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Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Theme Collection ix
Birth of Jesus - History and Perception ...
Wednesday, Dec 04, 2019. Taking about facts and history, let us start to think about the birth of Jesus. In the time of advent - the four weeks before the Christmas celebration, Christians all over the globe celebrate the birth of the “son of God”.
When we talk about history, we can state what seems to be historical fact as far as we know today, using the best of our critical efforts to explore what happened 2000 years ago.
Birth of Jesus …
Jesus is said to be born during the reign of Herod the Great in Palestine. His reign was between 37 BC and 4 BC, when he died. This places the birth of Jesus into the years 6-4 BC, i.e. six to four years before the year 0 of our Gregorian calender, which was introduced 1582 AD by pope Gregor VIII, following calculations of Dionysius Exiguus 525 AD. In Rome emperor Augustus was in power 31 BC to 14 AD. Augustus was followed by Tiberius, who reigned until AD 37.
Concrete circumstances about the birth of Jesus are recorded in the Gospels. They are our only source today. The four gospels are usually dated into the time between 55 AD and 90 AD, where different theories and theological schools hold their particular view on which gospel came first and how they were composed from earlier material.
In the time of advent, many towns display the birth of Jesus following the gospel of Luke. We find scenes of his mother and father Mary and Joseph, together with a child in a creche. Luke talks about a census initiated by Augustus, which made Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem, to be registered. Bethlehem was very little town close to Jerusalem - nothing of big significance. Augustus had initiated various censuses in the Roman empire, among them those in 28 BC, 8 BC and 14 AD. Luke also mentions Quirinius, who was a key Roman figure and consul from 12 BC, who also held influential positions in Palestine from 6 AD to his death 21 AD.
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(Roland Potthast)
This is part of the trilogy project “Faith of a Scientist”.