Common Era

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Common Era (also known as Christian Era and Current Era; abbreviated CE) is a designation for the period of time beginning with year 1 of the Gregorian calendar. An earlier date is then designated BCE, described as "Before the Common, Christian, or Current Era". The numbering of years is identical to the numbering in the Anno Domini system, neither system using a year zero. The only difference between Common Era, Christian Era, and Anno Domini notation is in the names themselves. Originating among Christians in Europe at least as early as 1615 (at first in Latin), Common Era notation has been adopted in several non-Christian cultures, by many scholars in religious studies and other academic fields, and by others wishing to be sensitive to non-Christians. The use of BCE and CE has been criticized by some (who favor the BC/AD system) as being in their view "the result of secularization" and "political correctness".

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar system with most widespread usage in the world today. For decades, it has been the unofficial global standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union. Its preeminence is due to the historical processes of European imperialism, thereby spreading European culture around the globe.

The abbreviation BCE, just as with BC, always follows the year number. Unlike AD, which traditionally precedes the year number, CE always follows the year number (if context requires that it be written at all). Thus, the current year is written as in both systems (or, if further clarity is needed, as CE, or as AD ), and the year Socrates died is represented as 399 BCE (the same year that is represented by 399 BC in the BC/AD system). The abbreviations are sometimes written with small capital letters, or with periods (e.g., "BCE" or "C.E.").

Origins

The year numbering system for the Common Era was devised by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus in 525; he attempted to number years from the Incarnation of Jesus "although scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years before A.D. 1. Dionysius labeled the column of the Easter table in which he introduced the new era "Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Numbering years in this manner became more widespread with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before the supposed year of birth of Jesus, and the practice of not using a year zero. In 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius.

The term "Common Era" is traced back in English to its appearance as "Vulgar Era" (from the Latin word vulgus, the common people, i.e. those who are not royalty), to distinguish it from the Regnal dating systems typically used in national law. The first use of the Latin equivalent (vulgaris aerae) discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler. Kepler uses it again in a 1617 table of ephemerides. A 1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English - so far, the earliest-found usage of Vulgar Era in English. A 1701 book edited by John LeClerc includes "Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra, 6". A 1716 book in English by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, "before the beginning of the vulgar æra, by which we now compute the years from his incarnation. A 1796 book uses the term "vulgar era of the nativity".

The first so-far-discovered usage of "Christian Era" is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the title page of a 1584 theology book. In 1649, the Latin phrase æræ Christianæ appeared in the title of an English almanac. A 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of "Christian Era".

The English phrase "common Era" appears at least as early as 1715 in a book on astronomy, used synonymously with Christian Era and Vulgar Era. A 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. Common era and vulgar era are used as synonyms in 1770, in a translation of a book originally written in German. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era and common era synonymously. 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", and also refers to the common era as a synonym for vulgar era with "the fact that our Lord was born on the 4th year before the vulgar era, called Anno Domini, thus making (for example) the 42d year from his birth to correspond with the 38th of the common era... The Catholic Encyclopedia uses the sentence: "Foremost among these [various 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." During the 19th century, "Vulgar Era" came to be contrasted with "Christian Era", and "vulgar" came to mean "crudely indecent", thus no longer a synonym for "common".

The phrase "common era", in lower case, also appeared in the 19th century in a generic sense, not necessarily to refer to the Christian Era, but to any system of dates in common use throughout a civilization. Thus, "the common era of the Jews", "the common era of the Mahometans", "common era of the world", "the common era of the foundation of Rome". When it did refer to the Christian Era, it was sometimes qualified, e.g., "common era of the Incarnation", "common era of the Nativity", or "common era of the birth of Christ".

Some Jewish academics were already using the CE and BCE abbreviations by the mid-19th century, such as in 1856, when Rabbi and historian, Morris Jacob Raphall used the abbreviation in his book, Post-Biblical History of The Jews

Other associations

An adapted translation of Common Era into Latin as Era Vulgaris was adopted in the 20th century by some followers of Aleister Crowley, and thus the abbreviation "e.v." or "EV" may sometimes be seen as a replacement for AD.

Usage

The terms "Common Era", "Anno Domini", "Before the Common Era" and "Before Christ" can be applied to dates that rely on either the Julian calendar or the Gregorian calendar. Modern dates are understood in the western world to be in the Gregorian calendar, but for older dates writers should specify the calendar used. Dates in the Gregorian calendar have always used the Common Era, but over the millennia a wide variety of eras have been used with the Julian calendar.

Although Jews have their own Hebrew calendar, they often find it convenient to use the Gregorian Calendar as well. The reasons for some using Common Era notation are described below:Indeed, Common Era notation has also been in use for Hebrew lessons for "more than a century".

Some American academics in the fields of education and history have adopted CE and BCE notation, although there is some disagreement. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, which is the leading publishing body of the Jehovah's Witnesses, uses CE and BCE exclusively in its publications. 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. Furthermore, several style guides now prefer or mandate its usage. Even some style guides for Christian churches prefer its use: for example, the Episcopal Diocese Maryland Church News.

In the United States, the usage of the BCE/CE notation in textbooks is growing. Some publications have moved over to using it exclusively. For example, the 2007 World Almanac was the first edition to switch over to the BCE/CE usage, ending a 138-year usage of the traditional BC/AD dating system. It is used by the College Board in its history tests, by the Norton Anthology of English Literature, and by the United States Naval Observatory. Others have taken a different approach. The US-based History Channel uses BCE/CE notation in articles on non-Christian religious topics such as Jerusalem and Judaism. Whereas, in June 2006, the Kentucky State School Board reversed its decision that would have included the designations BCE and CE as part of state law, leaving education of students about these concepts a matter of discretion at the local level.

In some formerly Communist, predominantly Christian societies, the designation New Era (or Our Era) was encouraged by Communist authorities to replace BC and AD. In Bulgaria, for example, пр.н.е. (преди новата ера, before the new era, or преди нашата ера, before our era) and н.е. (от новата ера, of the new era, or от нашата ера, of our era) are still widely used by atheists/agnostics instead of traditional пр.Хр. (преди Христа, BC) and сл.Хр. (след Христа, after Christ), which were unofficially reinstituted after the Communist period. The Chinese use the term "Common Era (公元)."

Arguments for and against usage of CE/BCE notation

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

Support

Supporters of Common Era notation promote it as a religiously-neutral notation suited for cross-cultural communication due to compatibility with religious toleration and religious pluralism.

Arguments for using the Common Era designation include:

Use of BCE and CE shows sensitivity to those who agree to use the same calendar, but are not Christian.

AD and BC have not lost their religious significance. Many of those arguing to retain the BC/AD abbreviations are doing so for explicit religious reasons. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention resolved, in 2000, to retain the traditional abbreviations as "a reminder of the preeminence of Christ and His gospel in world history.

The label Anno Domini is almost certainly inaccurate; "scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years before A.D. 1, the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating.

It is simple to change from BC/AD to BCE/CE notation, since the years are numbered identically 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).

Both BCE and CE are used as suffixes, unlike BC/AD where BC is used as a suffix and AD is used as a prefix or suffix. This can be beneficial for computer usage.

"[T]he Christian calendar no longer belongs exclusively to Christians. People of all faiths have taken to using it simply as a matter of convenience. There is so much interaction between people of different faiths and cultures - different civilizations, if you like - that some shared way of reckoning time is a necessity. And so the Christian Era has become the Common Era.

Opposition

Efforts to replace AD/BC notation with CE/BCE notation have given rise to opposition.

Opposition arguments favoring AD/BC include:

The year-numbering system most widely used in the world is the one based on the supposed year of the Incarnation of Jesus, and removal of all reference to him in the era notation for that system is perceived by some Christians as offensive.

The alteration of BC/AD to BCE/CE partially effaces an important contribution of Christianity to Western civilization.

It is inconsistent to remove this religious reference and not remove other religiously-derived words such as the day names or month names derived originally from various pagan deities, such as January = Janus' month, Wednesday = Woden's day, Thursday = Thor's day, Friday = Freya's day.

Other arguments opposing the use of CE/BCE include:

The BCE/CE promotion distracts from the adoption of the system already used by astronomers, i.e. 0 for 1 BC, -1 for 2 BC, etc., which does resolve this problem and does not use any of the contentious acronyms.

Kenneth G. Wilson remarks, "If we do end by casting aside the A.D./B.C. convention, almost certainly some will argue that we ought to cast aside as well the conventional numbering system itself, given its Christian basis.

The substitution of BC/AD to BCE/CE is merely a euphemism that conceals the political implications.

The use of identifiers which have common spellings is more ambiguous than the use of identifiers with divergent spellings. Both C.E. and B.C.E. have in common the letters "C.E.", which is more likely to cause confusion than identifiers with clearly different spelling.

Notes and references

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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 12:07:12 PDT (GMT -0700)
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