What is the meaning of BC and AD?
The following article is written by Max Jeganathan, author and speaker at OCCA, The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics.
How could one person’s life be the marker by which we measure history?
The question is all the more astonishing when we consider that the person we are talking about was a 1st century Jew who was born in an obscure town in an otherwise unremarkable part of the world. Of course, things became much more remarkable there after his birth.
Now, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is the hinge point for how humankind makes sense of time’s progress through the ages.
Why did this happen? How did it happen? And perhaps more importantly, what can this tell us about who we are, regardless of our religion, politics or worldview?
The Universal Split
The term BC means ‘Before Christ’ referring to history and events that occurred before the birth of Jesus Christ. AD (literally translated from the Latin meaning “in the year of our Lord” refers to history and events after the birth of Jesus Christ. These two terms remain the primary reference point for the vast majority of people more than 2,000 years after Jesus was born.
For Christians, the significance of the life of Jesus requires little explanation. According to the Bible and as per the Christian message, Jesus Christ is God incarnate (also referred to in the Bible as the Son of God). Accordingly for Christians, his birth, life, death and resurrection are the most significant series of historical events, with universal significance and marking a turning point in human history. When considered theologically, the person of Jesus is more than a convenient date-stamp. He is the universal hinge on which history hangs, and more importantly, a future hope for all who accept his offer of relationship – but more on that later.
The Origin Story: Dionysius Exiguus
The BC/AD system was originally crafted in Rome during the sixth century (I.e. Around 525 years after the birth of Jesus) by a monk and astronomer named Dionysius Exiguus (which translates to Dionysius the ‘humble’ or ‘little’). It arose following a request made of Dionysius, to calculate the date of Easter. This called for a clearer way of numbering years with a view to more accurately and easily dating past events and marking the passage of time.
Before this, Christians had marked the passing of years in line with the reigns of different Emperors – beginning with the turbulent and traumatic reign of Emperor Diocletian, the Roman ruler who notoriously persecuted followers of Jesus.
Dionysius’ new system was at once a response to the need to more accurately date the first Easter and an opportunity to replace the honouring of a persecutor of Christians with the honouring and recognition of the centre of the Christian message – Jesus Christ.
At first, Dionysius’ new system simply set down the term ‘Anno Domini’ (AD), to date the birth of Jesus in relation to events that occurred after it. The use of BC came into use subsequently, with scholars (both Christian and non-Christian) retroactively using Dionysius’ marking of the beginning of the ‘AD era’ to date events that occurred before the birth of Jesus.
BC/AD vs. BCE/CE: What’s the Difference?
Today, you might notice the terms BC/AD (Before Christ / Anno Domini) being used interchangeably with the terms BCE/CE (Before Common Era / Common Era). These newer terms grew out of a preference by some, for religious and theological neutrality. Understandably, organisations, individuals and public institutions who did not align with or identify with the Christian faith preferred terms that did not explicitly incorporate such an overt theological connotation.
However, it’s worth noting that the date-stamp on which the BCE/CE term hinges on, remains the exact same as that which anchors the terms BC and AD – the birth of Jesus Christ. Interestingly, even the attempt to remove Jesus Christ from the way humankind measures history, continues to implicitly recognise his birth as the event upon which history is divided and understood.
The Historical “Gap”: Was Jesus Born in 1 AD?
While AD was coined and placed in order to mark the year of Jesus’ birth, it is very unlikely that Jesus was in fact born during the year 1 AD. Ancient sources such as the biographical accounts of Jesus’ life found in the Bible link Jesus’ birth to the reign of Herod the Great – whom most historians date to have died in what we would now consider 4 BC.
The mismatch is largely explained by Dionysius Exiguus’ level of accuracy. In setting the date for Jesus’ birth, he made an educated best-inference calculation using all of the historical data and evidence available to him. However, based on the sources and evidence now available, it appears that his calculations were off by 3-4 years. When later scholars discovered the inaccuracy, the calendar was so entrenched in civil, religious and public institutions, their records and systems, that a correction was not considered possible.
From a Christian perspective, the exact date of Jesus’ birth does not change the truth-claims of the Christian message, the truth-value of the Bible, or the utility of the BC/AD framework for measuring years. Rather, the BC/AD system points to the historical and universal significance of the person Jesus Christ, and his widespread relevance for all of human history and the human future. But why?
The Spiritual Significance (Jesus Christ as Lord)
From conquering military generals to political revolutionaries to spiritual leaders, many throughout history have lived lives of immense significance. These people – understandably – are remembered and studied. However, none of their lives have been deemed of sufficient or universal importance to justify becoming the dividing hinge of history.
The life of Jesus Christ seems to demand a closer look, regardless of what one believes. There is something qualitatively unique about Jesus. He didn’t achieve, conquer or influence in the same way that others in history have. His life, death and resurrection were punctuated by the supernatural, verified by an undeniable body of evidence, and targeted not at worldly systems, but at hearts and minds. Jesus’ mission was primarily spiritual and relational, not political, military or economic.
The Christian message declares that the entry of Jesus Christ into the world marks the apex of God’s project to redeem the world and more specifically – to reconcile people back to Himself. The BC/AD system is a nod to this qualitative uniqueness and to the enduring relevance of Jesus, not merely as more than a moral teacher or a religious founder, but as both divinely human and humanly divine.
Conclusion
All of history before Jesus pointed to His coming (and the need for Him) and everything since his resurrection flows from his Kingship over the universe.
The Christian message has at its core a universal invitation to all people: that God so loved the world, that he stepped into it as a person – Jesus Christ – who now offers the forgiveness of sins through relationship with Him (John 3:16). This truth and invitation is not contingent on calendars or historical terminology. However, it is noteworthy that the way we divide history echoes these astonishing claims.
Our universal human calendar is both a quiet acknowledgment of Jesus’ significance and divinity, and an invitation for all people, to enter into relationship with the God of the universe, the one through which all of time flows – and therefore – the one by which we measure each year that passes.
Learning More
OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics was established in 2004 to raise up the next generation of evangelist-apologists. By 2021, around 350 emerging evangelists from around the world had studied on the OCCA one-year programme. This course equipped each of them to share and defend the gospel message and to come alongside others to help them with their intellectual objections and heartfelt concerns about the Christian faith. Subscribe to our weekly newsletters to see our latest articles from our team of speakers.
Max Jeganathan