- Main article: Chronology of JesusAlthough a few scholars have questioned the existence of Jesus as an actual historical figure,[46] most scholars involved with historical Jesus research believe his existence (except for the miracles and Resurrection) can be established using documentary and other evidence.[47][48][49][50][51][52] As discussed in the sections immediately below, the estimation of the year of death of Jesus places his lifespan around the beginning of the 1st century AD/CE, in the geographic region of Roman Judaea.[53][54][55][56][57] The New Testament also refers to the Sea of Galilee which is about 75 miles north of Jerusalem.[58]
Roman involvement in Judaea began around 63 BC/BCE and by 6 AD/CE Judaea had become a Roman province.[59] From 26-37 AD/CE Pontius Pilate was the governor of Roman Judaea.[60] In this time period, although Roman Judaea was strategically positioned between Asia and Africa, it was not viewed as a critically important province by the Romans.[61][62] The Romans were highly tolerant of other religions and allowed the local populations such as the Jews to practice their own faiths.[59]
Possible year of birth
Two independent approaches have been used to estimate the year of the birth of Jesus, one by analyzing the Nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew along with other historical data, the other by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus, as also discussed in the section below.[5][63]
In its Nativity account, the Gospel of Matthew associates the birth of Jesus with the reign of Herod the Great, who is generally believed to have died around 4 BC/BCE.[63][64] Matthew 2:1 states that: "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king" and Luke 1:5 mentions the reign of Herod shortly before the birth of Jesus.[63] Matthew also suggests that Jesus may have been as much as two years old at the time of the visit of the Magi and hence even older at the time of Herod's death.[65] But the author of Luke also describes the birth as taking place during the first census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea, which is generally believed to have occurred in 6 AD/CE.[66] Most scholars generally assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC/BCE.[67] Other scholars assume that Jesus was born sometime between 7–2 BC/BCE.[68][69][70][71][72]
The year of birth of Jesus has also been estimated in a manner that is independent of the Nativity accounts, by using information in the Gospel of John to work backwards from the statement in Luke 3:23 that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry.[3][5] As discussed in the section below, by combining information from John 2:13 and John 2:20 with the writings of Josephus, it has been estimated that around 27-29 AD/CE, Jesus was "about thirty years of age".[73][74] Some scholars thus estimate the year 28 AD/CE to be roughly the 32nd birthday of Jesus and the birth year of Jesus to be around 6-4 BC/BCE.[3][5][75]
However, the common Gregorian calendar method for numbering years, in which the current year is 2011, is based on the decision of a monk Dionysius in the six century, to count the years from a point of reference (namely, Jesus’ birth) which he placed sometime between 2 BC/BCE and 1 AD/CE.[76] Although Christian feasts related to the Nativity have had specific dates (e.g. December 25 for Christmas) there is no historical evidence for the exact day or month of the birth of Jesus.[77][78][79]
