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 WAS JESUS BORN IN THE YEAR ZERO? It's unlikely. For a start there isn't a year zero between the years 1 and -1, because when the date was set, there was no concept of the number zero. The BC/AD calendar was created in 531 by a monk called Dennis. He calculated that Jesus was born in the year 754 of the Roman calendar, so that became 1 BC. But he miscalculated. The only information we have about when precisely Jesus was born is from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. They both put his birth in the reign of Herod the Great of Judea, who died about the Roman year 751, i.e. 4 BC. This seems to give us the latest date Jesus could have been born. However, Luke says: "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria" (Luke 2:1-2). This only complicates matter further, because records show that Quirinius was made governor of Syria and Judea in the Roman year 757 (AD 6), and took a census the following year. There are various theories that try to tie up these two conflicting bits of information, but none of them puts Jesus's birth in 1 BC (or in the year 0). The most commonly accepted date is 4 BC. More questions about Jesus' life |
Picture: carvings showing the story of Christ on the west front of Chartres Cathedral, France. |
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