Ep. 2 – So, when was Jesus born?

Hello folks!

As the Christmas season nears, I thought it would be fun to examine some of the more interesting theories as to when Jesus was born. While we celebrate his advent on December 25th, a majority of scholars feel this is not the exact date of his birth.

PET PEEVE ALERT 

First, let me air a pet peeve of mine.  Jesus wasn’t born on ‘the first Christmas’.  It’s just one of those things.  The earliest reference to the celebration of the nativity on December 25 (the Mass for Christ) is found in the Chronography (Calendar) of 354, an illustrated manuscript of important dates of the year A.D. 354 compiled in Rome for a Roman Christian named Valentius.  In Part 12, the commemoration dates of the martyrs, it begins with “VIII kal. Ian. natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae” (“Eighth day before the kalends of January [December 25], Birth of Christ in Bethlehem Judea”).

There are other inferences in the writings of antiquity that may hint of a possible celebration before A.D. 354, but this is the first clear indication of a December 25th commemoration of the birth of Jesus.  While there were possible celebrations of the birth of Jesus in the early church, historical writings indicate various churches held them at different times.  Most scholars believe the Mass for Christ, Christmas, was not acknowledged prior to the 4th century.

BUT ENOUGH OF ME…

When was Jesus born?

I wish I were brilliant enough to provide insight on my own, but alas, I cannot.

Let’s start with an excerpt from the Encyclopedia Britannica.  While this does not provide insight into when Jesus was born, it is an excellent and concise outline of why we may have chosen December 25th:

The early Christian community distinguished between the identification of the date of Jesus’ birth and the liturgical celebration of that event. The actual observance of the day of Jesus’ birth was long in coming. In particular, during the first two centuries of Christianity there was strong opposition to recognizing birthdays of martyrs or, for that matter, of Jesus. Numerous church fathers offered sarcastic comments about the pagan custom of celebrating birthdays when, in fact, saints and martyrs should be honoured on the days of their martyrdom—their true “birthdays,” from the church’s perspective.

The precise origin of assigning December 25 as the birth date of Jesus is unclear. The New Testament provides no clues in this regard. December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus’ birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 and later became the universally accepted date. One widespread explanation of the origin of this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the dies solis invicti nati (“day of the birth of the unconquered sun”), a popular holiday in the Roman Empire that celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the resurgence of the sun, the casting away of winter and the heralding of the rebirth of spring and summer. Indeed, after December 25 had become widely accepted as the date of Jesus’ birth, Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son. One of the difficulties with this view is that it suggests a nonchalant willingness on the part of the Christian church to appropriate a pagan festival when the early church was so intent on distinguishing itself categorically from pagan beliefs and practices.

A second view suggests that December 25 became the date of Jesus’ birth by a priori reasoning that identified the spring equinox as the date of the creation of the world and the fourth day of creation, when the light was created, as the day of Jesus’ conception (i.e., March 25). December 25, nine months later, then became the date of Jesus’ birth. For a long time the celebration of Jesus’ birth was observed in conjunction with his baptism, celebrated January 6.

There are many opinions as to the date of Jesus’ birth, and I have only provided a very small list here.  There are evidences for a birth date for every season of the year.  In fact, a bit of searching can find supporting evidence for just about every possible date.  I tried to find selections here that were both enjoyable to read and backed by reasonable scholarship of one flavor or another.

Joseph Tkach from the Worldwide Church of God provides a basic overview of a common position many learned Christ-followers hold.  As a bonus, Michael Morrison has a compelling inset column on this page discussing specifically choosing December 25 as a deliberate opposition to the pagan celebration of Saturnalia to minister to recently-converted or not-yet-converted pagans.

http://www.wcg.org/lit/jesus/datebirth.htm

John Parsons of Hebrew4Christians.com has a neat comparison of two prevailing theories: mid-fall vs. mid-winter birth dates:

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Christmas/christmas.html

Among other things, Gene Edward Veith is the Provost and Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College.  He proposes evidences of a specific birth date of December 25th.

http://www.geneveith.com/evidence-december-25-is-the-right-day/_184/

The folks at New Life Community Church in Stafford, Va, offer a best guess of Sept 29, 5 B.C.

http://www.new-life.net/chrtms10.htm

Stepping outside our comfort zones, we visit Stargazers.com (“Astrology Services for spiritual beings on a human path”).  While The Other Bald Guy doesn’t ascribe to astrology, this is one example of numerous attempts to identify Jesus’ birth through celestial events (i.e. the Star of Bethlehem).  Hannibal Giudice’s guess: March 1, 7 B.C.

http://www.stargazers.com/jesus.html

And to wrap things up, I offer up the writings of Rev. Bosco Peters, an Anglican priest in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Rev. Peters provides a wealth of information as to why the Christian church may have chosen December 25th as the day of celebration for the advent of Jesus.  Interestingly, he presents two separate documents: one outlining a Pagan-centric theory of Dec 25th, and the other being a Judeo-Christian theory.  Very interesting!

Pagan-centric theory: http://www.liturgy.co.nz/worship/matters_files/christmasday1.html
Judeo-Christian theory: http://www.liturgy.co.nz/worship/matters_files/christmasday2.html