6.0550 Rs: Year 0 (3/71)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 23 Feb 1993 14:36:17 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0550. Tuesday, 23 Feb 1993.
(1) Date: 22 Feb 1993 13:51:16 -0500 (EST) (23 lines)
From: 00hfstahlke@BSUVAX1.BITNET
Subject: Re: 6.0542 Qs: Latin; Netnews; French Lists; Year 0 (5/90)
(2) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 10:13:09 CST (34 lines)
From: stan kulikowski ii <STANKULI@UWF>
Subject: no year 0
(3) Date: 22 Feb 1993 14:50:54 -0700 (MST) (14 lines)
From: OCRAMER@CCNODE.Colorado.EDU
Subject: Re: 6.0542 Qs: Latin; Netnews; French Lists; Year 0 (5/90)
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 22 Feb 1993 13:51:16 -0500 (EST)
From: 00hfstahlke@BSUVAX1.BITNET
Subject: Re: 6.0542 Qs: Latin; Netnews; French Lists; Year 0 (5/90)
> Can anyone tell me whether there is a definitive statement or
>at least a set of "tendencies" regarding what Christian sects in the U.S.,
>Canada, France & Germany regard as year "0"? Is it commonly associated with
>the birth of Jesus or the death of Jesus? My American & Canadian students
>in French class seem somewhat divided on the subject; the majority claims
>claim the latter.
Without getting into a lot of arcana, the year of Jesus' birth is
generally agreed to have been between 6 BCE and 4 BCE to reconcile the
historical references. The year "0" in a BC/AD scheme corresponds to
what used to be thought of as the year of Jesus' birth. The year of
Jesus' death is, of course, equally problematical and was probably
before 30 CE. I have never heard it suggested that that might have
been the year "0", and I suspect your students' uncertainty reflects
the same sort of cultural ignorance I ran into one day when I heard
some students arguing whether 1776 was in the 17th or 18th century.
Herb Stahlke
Ball State University
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------40----
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 10:13:09 CST
From: stan kulikowski ii <STANKULI@UWF>
Subject: no year 0
i do not know if you are looking for information on the system of keeping
dates in christian cultures, or if you are trying to ascertain the beliefs
of contemporary christians sects? these are distinct.
if the former, there is a very good article in this month's _doctor
dobb's journal_ on date keeping and conversions between julian and
gregorian date systems. at least this article will tell you when most of
those countries adopted gregorian time keeping. most people agree there
was never a year 0 (that 1 BC was followed by 1 AD). since there is no
historical data concerning the life of christ which would allow us to
precisely establish the beginning date, pope gregory decided in 1582 to
reset the calender so easter coincided with the same season as it did
during the council of nicaea in 325 AD. apparently this is the earliest
historical event which mentioned the celebration of easter in relation to
an equinox. so they dropped a bunch of days in october of 1582 to get
things set to that timed event. that is essentially the point of
calibration for our modern european time keeping. the gregorian calender
did not get completely accepted even in europe until 1925 or so.
if you are interested in the contemporary beliefs of sects... i would not
even try to make a guess at what is believed by who.
stan
stankuli@UWF.bitnet
.
=== god created time so everything would not happen at once
º º god created space so everything would not happen to me
--- -- lament of the overburdened
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: 22 Feb 1993 14:50:54 -0700 (MST)
From: OCRAMER@CCNODE.Colorado.EDU
Subject: Re: 6.0542 Qs: Latin; Netnews; French Lists; Year 0 (5/90)
Year 0: no such thing, because the dates go from 1 *before* the
event to 1 *after*; the event (as is being discussed on ELENCHUS
lately) was defined by Dionysius Exiguus, the inaugurator of this
era, as the *incarnation*, which might well mean the conception,
of Jesus. Since Dionysius chose a slightly late date for this
event, relying on the tradition of the church at, I believe,
Antioch rather than a somewhat more accurate tradition at Alexandria,
we customarily put the birth of Jesus a few years *B*C
Owen Cramer
Colorado College