Year of the Lord vs. Common Era

I have not been aware of a movement to change B.C./A.D. to B.C.E./C.E. It looks like it is something to watch out for in the future.

from Karl Keating's e-Letter, November 13, 2007:

Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:

The night before last I finished a little book titled "The History of Time." The author is Leofranc Holford-Strevens, and the book is part of the "Very Short Introduction" series published by Oxford University Press.

"The History of Time" discusses how our notions of hours, days, and years developed....

In more and more publications we're seeing the traditional terms A.D. (Anno Domini = Year of the Lord) and B.C. (Before Christ) being dropped in favor of C.E. (Common Era) and B.C.E. (Before the Common Era).

A.D. and B.C. are being dropped by some Christians, for two reasons. Some are concerned that by insisting on the traditional usage, they might be perceived as proselytizing, and they think everyone should use a "neutral" designation for years. This strikes me as misplaced courtesy.

If the Incarnation really happened, then it was the most momentous event of all time, far more important than any emperor's reign, the establishment of any polity, or the occurrence of any battle. Ontologically, nothing else could come close to the Incarnation in importance for the human race. Such an event would be a worthy--in fact, the most worthy--demarcation of human history: Before Incarnation, After Incarnation.

This would be true whether or not most people living today believed it to have occurred. Even if Christians were an infinitesimal minority of the world's population, rather than a quarter or so of it, the Incarnation would be the most important event that ever happened. To say so publicly is not proselytizing.

So I think the concern about proselytizing is misplaced. So too for the concern about whether ancient calculations were spot on or not.

Most scholars say that Christ was born probably not at the end of 1 B.C. but around 6B.C. I won't discuss now the reasons for that conclusion, but, if true, it would mean that our dating system is off by about five years and that A.D. 2007 really ought to be A.D. 2012.

But so what? In this matter, an approximation is sufficient. We cannot know with certainty the year of Christ's birth, since ancient records are sparse. Should we therefore say that we can't construct our calendar around his birth? This would be taking Heisenberg's uncertainty principle to a ludicrous point.

In the preface to "The History of Time," Holford-Strevens explains that "the traditional terms A.D. and B.C. have been retained, in preference to C.E. and B.C.E., for two reasons: adopting the latter causes the maximally distinguished 1 B.C. and A.D. 1 to become the minimally distinguished 1 B.C.E. and C.E. 1; and although, as a date for the birth of Jesus Christ the epoch is almost certainly wrong, it remains a commemoration of that event, and no other event of the same year can be proposed as an alternative of world significance. Attractive, especially in a globalized age, as a purely secular era may appear, the Christian era cannot be made secular by denying its origin."

I don't know Holford-Strevens' religion, but I can't think of many Catholic leaders who could phrase the argument so well.

Until next time,
Karl