Search Results for: when was jesus born?

One can make a credible case for January 6, 2 BC as the date of Jesus’ birth and December 25, 2 BC as the date of the visit of the Magi. It would make sense for the two dates to … Continue reading →

The earliest known discussion of the calendar date of Jesus’ birth comes from Clement of Alexandria (Stromata 1:21), who writes: “From the birth of Christ, therefore, to the death of Commodus are, in all, a hundred and ninety-four years, one … Continue reading →

In theory, if one could pinpoint the day on which Zechariah and Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist, one could extrapolate an approximate date of Jesus’ birth. Elizabeth was “in her sixth month” of pregnancy when the angel Gabriel came to … Continue reading →

So far we have discussed the probable year of Jesus’ birth. Along the way, we have established some parameters for narrowing the date even further. The astronomical data point to a series of conjunctions of Jupiter and Regulus between September … Continue reading →

Early patristic sources suggest Jesus was born around 3 or 2 BC. Such a date is plausible if Herod died in 1 BC‚Äîa view that can be supported from a careful reading of Josephus‚Äîand if the “Christmas census” is interpreted … Continue reading →

Which Census? Tertullian states that censuses (plural) were conducted in Palestine around the time of Jesus’ birth. There are two viable candidates for the census described in Luke 2. One is the census of 8 BC (the second of three … Continue reading →

Modern estimates of the year of Jesus’ birth range from 7 to 4 BC. The writers of the second and third centuries, however, consistently dated the event to between 3 and 2 BC, with an outer range of from 4 … Continue reading →