Baptist and the construction of the Great Temple and Jesus' visit there from John's Gospel, and you get around 1 BC. The big problem here is that there's a large chain of facts that have to be correct for this derived date to be accurate.
As for the actual day of year, the mention in Luke of shepherds out grazing their flocks implies that it could not have happened during the winter or late fall, but doesn't nail it down any better than that (and again, that's only if you accept Luke's nativity as historical).
* - This is a bit of an issue for those forced to work within a framework of Biblical Inerrancy. Fortunately as historians we are free to wield Occam's razor, which tells us one (at least) of these stated facts in Luke is in error.
More post
- π Is there an example of 19th century non-believer who fluently alludes to Scripture?
- π What was the evidence against Peter Pond who was accused of ordering John Rossβs murder?
- π Why is Musselburgh considered the first golf course, when St. Andrews was where golf was first played?
- π Did Yuri Gagarin really mention Anna Magnani in his flight in space?
- π Did the Marshall plan only give back a part of what was taken?
- π Why didn't the Persians make and use ballistas and other kinds of artillery?
- π To what degree did women participate in the air war during WW2?
- π In the early 1900s, how did US politicians treat black dignitaries from other countries?
- π When was the last time someone was condemned to slavery as a punishment in the United States?
- π Is there any evidence of Edward VIII trying to influence the UK Government?
- π What was Hunanese cuisine like before chili peppers were imported to China?
- π Has anyone written Australian history from the perspective of the original inhabitants - the aborigines?
- π What is the origin and significance of karahafu (εη ΄ι’¨)?
- π Who is represented by the small pharaonic bust in the corner of Room 1 of the British Museum- the Enlightenment Gallery?
- π What was the significance of the BEF moving into the gap between German forces in First Battle of the Marne?
- π Did the Germans "mix up" Army Groups A and B during Fall Blau?
- π How was Alexander the Great able to rule so much territory?
- π Why did people die for their religion in the 400s CE (or even now)?
- π What were the reasons for making Prohibition a constitutional amendment?
- π Did the passage from Latin to English, in England, help science flourish?
- π How much time would it take to mobilize an army during WW2?
- π Post-war indictment of ex-Confederates in the Confederate States of America
- π At what age did girls start wearing corsets in 1880s-1890s Britain?
- π What were English 'rules restricting marriage'?
- π Why did the church attack Mainz for printing books?
- π What is the average price, in silver, for a loaf of bread through history?
- π What British WW1 uniform is depicted on this photo from Taunton?
- π What happened to the North Saxons?
- π Primary sources for ratification of Constitutional amendments
- π Amount of ammunition typically carried by an C18th British redcoat
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- π What's the birthdate of Jesus of Nazareth, assuming he existed?
- π Would the trial of Jesus of Nazareth have been recorded on an Acta Diurna?
- π What historical evidence is there for the existence of Jesus Christ? What do we know about him?
- π Was Jesus thought to be Jewish before the Renaissance?
- π Have the current polar ice caps receded further than those that existed before the beginning of the last Ice Age?
- π Was Jesus depicted as dark skinned during the beginning of Christianity
- π What laws of war existed before the modern international treaties and conventions?
- π What universities existed in Dutch East Indies, and how available were they to the native population?
- π What social relationships existed between the popular mobility and the political elites in the revolutionary American colonies?
- π What is the strongest alcoholic drink that existed during the Middle Ages in Europe?
- π Were the Spanish aware that American mainland existed after discovering the Caribbean?
- π What sort of architecture existed in Catholic Eastern Europe around the late 1100's and very early 1200's?
- π Is it possible to find out on what Roman day of the week Jesus resurrected?
- π Was Jesus unique from the point of view of contemporaries?
- π How do we know that the Tiwanaku Empire actually existed as an empire
- π What constituted citizenship in the year of Jesus birth?
- π What was the reason Jesus allowed Christians to eat pork?
- π What kind of political institutions existed in Sakai, Japan in the 500s and 600s AD?
- π Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- π When did people decide that all caps means the writer is shouting?
- π Did the ancients or other pre-industrial civilisations engage in unsustainable practices?
- π How do historians and linguists know how to pronounce the names from non-phonetic scripts?
- π Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
- π Why did Native Americans die from European diseases while Europeans didn't catch serious diseases from the New World?
- π On 1941 Dec 7, could Japan have targeted the Panama Canal instead of Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack?
- π When did the allies find out about the killing of Jews during WW2
- π Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- π Why did the Confederacy think they could win the American Civil War?
- π Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- π Why was Poland spared from the Black Death?