What do the terms BCE and CE mean when referring to dates in history ? I am only familiar with B C and A D.?

Answer 1

"Before Current Era" and "Current Era" it same just new terminology...

Answer 2

The Gregorian calendar marked the supposed birth year of Christ as 1 A.D. He counted forward from there and all the years dating from Christ's birth count from that birth.

For instance we are now in 2007. That means, according to the Gregorian Calendar that Christ was born 2007 years ago.

B.C. deals with the era before Christ and counts backwards from there. So 6 A.D. is much closer to us in time than 2007 B.C.

The man who said Christ wasn't really born in A.D. 1 is correct, he was born probably in 5 or 6 B.C.

The genius of the Gregorian calendar is that it gives a way to date all of history. Prior to that the most common way of dating history was by the reigns of kings. In some countries, like Japan, that is still true. The dates of the years are marked by the beginning of the reign of an emperor and go through to his demise, when the next ruler starts at 1 again. This makes it hard to put dates into an overall time frame of history. The Gregorian calendar, despite it's faults (missing Christ's birth year) has managed to accomplish this. You can use this chart to draw parallels to any age and any kingdom and it's history.

It is a shame, to my mind for the BCE and CE titles to be brought forward to replace BC and AD. In the first place they obscure legitimate history. In the second place they are manifestly dishonest, because no one knows what a 'common era' is or what it means. It's bland and meaningless.

But that is the way of scholarship and revisionist history.
Me, I stick to AD and BC.

Maggie

Answer 3

CE stands for "Common Era." It is a relatively new term that is experiencing increased usage and is expected to eventually replace AD. The latter is an abbreviation for "Anno Domini" in Latin or "the year of the Lord" in English. The latter refers to the approximate birth year of Yeshua of Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ). CE and AD have the same and value. 2004 CE = 2004 AD.
BCE stands for "Before the common era." It is expected to eventually replace BC, which means "Before Christ," or "Before the Messiah." BC and BCE are also identical in value. Most theologians and religious historians believe that the approximate birth date of Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus) was in the fall, sometime between 7 and 4 BCE, although we have seen estimates as late as 4 CE and as early as the second century BCE.

Answer 4

Scholars who wish to de-Christianize the Gregorian calendar (in other words, who want to keep the same dating system without the implicit acknowledgment that the birth of Christ is the most pivotal event in recorded human history) use BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era). These two eras are identical to the BC and AD with which you are familiar.

Answer 5

The main reason it came into use was political correctness of course, though historical correctness also played a part. Jesus's birth has been figured for 1400 years to 1 A.D., but it's known that he could not have been born then if the Bible is correct. It's known that Herod the Great was alive at the time of his birth and that he continued to be alive for long enough for the Holy Family to move to Egypt, and Herod died in 4 B.C.(E.), which means that Jesus had to have been born in or before 5 B.C.(E.) The Gospel of Luke mentions the Census of Quirinius- Quirinius was twice governor of Judea and had two censuses, the first in about 12 B.C.(E.) and the second in about 2 or 4 A.D., but since the Gospels have already established Herod the Great was alive it would have to be the first census which backs up 8 lb. 6 oz. Baby Jesus's birth date to 12 B.C.(E.), so, since non-Christians found BC offensive and since it's not even historically accurate, they changed it to BCE.

Our great-great-great grandchildren will know LBO and AO, which is to say "Land Before Oprah" and "After Oprah", dated not to her birth but the premiere of her show in the 1980s.

Answer 6

Some 'brillant' person decided that BC (before Christ) and AD (annoi denomi, not sure on spelling) were incorrect because it referenced Jesus, so they replaced BC with BCE (before common era) and AD with CE (Common Era).

Answer 7

Before Common Era and Common Era.

Answer 8

BCE= Before the Christian Era
CE= Christian Era

Answer 9

Seperation of Church and State/Anti-Religous, nut jobs somehow saw AD and BC as unfair and very discrimanary to them. (Complaining whimps, who need everything to go there way or else, aka ACLU). So thats why BCE and CE came about. I will never use them just because some athesit prick wants me to.

Answer 10

Common (or Christian) Era
Before Common Era

(instituted to be more accessible to non-Christians, who don't use the Christian calendar)