The History Thread

[iscalad]

You might have mentioned that back in 1615 and 1708 when the fix first went in ...

Common Era - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So why choose Common Era? What's Common about it?

 

[Grecian2K]

You might have mentioned that back in 1615 and 1708 when the fix first went in ...

Common Era - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I kind of wished that they'd stuck with "Vulgar Era"...it would have given "VE Day" a whole new meaning. The modern calendar could have started from 8th May 1945.

 

[Grecian2K]

So why choose Common Era? What's Common about it?

"They say it started in a humble stable
"But as an atheist I wasn't able
"To stay true. Why would you?

"And as for "BC" what a load of trot.
"But for many years it's all we got
"From the church
"Which one could never besmirch.

"I wanna live in Common Era
"I wanna stick with Common era
"Cos it's true.
"How about you"?

 

[Spoonz Red E]

So why choose Common Era? What's Common about it?

It's common because it's a year numbering system agreed and used by the majority of people of all faiths and none I suppose.
Either that or it drops its aitches.

 

[Grecian2K]

Of course there is also the suggestion about "AD" is that many biblical scholars believe that Mary actually went into labour round about 4BC....which, let's face it, must have been an awfully long and agonising "confinement" by the poor lass. Still, I guess that's the price you pay for bonking "angels". Either that or JC had an extremely big head.

 

[iscalad]

It's common because it's a year numbering system agreed and used by the majority of people of all faiths and none I suppose.
Either that or it drops its aitches.

So to keep other faiths happy, we keep the date from the birth of Christ. OK.

 

[Hermann]

Of course there is also the suggestion about "AD" is that many biblical scholars believe that Mary actually went into labour round about 4BC....which, let's face it, must have been an awfully long and agonising "confinement" by the poor lass. Still, I guess that's the price you pay for bonking "angels". Either that or JC had an extremely big head.

That's a whole academic minefield. Basically you can't reconcile all of the historical details in the bible to come to with an accurate date.

 

[Spoonz Red E]

So to keep other faiths happy, we keep the date from the birth of Christ. OK.

Nobody says you can't use BC / AD.
It was over 500 years after Christ that they were first used.

It's not a new thing.
BCE / CE has now been used for over 300 years by some.

"These abbreviations have a shorter history than BC and AD, although they still date from at least the early 1700s.
They have been in frequent use by Jewish academics for more than 100 years, but became more widespread in the later part of the 20th century, replacing BC/AD in a number of fields, notably science and academia."

BC and AD, BCE and CE: What’s the Difference?

What is the difference between AD and CE, or BC and BCE? Do they mean the same thing, and, if so, which should we use?

www.antidote.info

 

[Hermann]

So to keep other faiths happy, we keep the date from the birth of Christ. OK.

Until recently scholarship has used BC/AD, and largely ignored anything that wasn't written by white Christians. It makes sense to use a system that easily maps on to the existing one, while at the same time acknowledging that historical research is not owned by one group.

 

[Spoonz Red E]

Of course there is also the suggestion about "AD" is that many biblical scholars believe that Mary actually went into labour round about 4BC....which, let's face it, must have been an awfully long and agonising "confinement" by the poor lass. Still, I guess that's the price you pay for bonking "angels". Either that or JC had an extremely big head.

It took donkey's years to get to the Inn.