📜 Post with us on Reddit
📝 Create a new article
🏭 Create a company page
🇬🇧 - in English
🇫🇷 - en Français (FR)
🇵🇹 - em Português (PT)
🇩🇪 - in Deutsch (DE)
🇯🇵 - 日本語で (JA)
Sponsored articles

You can edit almost every page by Creating an account. Otherwise, see the FAQ.

Date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki


The date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth is not stated in the gospels or in any secular text, but most scholars assume a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC.[1] The historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating,[2] but the date is estimated through two different approaches - one by analyzing references to known historical events mentioned in the Nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, and the second by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus.[3][4]

Estimation via the Nativity accounts[edit]

A Harley Golden Gospel copy of Luke, c. 800

The nativity accounts in the New Testament gospels of Matthew and Luke do not mention a date or time of year for the birth of Jesus and Karl Rahner states that the gospels do not in general provide enough details of dates to satisfy the demands of modern historians.[5]

But both Luke and Matthew associate Jesus' birth with the time of King Herod.[5] The Gospel of Luke also dates the birth ten years after Herod's death, during the census of Quirinius in 6 AD described by the historian Josephus.[6] Raymond E. Brown notes that "most critical scholars acknowledge a confusion and misdating on Luke's part."[7] however some conservative Christian biblical scholars and commentators still believe the two accounts can be harmonised,[8][9] arguing that the text in Luke can be read as "registration before Quirinius was governor of Syria", i.e. that Luke was actually referring to a completely different census. Not surprisingly, due to his confusion over such historical details, Tertullian believed some two centuries later that a number of censuses were performed throughout the Roman world under Saturninus at the same time.[10][11][12] Geza Vermes has described such approaches as 'exegetical acrobatics'.[13]

According to Matthew 2:1[14] King Herod the Great was alive when Jesus was born, and Matthew 2:16[15] says Herod ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in response to Jesus' birth. Blackburn and Holford-Strevens fix King Herod's death shortly before Passover in 4 BC,[16]:770 and say that those who accept the story of the Massacre of the Innocents sometimes associate the star that led the Biblical Magi with the planetary conjunction of 15 September 7 BC or Halley's comet of 12 BC (less likely since comets were usually considered bad omens); even historians who do not accept the Massacre accept the birth under Herod as a tradition that is older than the written gospels.[16]:776

The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was conceived during the reign of Herod the Great[Luke 1:5-38] (i.e., before circa 4 BC) while also stating that Jesus was born when Cyrenius (or Quirinius) was the governor of Syria and carried out Augustus' census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea.[Luke 2:1-3] The Jewish historian Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews (ca. AD 93), indicates that Cyrenius/Quirinius' governorship of Syria began in AD 6. Josephus mentions a census sometime between AD 6–7,.[17]

Mainstream scholars do not see the Luke and Matthew nativity stories as historically factual.[18] For this reason they do not consider them a reliable method for determining the date of birth.[19] Karl Rahner states that the authors of the gospels generally focus on theological elements rather than historical chronologies.[6] However, both Luke and Matthew associate Jesus' birth with the time of Herod the Great.[6] Matthew 2:1 states that "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king" and implies that Jesus could have been as much as two years old at the time of the visit of the Magi, before Herod's death.[20] Luke 1:5 mentions the reign of Herod shortly before the birth of Jesus,[4] but places the birth during the Census of Quirinius, ten years later. Most scholars believe Luke made an error in referring to the census.[21][22][23] As a result, they generally accept a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC, the year Herod died.[4][1][6]

Despite the celebration of Christmas in December, neither Luke nor Matthew mentions a season for when Jesus was born. However, scholarly arguments regarding the realism of shepherds grazing their flock during the winter have taken place, both challenging a winter birth for Jesus as well as defending it by relying on the mildness of winters in ancient Israel and rabbinic rules regarding sheep near Bethlehem before February.[24][25][26]

Working backwards[edit]

An approach to estimating the year of birth of Jesus independent of the nativity accounts involves working backwards from the statement in Luke 3:23 that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" when he began preaching.[3][27]

Three independent approaches to estimating the dates in this way have been proposed: first by using the "fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius" in Luke 3:1–2, second via the reference in the dispute of Jesus and the Pharisees in John 2:20 ("Forty and six years was this temple in building, and you want to raise it up in three days?") and third by the reference of Flavius Josephus to the imprisonment and execution (Ant 18.5.2) of John the baptist by Herod Antipas. The latter relates to a time when Jesus had already started preaching but the other two references relate to when he had begun.

By working backwards in this way, some scholars estimate the year 28 AD to be roughly the 32nd birthday of Jesus and his year of birth to be around 6–4 BC.[3][27][28] By working backwards from this, it would appear that Jesus was born around 1 BC. However, some scholars have calculated that if the phrase "about 30" is interpreted to mean 32 years old, this could fit a date of birth just within the reign of Herod, who died in 4 BC.[3][27][29] If one takes AD 27 as the year for the baptism of Jesus, "about 30" comes closer to 4 BC.

The Gospel of Luke also states that Jesus was "about thirty years old" [Luke 3:23] during the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar [Luke 3:1]. Tiberius began his reign as Caesar in September of AD 14. The 15th year of his reign would then be AD 28 or 29. If Jesus was born in 5 or 4 BC, that would put the start of Jesus' ministry around age 32 to 34. Most scholars do not see this as a contradiction of Luke's claim that Jesus was "about thirty years old". Some scholars rely on John 8:57:[30] "thou art not yet fifty years old", making the earliest possible year for Jesus's birth c. 18 BC.[31]:776

Christmas celebration[edit]

The celebration of Christmas as the birth day of Jesus is based on a date of a pagan feast rather than historical analysis.[32] In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Lord's Day (Sunday) was the earliest Christian celebration and included a number of theological themes. In the 2nd century, the Resurrection of Jesus became a separate feast as Easter and in the same century Epiphany began to be celebrated in the Churches of the East on 6 January.[33] The festival of the Nativity which later turned into Christmas was a 4th-century feast in the Western Church notably in Rome and North Africa, although it is uncertain exactly where and when it was first celebrated.[34]

The earliest source stating 25 December as the date of birth of Jesus is likely by Hippolytus of Rome, written very early in the 3rd century, based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring equinox which he placed on March 25, and then added nine months - festivals on that date were then celebrated.[35] John Chrysostom also argued for a 25 December date in the late 4th century, basing his argument on the assumption that the offering of incense in Luke 1:8-11 was the offering of incense by a high priest on Yom Kippur (early October), and, as above, counting fifteen months forward. However, this was very likely a retrospective justification of a choice already made rather than a genuine attempt to derive the correct birth date.[36]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dunn, James DG (2003). "Jesus Remembered". Eerdmans Publishing: 324.
  2. ↑ Doggett 1992, p579: "Although scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years before AD 1, the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating".
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Paul L. Maier "The Date of the Nativity and Chronology of Jesus" in Chronos, kairos, Christos: nativity and chronological studies by Jerry Vardaman, Edwin M. Yamauchi 1989 ISBN 0-931464-50-1 pp. 113–129
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 New Testament History by Richard L. Niswonger 1992 ISBN 0-310-31201-9 pp. 121–124
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi by Karl Rahner 2004 ISBN 0-86012-006-6 p. 731
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi by Karl Rahner 2004 ISBN 0-86012-006-6 page 731
  7. ↑ Raymond E. Brown, An Adult Christ at Christmas: Essays on the Three Biblical Christmas Stories, (Liturgical Press, 1988), p. 17.
    For example, Dunn, James Douglas Grant (2003), Jesus Remembered, Eerdmans. p. 344. ISBN 0-8028-3931-2 Similarly, Erich S. Gruen, 'The expansion of the empire under Augustus', in The Cambridge ancient history Volume 10, p. 157.
    Geza Vermes, The Nativity, Penguin 2006, p. 96.
    W. D. Davies and E. P. Sanders, 'Jesus from the Jewish point of view', in The Cambridge History of Judaism ed William Horbury, vol 3: the Early Roman Period, 1984
    Anthony Harvey, A Companion to the New Testament (Cambridge University Press 2004), p. 221.
    Meier, John P., A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. Doubleday, 1991, v. 1, p. 213.
    Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke. London: G. Chapman, 1977, p. 554.
    A. N. Sherwin-White, pp. 166, 167.
    Fergus Millar Millar, Fergus (1990). "Reflections on the trials of Jesus". A Tribute to Geza Vermes: Essays on Jewish and Christian Literature and History (JSOT Suppl. 100) [eds. P.R. Davies and R.T. White]. Sheffield: JSOT Press. pp. 355–81. repr. in Millar, Fergus (2006), "The Greek World, the Jews, and the East", Rome, the Greek World and the East, University of North Carolina Press, 3: 139–163
  8. ↑ Archer, Gleason Leonard (April 1982). Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House. p. 366. ISBN 0-310-43570-6. Search this book on
  9. ↑ Frederick Fyvie Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (1943; republished Eerdman, 2003), pp. 87–88.
  10. ↑ Nikos Kokkinos, 1998, in Chronos, kairos, Christos 2 by Ray Summers, Jerry Vardaman ISBN 0-86554-582-0 pp. 121–126
  11. ↑ C.F. Evans, Tertullian's reference to Sentius Saturninus and the Lukan Census in the Journal of Theological Studies (1973) XXIV(1): 24–39
  12. ↑ The Life of Jesus of Nazareth by Rush Rhees 2007 ISBN 1-4068-3848-9 Section 54
  13. ↑ Geza Vermes (2 November 2006). The Nativity: History and Legend. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 28–30. ISBN 978-0-14-191261-5. Search this book on
  14. ↑ Matthew 2:1
  15. ↑ Matthew 2:16
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Blackburn & Holford-Strevens 2003
  17. ↑ Flavius Josephus. The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapters 1–2. Josephus indicates that the census under Cyrenius (i.e., Quirinius) occurred in the 37th year after Octavian's (i.e., Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus') victory over Marc Antony at Actium, which secular historical records date to 2 September 31 BC. Therefore 31 BC + 37 years = AD 6–7.
  18. ↑ Marcus Borg, 'The Meaning of the Birth Stories' in Marcus Borg, N T Wright, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (Harper One, 1999) page 179: "I (and most mainline scholars) do not see these stories as historically factual."
  19. ↑ Sanders, E. P. The historical figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993 pages 85-88
  20. ↑ Freed, Edwin D (2004). "Stories of Jesus' Birth". Continuum International: 119.
  21. ↑ Archer, Gleason Leonard (April 1982). Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House. p. 366. ISBN 0-310-43570-6. Search this book on
  22. ↑ Nikos Kokkinos, 1998, in Chronos, kairos, Christos 2 by Ray Summers, Jerry Vardaman ISBN 0-86554-582-0 pages 121-126
  23. ↑ C.F. Evans, Tertullian's reference to Sentius Saturninus and the Lukan Census in the Journal of Theological Studies (1973) XXIV(1): 24-39
  24. ↑ "New Testament History" by Richard L. Niswonger 1992 ISBN 0-310-31201-9 pp. 121–124
  25. ↑ Luke: an introduction and commentary by Leon Morris 1988 ISBN 0-8028-0419-5 p. 93
  26. ↑ Stories of Jesus' Birth by Edwin D. Freed 2004 ISBN 0-567-08046-3 pp. 136–137
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament by Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum 2009 ISBN 978-0-8054-4365-3 p. 114
  28. ↑ Christianity and the Roman Empire: background texts by Ralph Martin Novak 2001 ISBN 1-56338-347-0 pp. 302–303
  29. ↑ Christianity and the Roman Empire: background texts by Ralph Martin Novak 2001 ISBN 1-56338-347-0 pages 302-303
  30. ↑ John 8:57
  31. ↑ Blackburn & Holford-Strevens 2003, p. 776 "Most critics therefor discard Luke; some have rehabilitated John, who seems to imply that Jesus was born c. 18 BC."
  32. ↑ Murray, Alexander, "Medieval Christmas", History Today, December 1986, 36 (12), pp. 31 – 39.
  33. ↑ An introductory dictionary of theology and religious studies by Orlando O. Espín, James B. Nickoloff 2007 ISBN 0-8146-5856-3 page 237
  34. ↑ Christian worship in Reformed Churches past and present by Lukas Vischer 2002 ISBN 0-8028-0520-5 pages 400-401
  35. ↑ Mercer Dictionary of the Bible by Watson E. Mills, Edgar V. McKnight and Roger A. Bullard 2001 ISBN 0-86554-373-9 page 142
  36. ↑ Roger T. Beckwith (2001). Calendar and chronology, Jewish and Christian: biblical, intertestamental and patristic studies, p. 72

External links[edit]


This article "Date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.


Retrieved from "https://en.everybodywiki.com/index.php?title=Date_of_birth_of_Jesus_of_Nazareth&oldid=2264881"
License CC BY-SA 3.0
Powered by MediaWiki
Powered by Semantic MediaWiki