Who decided that the calander would switch from "B.C." to "A.D." at the time of Christ? And why?

Answer 1

The Anno Domini (B.C. and A.D) system was developed by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus (born in Scythia Minor) in Rome in 525, as an outcome of his work on calculating the date of Easter.

Early Christians designated the year via a combination of consular dating, imperial regnal year dating, and Creation dating. Use of consular dating ended when the emperor Justinian I discontinued appointing consuls in the mid sixth century, requiring the use of imperial regnal dating shortly thereafter. The last consul nominated was Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius in 541. The papacy was in regular contact throughout the Middle Ages with envoys of the Byzantine world, and had a clear idea — sudden deaths and deposals notwithstanding — of who was the Byzantine emperor at any one time.

Among the sources of confusion mentioned by Blackburn & Holford-Strevens (2003, 778–779) are:

* In modern times Incarnation is synonymous with conception, but some ancient writers, such as Bede, considered Incarnation to be synonymous with the Nativity
* The civil, or consular year began on 1 January but the Diocletian year began on 29 August
* There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls
* There were confused summations of emperors' regnal years

The wikipedia link I've given you also gives citations for support each of the items I posted.

Answer 2

Prior to A.D., there was no B.C. All designations came about because of the greatest life that ever lived................Jesus Christ. When Christ came, the whole world was changed.

The common designations now are B.C.E and C.E. They're trying to remove Christ from the dates, but even Before the Common Era and the Common Era signify the time when our Lord was born.

Answer 3

because B.C. stands for before Christ and A.D. stands for Anno Domini, which means "in the year of our Lord" in Latin. It was probably started by the early Christians. Maybe it's a sign that Christ was actually someone important.
If you don't like it, use B.C.E. and C.E. (before common era and common era)

Answer 4

The designation is used to number years in the Christian Era, conventionally used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars. More fully, years may be also specified as Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi ("In the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ"). 'Anno Domini' dating was first calculated in 525 and began to be adopted in Western Europe during the eighth century.



The Anno Domini system was developed by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus (born in Scythia Minor) in Rome in 525, as an outcome of his work on calculating the date of Easter.



The first historian or chronicler to use Anno Domini as his primary dating mechanism was Victor of Tonnenna, an African chronicler of the seventh century. A few generations later, the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius, also used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, finished in 731. In this same history, he was the first to use the Latin equivalent of before Christ and established the standard for historians of no year zero.



Even though Anno Domini was in widespread use by the ninth century, Before Christ (or its equivalent) did not become widespread until the late fifteenth century.

Answer 5

I believe that the Julian calendar was first adopted around the time of the Council of Nicea. During the probable life of Yeshua (Jesus) there was no calendar switch.

In academic circles, we now use "BCE" and "CE" rather than "B.C." and "A.D."

Answer 6

Before Christ
and
After His Death

Answer 7

. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.D.