![]() ![]() ![]() The first such attempt was made by Johannes Kepler who interpreted the account to describe a Great Conjunction. Nonetheless, attempts have been made to interpret it as an astronomical event, which might then help date Jesus' birth through the use of ancient astronomical records, or modern astronomical calculations. Most scholars regard the Star of Bethlehem account to be a pious fiction, of literary and theological value, rather than historical. Luke's date is independently confirmed by John's reference in John 2:20 to the Temple being in its 46th year of construction when Jesus began his ministry during Passover, which corresponds to around 27–29 AD according to scholarly estimates. Another theory is that Herod's death was as late as after the January eclipse of 1 BC or even AD 1 after the eclipse that occurred in 1 December BC. By working backwards from this, it would appear that Jesus was probably born no later than 1 BC. Jesus began to preach after being baptized by John the Baptist, and based on Luke's gospel John only began baptizing people in "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" ( Luke 3:1–2), which scholars estimate would place the year at about AD 28–29. 1890Īnother approach to estimating the year of birth is based on an attempt to work backwards from the point when Jesus began preaching, using the statement in Luke 3:23 that he was "about 30 years of age" at that time. Other gospel evidence Dispute of Jesus and the Pharisees, by James Tissot, c. However these arguments are rejected by mainstream scholarship. Some biblical scholars and commentators believe the two accounts can be harmonized, 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. Tertullian believed, some two centuries later, that a number of censuses were performed throughout the Roman world under Sentius Saturninus at the same time. Since Herod died many years before this census, most scholars discount the census and generally accept a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC, the year in which Herod died. AD 93), by indicating that Cyrenius/Quirinius' governorship of Syria began in AD 6 and a census took place during his tenure sometime between AD 6–7. Luke 1:5 mentions the reign of Herod shortly before the birth of Jesus, and places the birth during the Census of Quirinius, which the Jewish historian Josephus described as taking place circa AD 6 in his book Antiquities of the Jews (written c. ![]() In addition, if the phrase "about 30" in Luke 3:23 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 according to most scholars. He also implies that Jesus could have been as much as two years old at the time of the visit of the Magi, because Herod ordered the murder of all boys up to the age of two years ( Massacre of the Innocents), "in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi" Matthew 2:16. Matthew 2:1 states that "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king". īoth Luke and Matthew associate Jesus' birth with the time of Herod the Great. Karl Rahner states that the authors of the gospels generally focused on theological elements rather than historical chronologies. 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. The day or season has been estimated by various methods, including the description of shepherds watching over their sheep. The common Christian traditional dating of the birthdate of Jesus was 25 December, a date first asserted officially by Pope Julius I in 350 AD, although this claim is dubious or otherwise unfounded. astrological or astronomical alignments.working backward from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus, and.analysing references to known historical events mentioned in the nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew,.The historical evidence is too incomplete to allow a definitive dating, but the year is estimated through three different approaches: The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical sources, but most biblical scholars generally accept a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC, the year in which King Herod died. ![]()
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