Date of Birth of Jesus

Date of birth of Jesus
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The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical reference, but most
theologians assume a year of birth between 6 and 4 BC.[1] The historical evidence is too
incomplete to allow a definitive dating,[2] but the year is estimated through three different
approaches: (A) by analyzing references to known historical events mentioned in the nativity
accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, (B) by working backward from the estimation of
the start of the ministry of Jesus,[3][4] and (C) astrological or astronomical alignments.[5] The day
or season has been estimated by various methods, including the description of shepherds
watching over their sheep.[6]
Year of birth
Nativity accounts
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.[7][8] Karl Rahner states that the authors of the gospels
generally focused on theological elements rather than historical chronologies.[9]
Both Luke and Matthew associate Jesus' birth with the time of Herod the Great.[9] Matthew 2:1
states that "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king". 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, "in accordance with the
time he had learned from the Magi". Matthew 2:16[10] In addition, 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.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
Luke 1:5 mentions the reign of Herod shortly before the birth of Jesus,[4] 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. AD 93),[9] 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.[17][18][19] 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.[1][4][9] Tertullian believed, some two centuries later, that a number of censuses
were performed throughout the Roman world under Saturninus at the same time.[19][20][21] Some
biblical scholars and commentators believe the two accounts can be harmonised,[22][23] 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.[24]
Other gospel evidence

Dispute of Jesus and the Pharisees, by James Tissot, c. 1890
Another 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.[25] Jesus began to preach after being baptised 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.
[25][26][27][28][29]
By working backwards from this, it would appear that Jesus was probably born no
later than 1 BC.[3][25][28] Another theory is that Herod's death was as late as after the January
eclipse of 1 BC[30] or even AD 1[31] after the eclipse that occurred in December 1 BC.[32]
This 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.[33]

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