The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical reference, but most theologians assume a year of birth between 6 and 4 BC. The day or season has been estimated by various methods, including the description of shepherds watching over their sheep. Neither the Gospel of Luke nor Gospel of Matthew mention a season for Jesus’ birth.
About Date of birth of Jesus in brief
The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical reference, but most theologians assume a year of birth between 6 and 4 BC. The day or season has been estimated by various methods, including the description of shepherds watching over their sheep. Despite the modern celebration of Christmas in December, neither the Gospel of Luke nor Gospel of Matthew mention a season for Jesus’ birth. Some biblical scholars and commentators believe the two accounts can be harmonised, arguing that the text in Luke can be read as \”registration before Quirinius was governor of Syria\”, i.e. Luke was actually referring to a completely different census. Alexander Murray of History Today argues that the celebration of December 25th as the birth day is based on a date of a pagan feast rather than historical analysis. Saturnalia, the Roman feast associated with the winter solstice, was held on December 17th and later expanded to 23 December.
The Roman festival of Natalis Solis Invicti has also been suggested, since it was associated with some prominent emperors and was celebrated with a public banquet. It is likely that such a feast was chosen for Christ’s contrast and triumph over paganism. Alternately, it may have been selected due to Christian converts rebuked to introduce pagan elements into the Christian celebrations due to the Christianization of the Roman religion. The date of Christ’s birth is not mentioned in the New Testament gospels of Matthew and Luke. Some scholars challenge a winter birth for Jesus and some defend the idea by citing the mildness of winters in ancient Israel and rabbinic rules regarding sheep near Bethlehem.
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This page is based on the article Date of birth of Jesus published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 24, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
