CE vs AD - What is the Fulcrum of Human History?

Ever seen something and thought, “This is so dumb.  It will never catch on.”  Only to have the thing catch on?  That is how I felt when I first saw the CE/BCE dating system.


An Understandable Tension:

The BC/AD dating system is based on the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.  A sixth century monk by the name of Dionysius Exiggus calculated the year of Christ’s birth (to the best of his ability) and called the subsequent years “Anno Domini” or “In the Year of Our Master”.

Today most scholars believe the actual birth year of Jesus would have fallen somewhere around 3BC.  However, the point remains; the intent of the dating system was to mark the original Christmas, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now… roughly two thirds of the world's population is non-Christian.  It is easy to imagine why a Jew or Atheist (or Jewish Atheist) might take exception at writing “In the Year of Our Master” in reference to Jesus.

It would not be unlike a Christian being coerced by an Islamic dating system to write “In the Year of the Prophet”.  Christians do not believe Muhammad as a prophet.  So under such a regime, many would regard writing “1405 SA” as an act of apostasy.

Thus, many people see a need to strip the AD/BC dating system of its Christian particularism.  And so CE/BCE is born.



What Marks the “Common Era”?

CE/BCE stands for “Common Era” and "Before Common Era".  It works by taking the AD/BC year and simply replacing the acronym letters.  So 2015 AD becomes 2015 CE.  TADAA!!!!

The first time I saw it, I thought,

“This is obviously a lazy attempt to ignore Christian influence on human history.  Any sensible person can see right through this.” 

And yet… the CE/BCE dating system is slowly gaining ground in the academic world.  Cruise around on Wikipedia for a while, particularly when looking up non-Christian religious figures, and you will find this new system being used.

To which I want to point out what should be obvious to everyone:

You cannot remove the Christian nature of the dating system by swapping out the letters.  The year number is also pointed at Jesus.  If you want a purely secular dating system, you have to start from scratch.

I mean, try to give a secular explanation for what establishes the “common era”.  If it is not grounded in the long-purported birth of Jesus of Nazareth, what exactly is the rationale?  Was there any other era-defining event which happened that year?

Was it the death of Amanishakheto, Queen of Nubia?  The ascent of Areius Paianeus to the office of Archon in Athens?  The appointment of Gaius Caesar to the Roman consulate?

So even if you write 2016 CE, the system still revolves around the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.  It continues to acknowledge His birth as the hinge upon which the human narrative bends.

A Viable Compromise?

The most viable compromise alternative is to say CE means "Christian Era".  That phrasing allows someone to acknowledge the obvious Christian origin of the dating system without having to implicitly confess Jesus his/her lord and master.  

The main problem with that option is it doesn't point to the right place.  Again, the numbering system derives from an attempt to date the birth of Jesus.  But the birth of Jesus can hardly be called the start of the Christian era.

Jesus did not begin His ministry until perhaps 30AD.  And the first Pentecost - the day the Apostles began publicly preaching - did not occur until 33AD.  That is when the Christian era would have really began.

So if you can still live with using the birth of Jesus as the turning point of human history but still  want to get rid of the “Jesus is the Lord of Mankind” part – your options should be more like:

• BJN/NJN – “Before Jesus of Nazareth / “Since the Nativity of Jesus of Nazareth”
• PJB/AJB – “Prior to Jesus’ Birth” / “After Jesus' Birth”

In any event, until we get a completely new dating system – Jesus will remain the reason for the season.  The first Christmas remains the fulcrum of human history.

Happy Advent.