Chronology of Jesus
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The Chronology of Jesus depicts the attempt to establish a historical chronology for the events of the life of Jesus depicted in the four canonical gospels (which allude to various dates for several events). Certain events in the chronology of Jesus as described in the Gospels can be cross-referenced to Jewish festivals, and to the tenure of historical rulers and high priests. However other events such as the specific years of Jesus's birth and death cannot be accurately determined. When correlated with external secular sources, the accounts of the four canonical gospels describe something like the following outline:[1]
- Jesus was born either before 4 BC (when Herod the Great died) or in 6 AD (when the historical Census of Quirinius was undertaken). The traditional date, 25 December 1 BC (not 1 AD, see below), is a combination between a symbolic choice (for the day of the year) and a calculation of Dionysius Exiguus (for the year itself).
- Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist during John's ministry, which according to Luke 3:1-2 began in the "15th year of Tiberius" (around 28/29 AD)[2] and may have lasted up until 32 AD;[3]
- Jesus' ministry lasted around one year, according to the Synoptic Gospels,[citation needed] or three years according to the Gospel of John;[4]
- Jesus was executed by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Iudaea province between 26 AD (when Pilate was appointed as governor) and 36 AD (when Pilate was removed.)
- According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus was risen from the dead on the first day of the week following his crucifixion.
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[edit] Birth
[edit] Year of birth
The only sources of information on Jesus' birth are the gospels of Matthew and Luke of the Bible.
Matthew describes King Herod as the ruler during the time of the Nativity, and Herod died in 4BC. Furthermore, in order to kill Jesus and eliminate him as a rival king, Herod orders the "Massacre of the Innocents" — the killing of all male children in Bethlehem aged two years and under. This means that Jesus may have been up to two years old already by that time, and this sets the Nativity at around 6BC.
Luke places the Nativity during the Census of Quirinius which took place in 6 AD, although Luke states the conception took place during the reign of King Herod - about 10 years earlier.
Because both Gospel accounts agree that the birth took place before the death of Herod, Jesus was born around 4 BC or slightly before.[5]
Some commentators have attempted to establish the date of birth by identifying the Star of Bethlehem with some known astronomical or astrological phenomenon.[6] There are many possible phenomena and none seems to match the Gospel account.[7] Many scholars regard the star as a literary invention of the author of the Gospel of Matthew, to claim fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy (Numbers 24:17).[8].
Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea estimated that Jesus was born in 2 BC. In the 6th century, Dionysius Exiguus made the incarnation of Jesus the basis for his chart of Easter dates, although he did not specify whether incarnation meant conception or birth. Dionysius labeled the years since Jesus' incarnation Anno Domini (meaning "in the year of the Lord" in Latin), which is now abbreviated "AD". Later the abbreviation "BC", which stands for Before Christ was added. In this new Christian chronology, year 1 started either from the Annunciation on 25 March 753 of the Roman Era or from the Nativity on 25 December 753: with the second choice (which eventually prevailed), 1 AD consisted of the last seven days of 753 AUC and most of 754 AUC. In the 16th century, New Year's Day was delayed to 1 January and the start of 1 AD retroactively reported to 1 January 754 AUC, with the unexpected consequence of dating the birth of Jesus of 25 December 753 in the year 1 BC (i.e. "before Christ"); that discrepancy was partly corrected by the astronomer Jacques Cassini, who renamed 1 BC as the year 0 (for calculations). But Dionysius' estimate is generally thought to be inaccurate; "although scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years before AD 1, the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating".[9]
[edit] Day of birth
The New Testament provides no information regarding the date of the birth of Jesus.[10] The traditional date is 25 December, which is mid-winter in Judea. Because the Luke account says that shepherds were outdoors with their flocks it has sometimes been suggested that this implies a summer or autumn date.[11] However, the climate of Palestine is quite mild and in fact sheep are allowed to forage even in December.[11][12]
Early Christians sought to calculate the date of Christ's birth based on the idea that Old Testament prophets died either on an anniversary of their birth or of their conception. They reasoned that Jesus died on an anniversary of his conception, so the date of his birth was nine months after the date of Good Friday, either December 25 or January 6.
At least as early as 354 AD, Jesus' birth was celebrated on December 25 in Rome, according to Chronography of 354. Other cities had other traditional dates. The history of Christmas is closely associated with that of the Epiphany. If the currently prevailing opinion about the compilation of the gospels is accepted, the earliest body of gospel tradition, represented by Mark no less than by the primitive non-Marcan document (Q document) embodied in the first and third gospels, begins, not with the birth and childhood of Jesus, but with his baptism; and this order of accretion of gospel matter is faithfully reflected in the time order of the invention-of feasts. The church in general adopted Christmas much later than Epiphany, and before the 5th century there was no consensus as to when it should come in the calendar, whether on January 6 or December 25.
The next surviving mention of December 25 is in Hippolytus' (c. 202) commentary on Daniel. Jesus, he says, was born at Bethlehem on December 25, a Wednesday, in the forty-second year of Augustus. As late as 245, Origen, in his eighth homily on Leviticus, repudiates as sinful the very idea of keeping the birthday of Jesus "as if he were a king Pharaoh." Thus it was important to the early Christians not to have indecorous parties on that day, but to keep it a time of devotion, reflection, and communion.
The first early mention of December 25 is in a Latin chronographer of 354 AD, first published in complete form by Mommsen. It runs thus in English: "Year I after Christ, in the consulate of Augustus Caesar and Paulus, the Lord Jesus Christ was born on 25 December, a Friday and 15th day of the new moon." Here again no festal celebration of the day is attested.
[edit] Other Dates
There were many speculations in the 2nd century about the date of Jesus' birth. Clement of Alexandria, towards its close, mentions several such, and condemns them as superstitions. Some chronologists, he says, alleged the birth to have occurred in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus, on the 25th of Pachon, the Egyptian month (May 20). These were probably the Basilideans. Others set it on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi (19th or 20 April). Clement himself sets it on November 17, 3 BC
The same symbolic reasoning led Polycarp (before 160) to set his birth on Sunday, when the world's creation began, but his baptism on Wednesday, for it was the analogue of the sun's creation. On such grounds certain Latins as early as 354 may have transferred the human birthday from January 6 to December 25 and is by the chronographer above referred to, but in another part of his compilation, termed Natalis invicti solis, or birthday of the unconquered Sun. (Under the Julian Calendar, the winter solstice occurs on December 24, so starting with December 25, the days begin to get longer again.) Cyprian invokes Christus Sol verus, Ambrose Sol novus noster, and such rhetoric was widespread. The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6, accused the Romans of sun-worship and idolatry, contending with great probability that the feast of 25 December had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus and its readings by Artemon to commemorate the natural birth of Jesus. Ambrose, On Virgins, writing to his sister, implies that as late as the papacy of Liberius 352 - 356, the Birth from the Virgin was feasted together with the Marriage of Cana and the Feeding of the 4000, which were never celebrated on any other day but January 6.
Chrysostom, in a sermon preached at Antioch on December 20, 386 or 388, says that some held the feast of December 25 to have been held in the West, from Thrace as far as Cádiz, from the beginning. It certainly originated in the West, but spread quickly eastwards. In 353 - 361 it was observed at the court of Constantius II. Basil of Caesarea (died 379) adopted it. Honorius, emperor (395 - 423) in the West, informed his mother and brother Arcadius (395 - 408) in Byzantium of how the new feast was kept in Rome, separate from January 6, with its own troparia and sticharia. They adopted it, and recommended it to Chrysostom, who had long been in favour of it. Epiphanius of Crete was won over to it, as were also the other three patriarchs, Theophilus of Alexandria, John II of Jerusalem, Flavian I of Antioch. This was under Pope Anastasius I, 398 - 400.
John or Wahan of Nice, in a letter printed by François Combefis in his Historia monoizeii tarurn, affords the above details. The new feast was communicated by Proclus, patriarch of Constantinople (434 - 446), to Sahak, Catholicos of Armenia, about 440. The letter was betrayed to the Persian king, who accused Sahak of Greek intrigues, and deposed him. However, the Armenians, at least those within the Byzantine pale, adopted it for about thirty years, but finally abandoned it together with the decrees of Chalcedon early in the 8th century. Many writers of the period 375 - 450, e.g. Epiphanius, Cassian, Asterius, Basil, Chrysostom and Jerome, contrast the new feast with that of the Baptism as that of the birth after the flesh, from which we infer that the latter was generally regarded as a birth according to the Spirit. Instructive as showing that the new feast travelled from West eastwards is the fact (noticed by Usener) that in 387 the new feast was reckoned according to the Julian calendar by writers of the province of Asia, who in referring to other feasts use the reckoning of their local calendars. As early as 400 in Rome an imperial rescript includes Christmas among the three feasts (the others are Easter and Epiphany) on which theatres must be closed.
[edit] Start of Ministry
According to the gospel of Luke (Luke 3:1-2), John the Baptist started his ministry in the "15th year of Tiberius". This is one of the few events in the New Testament for which any clear indication of the year of occurrence is given. Tiberius was emperor of Rome from 14 to 37 AD. All gospel accounts have Jesus beginning his own ministry after John had begun his. Accordingly, the earliest year either John or Jesus could have begun his own ministry would be, if Luke is accurate, the year 29 AD. However, one source, Tertullian (died 230), in Adversus Marcionem xv, expresses a Roman tradition that placed the crucifixion in the twelfth year of Tiberius Caesar, lending support for an earlier date of 26 AD. Josephus implies that Herod Antipas had John the Baptist put to death around 32 AD.[3]
[edit] Death
- See also: Date of Crucifixion
[edit] Day of death
Tradition (and the Synoptic Gospels) hold that the Last Supper took place on the first night of Passover, which is defined in the Torah as occurring after the daylight of the 14th of Nisan (Lev 23:5-6), however the Gospel of John likely places the crucifixion itself on the 14th of Nisan ("the day of preparation", e.g., 19:14, 19:31, 19:42).[13] In the Biblical calendar, a new day begins after sunset, rather than at midnight as in the modern western calendar. However, in order to determine the Gregorian date of Jesus' death, one needs to know the year, because the 15th of Nisan – corresponding to one of the first two full moons after Vernal Equinox – can occur on any date in late March or April in the western calendar.
The season was that of the Passover. The day leading up to the Passover would have been Nisan 14. All Gospels agree that Jesus died and was taken off the cross on the day before a Jewish sabbath before sunset (the Jewish calendar counts the day as beginning with the evening). John elaborates that that Sabbath was "an high day" (John 19:31), which suggests that he died on the preparation for the annual Sabbath, the 15th of Nisan. Later traditions assume he died on a Friday (Good Friday), the preparation for the weekly Sabbath. However, before the year 500, the calendar months were adjusted in accordance with astronomical observations. Therefore, it is not possible to state exactly on which day of the week the 14 of Nisan occurred for any year before 500 without historical documents that attest to a particular day of the week, though it is possible to guess based on astronomy.
More precise calculation of Jesus' date of death is complicated by apparent inconsistencies in the reports in the Synoptic Gospels as compared to the Gospel of John[14]. In the Synoptic Gospels, the Last Supper is generally interpreted to be the Passover meal (see e.g. Mark 14:12). In this case Passover would have started on the night before Jesus' crucifixion. This is highly problematic from a historical standpoint — the first day of Passover is a holy day for Jews, during which no work can be performed and many rituals of Shabbat are observed, so events described by the Gospels (particularly the trial) could not have taken place.
According to John, however, the Last Supper was eaten on the evening at the start of the 14th of Nisan[15] and the crucifixion was on the 14th during the following daylight, with Jesus dying approximately at the same time that the lambs for the Passover were being slaughtered in Herod's Temple of Jerusalem — around 3 PM ("at the ninth hour"), so that the Jews could celebrate the Passover that evening (following Jesus' death).
According to Orthodox theology, the Last Supper celebrated on the evening before Jesus' crucifixion was not the Jewish Passover meal.[citation needed]
[edit] Year of death
[edit] Historical and Biblical analysis
One of the facts considered by historians to be practically beyond dispute is that Jesus was executed on the orders of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate.[16] Pilate held this position from 26–36 AD, during which the only years in which Nisan 14 could have fallen on a Friday were 27 (although it could have been on a Thursday), 30, and 33 AD, although this depends on when the new moon (first visible crescent) would have been visible in Jerusalem (which depends on the weather).[17]. The 15th of Nisan could have fallen on a Friday in 27 or 34 AD. Different scholars have defended various of these dates. Maximus Monachus, Eusebius, and Cassiodorus recorded the death of Jesus in 31 AD, but the 14th of Nisan would probably have been on a Tuesday that year. The 3rd/4th century Roman historian Lactantius states that Jesus was crucified on a particular day in 29 AD[18], but which did not correspond to a full moon.
John P. Meier's A Marginal Jew cites 7 April 30 AD, 3 April 33 AD, and 30 March 36 AD as astronomically possible Friday Nisan 14 dates during Pilate's tenure in office. The 14th, not the 15th, of Nisan, implies that Jesus died at the time that the lambs were slaughtered. In the Gospel of Luke, it is stated that Jesus was "about 30 years old" [19] when he was baptised by John the Baptist but this doesn't help much because of the vagueness of the expression and the uncertainty about his date of birth.
Another fact to be considered is Luke's statement that John the Baptist's ministry began in the fifteenth year of the reign of emperor Tiberius (Luke 3:1-2). Tiberius' reign began after Augustus' death on 19 August 14 AD, placing John's appearance in 28 or 29 AD (counting August 14 AD to August 15 AD as the first year). On the other hand, Tertullian writes in his Adversus Marcionem of a Roman tradition that placed the crucifixion in the twelfth year of Tiberius' rule, i.e. 25 or 26 AD. Unlike the Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of John points to three separate Passovers during Jesus' ministry, which would favour 33 AD.
[edit] Astronomical analysis
The use of astronomical evidence to estimate the year of the Crucifixion of Jesus has led to AD 33 by two different groups, and originally as AD 34 by Isaac Newton via the differences between the Biblical and Julian calendars and the crescent of the moon. John Pratt argued that Newton's reasoning was effectively sound, but included a minor error at the end. Pratt suggested the year 33 AD as the accurate answer. Using similar computations, in 1990 astronomer Bradley Schaefer arrived at the same date, Friday, April 3 33 AD.[20][21][22][23][24][25] [26] A third method, using a completely different astronomical approach based on a lunar Crucifixion darkness and eclipse model (consistent with Apostle Peter's reference to a "moon of blood" in Acts 2:20) arrives at the same date, namely Friday April 3, AD 33.[17][27]
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