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BCE

This article is about "Before Common Era" (BCE) and "Common Era" (CE). For other uses of these acronyms, see BCE (disambiguation) or CE.

The Common Era (CE), sometimes known as the Current Era or less often referred to as the Christian Era, is the period of measured time beginning with the year 1 (the traditional birthdate of Jesus) to the present. The notations CE and BCE (Before the Common Era or Before the Christian Era) are alternative notations for AD (anno Domini, Latin for "in the year of the Lord") and BC (Before Christ), respectively. They may also be written C.E. and B.C.E.

The term common era is preferred by some as a religiously-neutral alternative. Others criticize it as an unnecessary euphemism or an attempt at political correctness, pointing out that the pivotal year 1 still centers on the supposed date of Jesus' birth. The phrase 'Common Era' has its equivalents in other languages: For example, since the People's Republic of China succeeded the Republic of China in 1949, most Chinese have used the literal translation of Common Era, gōngyuán 公元, for date notation. Some Chinese use zhŭhoù 主後 (lit. After the Lord). Additionally, the term "CE" is preferred by academics in some fields (e.g. by the American Anthropological Association[1]).

Contents

Chronology and notation

Main article: Anno Domini

The calendar practice prompting the coining of the term common era is the system of numbering years from the supposed year of birth of Jesus. This system was devised by the monk Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525, who named it anno Domini. Two centuries later, the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede used a Latin term (ante incarnationis dominicae) that is roughly equivalent to the English term before Christ to identify years before the first year of this era.

The term "common era" is an alternative way of referring to this era. Using this nomenclature, human beings first walked on the Moon in the year 1969 of the common era, and the French Revolution is considered to have occurred in year 1789 of the common era.

When used as a replacement for BC/AD notation, the common era is abbreviated as CE and its years are numerically equivalent to AD years. Similarly, the time before the common era is written as BCE and is equivalent to BC. Both Common Era abbreviations are written following the year, thus Aristotle was born in 384 BCE (or 384 BC), and Genghis Khan died in 1227 CE (or AD 1227). As with anno Domini, the year zero is not used, except for astronomical uses. So 1 CE is immediately preceded by 1 BCE.

On (rare) occasions, one may find the abbreviation "e.v." or "EV" instead of "CE";[citation needed] this stands for "Era Vulgaris", the Latin translation of "Common Era".

Origins

According to Peter Daniels (a Cornell University and University of Chicago trained linguist):

CE and BCE came into use in the last few decades, perhaps originally in Ancient Near Eastern studies, where (a) there are many Jewish scholars and (b) dating according to a Christian era is irrelevant. It is indeed a question of sensitivity.

However, the term "common era" has earlier antecedents. A 1716 book by English Bishop John Prideaux says, "The vulgar era, by which we now compute the years from his incarnation." In 1835, in his book Living Oracles, Alexander Campbell, wrote "The vulgar Era, or Anno Domini; the fourth year of Jesus Christ, the first of which was but eight days." In its article on Chronology, the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia uses the sentence: "Foremost among these (dating eras) is that which is now adopted by all civilized peoples and known as the Christian, Vulgar or Common Era, in the twentieth century of which we are now living."

"Vulgar" comes from the Latin word vulgāris (from vulgus, the common people), meant "of or belonging to the common people, everyday," and acknowledges that the date was commonly used, even by people who did not believe that Jesus was divine. By the late 1800s, however, vulgar had come to mean "crudely indecent" and the Latin word was replaced by its English equivalent, "common".

The first known Jewish use of this practice is from an inscription on a gravestone in a Jewish cemetery in Plymouth, England:

Here is buried his honour Judah ben his honour Joseph, a prince and honoured amongst philanthropists, who executed good deeds, died in his house in the City of Bath, Tuesday, and was buried here on Sunday, 19 Sivan in the year 5585. In memory of Lyon Joseph Esq (merchant of Falmouth, Cornwall). who died at Bath June AM 5585/VE 1825. Beloved and respected.

This inscription uses the Hebrew calendar (5585), but ends by providing the common year (1825); presumably the "VE" means "Vulgar Era", and presumably VE was used instead of AD in order to avoid the Christian implications.

Usage

Many Jewish writers, Islamic scholars, and others prefer the notation's neutrality, while some Christians have used the term CE to mean "Christian Era." Jehovah's Witnesses exclusively use CE and BCE in their publications, generally explaining in footnotes that the terms stand for "Common Era" and "Before the Common Era". [2] Some non-religious academics in the fields of history, theology, archaeology, sociology and anthropology have also in recent decades begun using this system.

More visible uses of common era notation have recently surfaced at major museums in the English-speaking world: The Smithsonian Institution prefers Common Era usage, though individual museums are not required to use it.[3] Furthermore, several style guides now prefer or mandate its usage.[4][5][6][7][8] Even some style guides for Christian churches mandate its use: For example, that of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.[9]

In the United States, the usage of the BCE/CE notation in textbooks is growing. It is used by the College Board in its history tests[10], as well as by some National Geographic Society publications[11], and the United States Naval Observatory.[12] The U.S.-based History Channel uses BCE/CE notation in articles on non-Christian religious topics such as Jerusalem and Judaism[13][14] and the unusual combination of BC and CE in other cases.[15]

Support and opposition to the use of CE/BCE over AD/BC

A range of arguments exist both for and against the use of CE and BCE over AD and BC.

Support

Supporters of common era notation promote it as a religiously-neutral notation suited for cross-cultural use.

Arguments given for standardizing common era notation include:

  • The calendar used by the West has become a global standard—one built into every computer's hardware. It should be religiously and culturally neutral out of consideration for those cultures compelled to use it out of necessity.[16]
  • It has been largely used by academic and scientific communities[16] and is not a completely unfamiliar dating system.
  • It is simple to change BC/AD to BCE/CE notation, since the years are numbered exactly the same in both (e.g., 33 BC becomes 33 BCE.) Documents with years that do not have AD designation do not need to be changed at all (e.g., 1066 remains 1066 in AD and in CE systems).[16]
  • The label Anno Domini is almost certainly inaccurate—the birth of Jesus of Nazareth probably occurred no later than 4 BC, the year of Herod the Great's death.[16]
  • Common Era notation works well syntactically with centuries, whereas Anno Domini, because it is about years instead of eras, does not ("In the 18th Century, Common Era" versus "In the year of the Lord, 18th Century" versus "In the 19th century in the year of the Lord").[citation needed]

Opposition

Efforts to replace AD/BC notation with CE/BCE notation have given rise to opposition. Arguments against the common era designation include:

  • BC and AD have been used for such a length of time as to have become somewhat removed from their religious connotations.[16]
  • The newer BCE/CE system has not been used widely enough to have become commonly understood.[16]
  • Some argue against the BCE/CE system because it retains year 1 as its epoch and so preserves a Christocentric worldview. These people hold that a more massive change in the calendar is needed, one that would change every date.[16]
  • BCE/CE fails to fix one of the primary problems with the Christian calendar, the lack of a year "0". 1 BC should become the year 0, 2 BC should become 1 BC, et cetera. [16]
  • As there is no equally forceful trend to remove other terms with origins in non-Christian religions (such as days of the week named after Norse gods), some argue that movement to replace BC and AD is specifically anti-Christian. Conversely, Roman and Norse religious references are perhaps of less concern because they are dead religions and so do not elevate one population over another.[16]

Other calendar eras

Main article: Calendar era

Several major calendar systems exist in addition to the Western calendar:

  • The Hebrew calendar dates from the Creation (according to which the year beginning in the northern autumn of 2000 was 5761 AM);
  • Most Chinese do not assign numbers to the years of the Chinese calendar, but the few that do (expatriate Chinese and Westerners) date from the Yellow Emperor (three different systems are in use, which caused the Chinese years 4637, 4697, or 4698 to begin in early 2000).
  • The Islamic calendar dates from the Hijra in 622 using a lunar year of about 354 days (so the Western year 2000 contains parts of 1420 AH and 1421 AH);
  • The Japanese calendar dates from the succession of the current Emperor of Japan. The current emperor took the throne in 1989, which became Heisei 1, but which was until then Shōwa 63.
  • The Jalaali calendar, a form of the Zoroastrian calendar, is used in Iran. This uses the Zoroastrian months, with the starting year taken from the Hijra in 622—thus the year 1385 begins in March 2006. The spring equinox marks the beginning of the year for this calendar.
  • The Roman Calendar, which is virtually extinct, dated years from the mythological founding of Rome, 21 April 753 BC. The first year was thus 1 AUC (ab urbe condita or anno urbis conditae; "from the city being founded", or "in the year of the foundation of the city"). Reckoning days by this calendar is complex and no longer in use, but the calendar continues on today as 2759 AUC in 2006.
  • The Discordian calendar follows the CE numbering plus 1166. Presumable because of the Curse of Greyface that occurred in 1166 BCE. As a reference, 2006 is 3172 YOLD (Year of Our Lady of Discord) in the Discordian calendar.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.aaanet.org/pubs/style_guide.pdf
  2. ^ For example: "In this publication, instead of the traditional “A.D.” and “B.C.,” the more accurate “C.E.” (Common Era) and “B.C.E.” (before the Common Era) are used." - The Bible—God’s Word or Man’s?, p. 16 footnote, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
  3. ^ http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/field_trips/standards/world_history_standards.html
  4. ^ http://www.egyptstudy.org/OstraconGuidelines.html
  5. ^ http://chass.colostate-pueblo.edu/natrel/pom/pomstyle.html
  6. ^ http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/american_journal_of_philology/guidelines.html
  7. ^ http://www.sagepub.com/journalManuscript.aspx?pid=10754
  8. ^ http://www.yorku.ca/topia/docs/styleguide
  9. ^ http://www.ang-md.org/mcn/style-guide.pdf
  10. ^ http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/history_world/topic.html?worldhist
  11. ^ http://google.nationalgeographic.com/search?site=default_collection&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&q=BCE&btnG=Go
  12. ^ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/calendars.html
  13. ^ http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/jerusalem/jerutime.html
  14. ^ http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/jerusalem/jud.html
  15. ^ http://www.historychannel.com/timeline/
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A3176345

External links