Jack the Ripper
King
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BC/AD.
If u want to use something else, why debate it?
If u want to use something else, why debate it?
CE or AD?
- Thread starter QuoVadisNation
- Start date
Nobody
Gangster
AUC? what does this mean
CE/BCE. I refuse to use anything related to Western Christianity. 
However since creating a whole new dating system would require me to rememorize all the year dates, this is the furthest I'll go...
However since creating a whole new dating system would require me to rememorize all the year dates, this is the furthest I'll go...
Really, I'd say that BCE/CE is actually *more* biased towards Christianity than BC/AD. Why? Because BC, at least, is religiously neutral: those years are, unambiguously, before Christ (if we (a) lay aside the fact that Jesus probably wasn't born quite then anyway, and (b) accept that it's neutral to call Jesus "Christ", which is a religious title rather than a name). This is true whatever religion you are.
But BCE/CE suggests that *everyone*, irrespective of their religion, regards Christ's birth as dividing history into a "common era" and a "before common era". It makes the implicit claim that this is a standard and universally accepted way of dating, even though Muslims, Chinese, Japanese etc do not use it. In other words, BCE/CE makes a bigger claim than BC/AD does for the universal applicability of Jesus' life for dating all events; it is, if you like, far more christocentric. Therefore I'd say that if you want to avoid christocentrism and general cultural imperialism, you're better off using BC/AD.
Of course, that still leaves the problem that AD means thinking of Jesus as "Dominus". Not sure what you can do about that.
But BCE/CE suggests that *everyone*, irrespective of their religion, regards Christ's birth as dividing history into a "common era" and a "before common era". It makes the implicit claim that this is a standard and universally accepted way of dating, even though Muslims, Chinese, Japanese etc do not use it. In other words, BCE/CE makes a bigger claim than BC/AD does for the universal applicability of Jesus' life for dating all events; it is, if you like, far more christocentric. Therefore I'd say that if you want to avoid christocentrism and general cultural imperialism, you're better off using BC/AD.
Of course, that still leaves the problem that AD means thinking of Jesus as "Dominus". Not sure what you can do about that.
The Last Conformist
Irresistibly Attractive
@Plotinus: I'm with you there.
Of course, the continental Germanic way of "before/after Christ" is the sensiblest.
As for "Christ", well, I've yet to run into a Christian objecting to refering to Siddharta Gautama as "Buddha".
Of course, the continental Germanic way of "before/after Christ" is the sensiblest.
As for "Christ", well, I've yet to run into a Christian objecting to refering to Siddharta Gautama as "Buddha".
AD. Basically what Mongoloid Cow said. I'm way too lazy to use an AUC system, and there's no way you could get everyone to use it, you would have a mixture of BC/AD and AUC, which would be weird.
Plotinus had an interesting thought.
Plotinus had an interesting thought.
greekguy
Missed the Boat
I use use BC and AD in everyday life, but i think if you are writing a history paper BCE and CE are more appropriate. also, on a side note, in my Latin class at school they don't want us using BC/AD. they say that you're not supposed to talk about jesus in school. (even in a dating sense apparently).
Tomoyo
Fate
Xen can kill me if I'm wrong, but it's Ab Urbe Condita... *ducks*Nobody said:
jonatas
tropicalista
Tomoyo said:
indeed, i had to read the first book of Ad Urbe in Latin at school
jonatas
tropicalista
Xen said:yep; it good old Urb; I've seen it described as "Ad" before, but I suppose "Ab" isnt impossible; not knowing Latin myself, i cant really say
"ab urbe condita" translates as "from the founding of the city".... "ab" means "from" or "by"
Tomoyo
Fate
Besides, "ad" takes an accusative, and "ab" takes an ablative. If it was "ad", it would be "Ad Urbem Condita".
Doc Tsiolkovski
Deity
Btw, the über-PC way in German is 'im Jahre xx (vor) unserer Zeitrechnung' = 'in the year xx (of/before) our time calculation'.
Can't say anything against it; mostly the lack of a commonly known abbreviation makes it hard to use...
Can't say anything against it; mostly the lack of a commonly known abbreviation makes it hard to use...
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
I think BCE/CE is the right way to go generally ; while it's true that to claim "common era" is from JC's birth to everybody can be seen as "wrong", it is also true that the dates system based on the birth of Christ has become the "world stardard" one.
IE, to random Chinese person, AD is a bit of an irrelevant (if not offensive term, what with the 'Dominus' et al). But 2005 is one of the two date they WILL care for (if they are involved in anything international, at least). There is whatever the current chinesse year is, and there is 2005 ; the official international year that will be used in contracts and the like, so the system starting from Jesus' alleged birth (really a randomly fixed point in time, since Jesus was probably born earlier) HAS in fact become the "common era" irrelevant of religion.
Using common era rather than "Anno Dominus" (or however you write it exactly) is just a bit of religious sensibilities. The Christians can keep using the BC/AD system, but even if it happens to use the same years numbering, the international system should not use religious terms.
IE, to random Chinese person, AD is a bit of an irrelevant (if not offensive term, what with the 'Dominus' et al). But 2005 is one of the two date they WILL care for (if they are involved in anything international, at least). There is whatever the current chinesse year is, and there is 2005 ; the official international year that will be used in contracts and the like, so the system starting from Jesus' alleged birth (really a randomly fixed point in time, since Jesus was probably born earlier) HAS in fact become the "common era" irrelevant of religion.
Using common era rather than "Anno Dominus" (or however you write it exactly) is just a bit of religious sensibilities. The Christians can keep using the BC/AD system, but even if it happens to use the same years numbering, the international system should not use religious terms.
The Last Conformist
Irresistibly Attractive
Doesn't that violate freedom of religion?greekguy said:
greekguy
Missed the Boat
The Last Conformist said:
i don't think so. they just don't want us to say something that some people might take offense to. and since BCE/CE are still in the same year as AD/BC, it basically is just saying the same thing, but not talking directly about jesus.
It's not preventing freedom of religion, since it's not stopping them from being Christians or anything else, but it is odd. Even in the US you're allowed to talk about Jesus in school as long as there's no official endorsement of evangelising.
robertoross24
Chieftain
bc/ad
whats the point of useing another system when it means the same thing
its not like it changes the dates or anything, a form of ultimate time wasting if you ask me
whats the point of useing another system when it means the same thing
its not like it changes the dates or anything, a form of ultimate time wasting if you ask me
BC/AD in common speech
BCE/CE in formal writings, simply because it is more accepted - and I don't have to remember AD1700 instead of 1700AD, so it looks neater in writing.
Well, technically, BCE and CE are random spots in time. BC and AD are defunct because Jesus was born in 4 BC (BCE).
BCE/CE in formal writings, simply because it is more accepted - and I don't have to remember AD1700 instead of 1700AD, so it looks neater in writing.
Well, technically, BCE and CE are random spots in time. BC and AD are defunct because Jesus was born in 4 BC (BCE).
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