The Gregorian calendar is the global standard for the measurement of dates. Despite originating in the Western Christian tradition, its use has spread throughout the world and now transcends religious, cultural and linguistic boundaries.
As most people are aware, the Gregorian calendar is based on the supposed birth date of Jesus Christ. Subsequent years count up from this event and are accompanied by either AD or CE, while preceding years count down from it and are accompanied by either BC or BCE.
But what is the difference between AD and CE, or BC and BCE? Do they mean the same thing, and, if so, which should we use? This article provides an overview of these competing systems.
BC and AD
The idea to count years from the birth of Jesus Christ was first proposed in the year 525 by Dionysius Exiguus, a Christian monk. Standardized under the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the system spread throughout Europe and the Christian world during the centuries that followed. AD stands for Anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of the Lord”, while BC stands for “before Christ”.
BCE and CE
CE stands for “common (or current) era”, while BCE stands for “before the common (or current) era”. These abbreviations have a shorter history than BC and AD, although they still date from at least the early 1700s. They have been in frequent use by Jewish academics for more than 100 years, but became more widespread in the later part of the 20th century, replacing BC/AD in a number of fields, notably science and academia.
Why Have Some People Adopted BCE/CE?
An important reason for adopting BCE/CE is religious neutrality. Since the Gregorian calendar has superseded other calendars to become the international standard, members of non-Christian groups may object to the explicitly Christian origins of BC and AD. Particularly problematic is AD (“in the year of the Lord”), and its unavoidable implication that the Lord in question is Jesus Christ.
Religious neutrality was the main rationale behind Jewish academics’ adoption of BCE/CE over a century ago, and continues to be its most widely cited justification. However, others object to the BC/AD system on the basis that it is objectively inaccurate. It is widely accepted that the actual birth of Jesus occurred at least two years before AD 1, and so some argue that explicitly linking years to an erroneous birthdate for Jesus is arbitrary or even misleading. BCE/CE avoids this inaccuracy since it does not explicitly refer to the birth of Jesus, removing some of the baggage associated with our dating system while also acknowledging that the starting point for 1 CE is essentially a convention.
Pushback
The movement towards BCE/CE has not been universally accepted, and BC/AD is still more widely used, even though BCE/CE has been in the mainstream since the 1980s. There have been backlashes to the adoption of the new system in defence of BC/AD, notably in 2002 when the UK National Curriculum made the transition. In 2011, education authorities in Australia were forced to deny that such a change had been planned for national school textbooks amid a similar controversy triggered by media reports.
Passions are usually highest among those who see the adoption of a new system as an attempt to write Jesus Christ out of history. They argue that the entire Gregorian Calendar is Christian in nature anyway, so why should we attempt to obscure that fact? Others ask why such a well-established and functional system should be replaced, arguing that the existence of two competing abbreviations is likely to cause confusion.
It has also been argued that BCE/CE is, in fact, less religiously inclusive than BC/AD. According to some, BCE/CE elevates the importance of Christ’s birth to the start of an entirely new “common era”, while BC/AD is a simple reference to the event.
Current Status and Recommendations
Most style guides do not express a preference for one system, although BC/AD still prevails in most journalistic contexts. Conversely, academic and scientific texts tend to use BCE/CE. Since there are compelling arguments for each system and both are in regular use, we do not recommend one over the other. Given the choice, writers are free to apply their own preference or that of their audience, although they should use their chosen system consistently, meaning BC and CE should not be used together, or vice versa. There are also some typographical conventions to consider:
BC should appear after the numerical year, while AD should appear before it.
BCE and CE should both appear after the numerical year.
1100 BCE, 1066 CE
As is the case with most initialisms, periods may be used after each letter.
1100 B.C., A.D. 1066, 1100 B.C.E., 1066 C.E.
Some style guides recommend writing BC, AD, BCE and CE in small caps.
AD 2017
Of course, writers often don’t need to make the choice at all. The BCE/CE (or BC/AD) distinction is usually unnecessary outside of historical contexts, and it is generally understood that when unspecified, the year in question is CE (or AD). As a result, dates that occurred within the last few centuries are rarely marked with CE (or AD).
When dating historical events, scholars today generally use BCE and CE rather than BC and AD
BC and AD
The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", taken from the full original phrase "anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi", which translates to "in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ".
. BC stands for “before Christ” and AD for Anno Domini “the year of the lord.” BC and AD were predominant in Western discourse for centuries, but BCE “before the common era” and CE “common era” are now preferable.
Why Have Some People Adopted BCE/CE? An important reason for adopting BCE/CE is religious neutrality. Since the Gregorian calendar has superseded other calendars to become the international standard, members of non-Christian groups may object to the explicitly Christian origins of BC and AD.
The short answer is that BC and BCE both refer to years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and AD and CE both refer to years after the birth of Jesus Christ. BC and AD reference Christ's birth directly, while BCE and CE are more secular ways to tell time.
Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the original Anno Domini (AD) and Before Christ (BC) notations used for the same calendar era. The two notation systems are numerically equivalent: "2024 CE" and "AD 2024" each describe the current year; "400 BCE" and "400 BC" are the same year.
Is there a difference between BC & AD? Yes, BC refers to the time before Jesus was born, & AD refers to the time after Jesus was born. Currently we are in the year 2023 AD, meaning that it is 2023 years since Jesus was born.
The date of the birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical sources and the evidence is too incomplete to allow for consistent dating. However, most biblical scholars and ancient historians believe that his birth date is around 4 to 6 BC.
The terms "A.D." and "B.C." have their roots in Christianity. "A.D." stands for anno domini (Latin for "in the year of the lord"), and it refers specifically to the birth of Jesus Christ. "B.C." stands for "before Christ."
The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", taken from the full original phrase "anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi", which translates to "in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ".
2024 (MMXXIV) is the current year, and is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2024th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 24th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2020s decade.
Christianity, major religion stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century ce. It has become the largest of the world's religions and, geographically, the most widely diffused of all faiths.
The denomination "AD 1" for this year has been in consistent use since the mid-medieval period when the Anno Domini (AD) calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. It was the beginning of the Christian era/common era. The preceding year is 1 BC; there is no year 0 in this numbering scheme.
A year zero does not exist in the Anno Domini (AD) calendar year system commonly used to number years in the Gregorian calendar (nor in its predecessor, the Julian calendar); in this system, the year 1 BC is followed directly by year AD 1.
Simply put, BCE (Before Common Era) is a secular version of BC (before Christ). CE (Common Era) is the secular equivalent of AD (anno Domini), which means “in the year of the Lord” in Latin.
In the modern calendar, we label all years with B.C. (before Christ) or A.D. (anno domini, or "in the year of our lord"). There is no "zero" year -- in this system, the year Christ was born is 1 A.D., and the year preceding it is 1 B.C.
This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus, AD counting years from the start of this epoch and BC denoting years before the start of the era. There is no year zero in this scheme; thus the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC.
By using the abbreviations BCE and CE to replace BC and AD, scholars subtly subvert a dating system that places a Christian event at the center of all human history. BCE and CE allow scholars to reference historical dates without necessarily acknowledging the historical significance of Jesus's birth.
In terms of the span of time they cover, BC ended about 2018 years ago, while AD is ongoing. In terms of usage, they're still current, but there are moves afoot to replace AD/BC with CE/BCE (Common Era and Before Common Era) as less prejudicial ways of dating.
AD stands for Anno Domini, which is Latin for in the year of the Lord. It's a way of counting years based on the estimated birth of Jesus Christ. BC stands for Before Christ, and it's a way of counting years before the estimated birth of Jesus Christ. AD starts with year 1 and continues to the present day.
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