the Second Sunday of Lent
Click here to learn more!
The historical timeline splits into two main groups: B.C. ("before Christ") and A.D. (Latin phrase "anno domini," which means "in the year of our Lord"). These labels were not fully implemented and accepted until several centuries after Jesus' death.
However, when calculating the B.C. / A.D. system, the developers made a mistake in pinpointing the year of Jesus' birth. Scholars later actually discovered that Jesus was born around 6-4 B.C., not 1 A.D. While not the crucial issue, the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ are the "turning points" in world history. Therefore, since Jesus Christ is the separation of "old" and "new."
Although modern historians now use the labels B.C.E (Before Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era), StudyLight.org will still use the originals.
By Era (2 total)
By Category (4 total)
James Ussher was one of the most outstanding scholars and theologians of his time. He traveled widely in Britain and Europe in his enduring search for knowledge, seeking the earliest available manuscripts, buying those he could, and copying others. After his death, his extensive and valuable library formed the great library of Trinity College, Dublin.
James Ussher, archbishop of Armagh, was the pre-eminent figure in the contemporary Church of Ireland, and a leading patron of scholarship at Trinity College, Dublin. A staunch defender of episcopacy, he respected all sides during religious upheavals of the 1640s and 1650s, regarded as the person able to achieve an accommodation between the Presbyterians and the "Church of England." As such, he was valued by Hartlib and Dury, both of whom helped him at times with his scholarly work and looked to him as a potential patron for their schemes.
Despite his success as a churchman, Ussher is perhaps most famous for dating the start of the creation to the evening before 23rd October, 4004 B.C. Ussher calculated this timing in his Annals, a work of biblical chronology published in Latin in 1650 (Hartlib noted its progress through the press with great interest) and translated it into English in 1658. The book was the fruit of many years of labor; as early as the summer of 1640, Ussher was reported 'spending constantly all the afternoones' in the Bodleian working at it (Constantine Adams to Hartlib, Hartlib Papers, 15/8/3A-4B).
In the Annals, Ussher developed the chronological work of many earlier scholars, particularly Joseph Justus Scaliger (who had pioneered the use of the Julian period in calendrical calculations) to provide a framework for dating the whole Bible historically. He argued that, although scripture itself only tended to take notice of entire years, the Holy Spirit provided clues allowing critics to establish a precise chronology of its events by applying to the text the results of astronomical calculations and its comparison with the dates of pagan history. Ussher's system had the advantage of preserving several attractive numerical symmetries. For example, the ancient Jewish notion, adopted by Christians, that the creation anticipated the Messiah's birth by 4,000 years. HoweverIt was also heavily dependent on classical chronologies and interpreted the calendar that already seemed out-dated to many scholars.
Although not wholly original, Ussher's work was nevertheless influential. It became widely accepted, not the least, because the dates were later incorporated into the margins of some editions of the Authorized Version. However, Ussher's chronology rested too heavily on the Old Testament's Hebrew text to escape controversy even in his day. Its findings were attacked by those who were persuaded that the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) or the Samaritan Pentateuch (both of which presented different chronologies from the Hebrew) were more reliable witnesses to the dictation of the Holy Ghost, or that they concurred more closely with the evidence of astronomy and pagan history. Yet, in the opinion of Hartlib, and perhaps of many others, Ussher's critics were churlish individuals who were unwilling to admit their debts to his scholarship. Despite such debates, most seventeenth-century readers of the Bible would have agreed with Ussher that it ought, in principle, to have been possible to establish an accurate and detailed biblical chronology.
Jumapili ya pili ya Kwaresima Bonyeza hapa ili kujifunza zaidi! Mstari wa wakati wa kihistoria unagawanywa katika vikundi viwili vikuu: K.K. " (Kabla ya Kristo) na A.D. (neno la Kilatini "anno domini", linalomaanisha "katika mwaka wa Bwana wetu"). Majina hayo hayakutumiwa kikamili na kukubaliwa hadi karne kadhaa baada ya kifo cha Yesu. Hata hivyo, wakati wa kuhesabu B.C. Kwa sababu ya mfumo wa K.K., watengenezaji wa mfumo huo walikosea katika kuamua mwaka wa kuzaliwa kwa Yesu. Wataalamu wa Biblia walipata kwamba Yesu alizaliwa mwaka wa 6-4 KK, na si mwaka wa 1 KK. Ingawa si suala muhimu, kuzaliwa, maisha, huduma, kifo, na ufufuo wa Kristo ni "mahali pa kugeuka" katika historia ya ulimwengu. "Kwa hiyo, kwa kuwa Yesu Kristo ni kutenganisha ""mzee"" na ""mpya.""" Ingawa wanahistoria wa kisasa sasa hutumia majina B.C.E (Kabla ya Enzi ya Kawaida) na C.E. (Common Era), StudyLight.org bado itatumia maandishi ya awali. Kwa enzi (kwa jumla 2) Kwa Jamii (kwa jumla 4) James Ussher alikuwa mmoja wa wasomi na wanatheolojia mashuhuri zaidi wa wakati wake. Alisafiri sana Uingereza na Ulaya katika utafutaji wake wa daima wa maarifa, akitafuta hati za kale zaidi zilizopatikana, akinunua zile alizokuwa nazo, na kunakili nyingine. Baada ya kifo chake, maktaba yake kubwa na yenye thamani ilifanyiza maktaba kubwa ya Chuo cha Trinity, Dublin. James Ussher, askofu mkuu wa Armagh, alikuwa mtu mashuhuri katika Kanisa la Ireland la wakati huo, na mlinzi mkuu wa udhamini katika Chuo cha Trinity, Dublin. Akiwa mtetezi wa kipekee wa episkopali, aliheshimu pande zote wakati wa mapinduzi ya kidini ya miaka ya 1640 na 1650, na kuonwa kuwa mtu aliyeweza kufikia makubaliano kati ya Presbiterians na "Kanisa la Uingereza." Kwa hivyo, alikuwa na thamani na Hartlib na Dury, ambao wote wawili walimsaidia wakati mwingine na kazi yake ya kitaaluma na walimtazama kama mlinzi wa uwezekano kwa mipango yao. "Usher, ambaye alikuwa na mafanikio ya kiroho, labda anajulikana zaidi kwa kuchunguza tarehe ya mwanzo wa uumbaji, ""siku ya jioni kabla ya Oktoba 23, 4004 KK.""" Ussher alitoa hesabu ya wakati huo katika kitabu chake cha Annals, ambacho kilikuwa na maandishi ya Biblia yaliyochapishwa katika Kilatini mwaka wa 1650 (Hartlib aliona maendeleo ya maandishi hayo kupitia vyombo vya habari kwa upendezi mkubwa) na kukitafsiriwa katika Kiingereza mwaka wa 1658. Kitabu hicho kilikuwa ni matunda ya miaka mingi ya kazi; mapema kama majira ya joto ya 1640, Ussher aliripotiwa 'kutumia kila alasiri' katika Bodleian kufanya kazi yake (Constantine Adams kwa Hartleby, Hartleby Papers, 15:3-8a-4b). Katika kitabu chake cha Annals, Ussher aliendeleza kazi ya wataalamu wengi wa zamani, hasa Joseph Justus Scaliger (ambaye alikuwa amefanyia kazi ya kwanza kutumia kipindi cha Julian katika hesabu za kalenda) ili kutoa mfumo wa kuchunguza tarehe ya Biblia nzima kihistoria. "Amesema kwamba ingawa Maandiko yenyewe yanaonyesha tu miaka nzima, Roho Mtakatifu hutoa ufahamu ambao unawawezesha wakosoaji kuanzisha mfuatano sahihi wa matukio kwa kutumia maandishi ya matokeo ya hesabu za nyota na kulinganisha na tarehe za historia ya kipagani.""" Mfumo wa Ussher ulikuwa na faida ya kuhifadhi symmetries kadhaa za nambari zenye kuvutia. Kwa mfano, Wayahudi wa kale waliamini kwamba uumbaji ulitangulia kuzaliwa kwa Masihi kwa miaka 4,000. Hata hivyo, pia ilitegemea sana kronolojia za kale na kutafsiri kalenda ambayo tayari ilionekana kuwa ya zamani kwa wasomi wengi. Ingawa kazi ya Ussher haikuwa ya awali kabisa, bado ilikuwa na uvutano mkubwa. "Hata hivyo, kwa sababu ya kuonekana kwa tarehe hizo, baadaye zilitumiwa katika matoleo fulani ya Biblia ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza ya Kiingereza.""" Hata hivyo, orodha ya matukio ya Ussher ilitegemea sana maandishi ya Kiebrania ya Agano la Kale hivi kwamba haikupingwa hata katika siku zake. "Watu walioshikilia sana tafsiri ya Biblia ya Kigiriki ya Agano la Kale (Septuagint) na ya Kisamaria (Pentateuch) walidai kwamba tafsiri hiyo ilikuwa na ""ushuhuda wa kutosha wa uthibitisho wa uthibitisho wa elimu ya nyota na ya kipagani.""" Hata hivyo, kwa maoni ya Hartlib, na labda ya wengine wengi, wakosoaji wa Ussher walikuwa watu wachafu ambao hawakuweza kukubali deni lao kwa wasomi wake. Licha ya mabishano hayo, wasomaji wengi wa Biblia wa karne ya kumi na saba wangekubaliana na Ussher kwamba, kwa kanuni, ingewezekana kuanzisha mfuatano wa matukio wa Biblia ulio sahihi na wa kina.