-
He never held a political office, yet he’s
the most famous person in
history.
Whether you think Jesus was the son of God comes
down to
faith, but there are aspects of
his life that are undeniable and
misremembered today.
他从未担任过什
么政治职务，
却是历史上最负盛名的人物。
耶稣是不是
上帝的儿子，这个问题关乎你的信仰，但是，关于耶稣的生平，有些事
在
今天是千真万确的，而有些事则万错千差。
10
AD Didn’t Always Stand
For
Anno
Domini
10.
AD
不总是表示公元
Dionysius Exiguus
wasn’t too
thrilled
that he was living in the year
240
AD. A devout Catholic, Dionysius
knew that the AD stood for
Anno
Diocletiani
, in reference to
Roman emperor Diocletian
. He
is largely
forgotten today, but
i
f he is recalled, it’s for
his
relentless torture of
Christians
.
狄奥尼修斯
.
依希格斯对于自己生活于公元
240
年并不怎么
激动。作为一个虔诚的天主教徒，狄奥尼修斯知道
AD
代表的是公元，
与罗马皇帝戴克里先有
关。今天的人们差不多已经忘了这位罗马皇帝，
倘若想起的话，也只是想起他对基督教徒
无情的迫害。
After some
careful
study,
Dionysus proposed
renaming
the AD
Anno
Domini
—‖in
the year of our
lord.‖
经过多番仔细研究，狄奥尼修斯提出将
AD <
/p>
重新
定名为公元——“无主元年”。
Di
onysius counted Easters to come up
with
what he believed to be the birth year of
Jesus
—
more on this
later
—
and
assigned that year as 1 AD.
狄奥尼修斯通过计算复活节
的
日期得出他所认为的耶稣降生的年份——稍后详述——并把那一年定
< br>为公元
1
年。
The last AD for Diocletian was 247. The
following year, based on
Dionysius
calculations, was 532 Anno Domini, which meant it
had
been 532 years since Jesus was
born. The system wasn’t
implemented
globally for
almost 200
years
, when Charlemagne came
to power in the eighth century AD.
戴克里先在位的最后一年是
247
年。
根据狄奥尼修斯的算法，
下一年就是公元
532
年，
表明
这一年距耶稣降生已有
532
年。
大约
20
0
年后的公元八世纪，
查理曼大帝加冕为王时，
这种
历法系统才开始推广到全球。
Jesus Wasn’t Born In 1 AD
1.
耶稣并不出生于公元元年
Dionysius never fully explained how he
determined the birth year of
Jesus, but
he partially used an
Easter
table
. It’s about what it sounds
like it would
be
—
a listing of Easters, or
anniversaries of the death of
Jesus.
狄奥尼修斯没有怎么解释清楚他是如何确定耶稣出生年份的，
但他在
一定程度上使用了复活节图表。
——一张列着复活节或者耶稣忌
日的图表。
His numbering wasn’t
half
-
bad, but it wasn’t
accurate,
either.
他的这种编号方式并不糟糕，却也不甚准确。
The Bible
offers
clues
to the birth year of Jesus based
on the
references to the rulers of the
time.
圣经上对当时统治者们的在位时
间都有记载，
这些蛛丝马迹透漏着耶稣出生的年份。
For example,
John
The Baptist began his preaching in
the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar’s
reign.
比如说，施洗约翰在凯撒
.
提庇留执政后的第十五年开始他的传
道。
< br>Tiberius succeeded Augustus Caesar in 14 AD, which would
mean it was approximately
29 AD.
提庇留于公元
14
年继
承凯撒
.
奥古
斯都大帝的王位，这就意
味着施洗约翰布道的那年大约是公元
29
年。
< br>John The Baptist was six months older than Jesus, and Jesus began
his preaching
when he was ―about 30,‖ so Jesus was born around
3–
2
BC at the latest.
施洗约翰比耶稣大上六个月，
而耶稣差不多
30
岁的时
候开始布道，
那么他至少出生于公元
前
2-3
年左右。
Even Pope
Benedict
XVI
believed 1 AD
wasn’t accurate
. The former Pope
estimated Jesus’
birth at
7
–
2 BC.
甚至连教皇本笃十六世
也认为耶稣出生于公元
1
年是不
准确的
。前教皇估测耶稣的出生年份是公元
7
年和公元
2
年之间。
8
There Probably Was A Star
Of
Bethlehem
伯利恒之星也许真的存在
You
know the story
—
a bright star
appeared in the sky the night Jesus
was
born. Magi took it as a sign and followed it. It’s
known as the Star
of Bethlehem, and
it’s a
documented
occurrence
. A triple-conjunction
of Saturn and Jupiter occurred in 7 BC
in the constellation of Pisces.
That
would be bright enough
—
and
uncommon enough
—
to attract
stargazers (or wise men) to follow it.
你一定也知道这个故事——耶稣
诞生的那个夜晚，
一颗璀璨的星辰照亮了整个天空。东方三博士视其为
重要之兆，一路跟随它的
指引。这就是伯利恒之星，对此有记录在册。
公元
7
年，土星、木星与双鱼宫三星相连。炳如观火，不同寻常，吸引
了占星师的
紧紧相随。
There are other
documented occurrences that connect the details of
the nativity story with an astronomical
event around this date.
关于这
一
天耶稣出生地出现天文现象的事，
还另有记载。
Chinese
astronomers
recorded a
bright comet
in the
constellation of Capricorn in 5 BC as
well as a new star in the northern
constellation of Aquila the year
before.
中国天文学家就记录到，公元前
5
年摩羯座周边出现了一颗明
亮的彗星，
而就在前一年，
一颗新星在天鹰座北方出现。
Th
ere are plenty
of things between
7
–2 BC that could constitute a ―Star of
Bethlehem.‖
公元
2
年到公
元
7
年之间出现的许多行星都可能组成伯利恒之星。
7
Jesus Wasn’t Born
December 25
耶稣并非出生于
12
月
25
日
If the birth of Jesus lines up with
one of those astronomical sightings,
we
can safely assume it was not December 25.
< br>如果耶稣的诞生与某
一天文现象有关的话，那么我们可以断定那天一定不是
12
月
25
日。
That was the day of Saturnalia, the
winter festival, which the growing
Christian Church liberated and that’s
why we have
Christmas in the
winter
.
而是农神节，这是冬
天的一个节日，日益壮大的基督教会使之
自由化，这也是为什么圣诞节在冬季降临的原因
。
You probably knew
that
already
—
and now you know
that’s probably bunk
.
你可能已经了
解了这些——现在你知道这还有可能具有双层含义。
Likewise, the feast
of the
Annunciation is March 25, which is the day Jesus
was
conceived in the Virgin Mary. Add
nine months to that and you get a
birthday of December 25. That’s a
theory by William Tighe, and it’s
not
as farfetched as you may
think
—
the
first
known Christmas
on
December
25 was in 336, but Tighe believes there are
references
back to 270 to a Christian c
elebration.
同样的，天使报喜节是
3
月
25
日，就在那天圣母玛利亚怀上了耶稣。从这天
往后数九个月就是
12
月
25
日——耶稣诞生的日子。这是威廉
.
泰伊提出的
，也许没有你想的那
么牵强附会——第一个圣诞节是在公元
33
6
年的
12
月
25
日，但是泰
伊认为有记录指向公元
270
年基督徒的一个庆祝活动。
So when was Jesus really born? Around
200 AD, Clement of
Alexandria affixed a
birthday of
May 20
. That
date coincides with the
clues from the
Bible, where shepherds are
tending to
their flocks
,
which they
wouldn’t be doing in December due to the
cold.
所以，耶稣
到底诞生于什
么时候呢？大约公元
200
年，
亚历山
大的克莱门
（基督教
早期的神学家、作家）推测出耶稣的生日是
在
3
月
20
日
。这一天刚好
与圣经上记载的牧羊人看管羊群的日子吻合，
冬天
太冷，
他们可不会在
冬天放牧。
Ano
ther theory
places Jesus’
birth on September 11, 3 BC.
Joseph
Dumond proposes that the passage in
Revelation
12:1
–
5
is a
reference to Virgo and the 12 visible
stars around it.
有一种理论认为
耶稣诞生
于公元前
3
年的
9
月
11
日，
约瑟夫
.
杜曼德指出，
启示录
12:
1-5
节中就提到了处女座和它周围的
12
颗明亮的星星。
Yet another
theory
places Jesus’ birth in
April, on the 17th of 6 BC. That’s when
Jupiter
underwent an eclipse
with the moon in Aries, which would’ve
made for quite the bright object in the
sky.
然而，还有一种理论认为公
元前
6
年的
4
月
17
日是耶稣的诞生日，那天木星与处在白羊座之中的
月亮一起
共同形成了月食，天空中便出现了非常明亮的物体。
The
Romans even documented the instance on
a coin. At the very least,
the evidence
definitively concludes that Jesus was born in Not
December, BC.
罗马人甚至还记载了硬币上的实
例。但至少有证据表
明耶稣并不诞生于公元元年的
12
月份。
6
Jesus’ Death Date Is Almost
Certain
6.
耶稣死亡之日基本上是确定的
The
Bible tells us exactly when Jesus died on the
cross. Matthew
27
specifically
says
that Jesus died on a Friday during
Passover.
There are only two Friday
Passover dates that fit into the given
evidence, 30 AD and 33 AD. Nisan 14 in
the Jewish calendar is
our
modern April 3, 33 AD
. Other
clues, the reigns of Tiberius Caesar and
Pontius Pilate, make the 33 AD date
more likely.
圣经明确告诉耶稣于
什么时候被钉在
十字架上。
马太福音第二十七章特别说明耶稣死于逾越
节间的星
期五。
已有的证据表明，
只有公元
30
年与公元
33
年这两个逾
越节期间的星期五与之吻合。尼散月
14
日就是我们
今天的公元
33
年，
4
月
3
日。其他诸如凯撒提庇留大帝在位时期与彼拉多（
钉死耶稣的古
代罗马犹太总督）担任总督时期的线索也表明，公元
33
年逾越节的星
期五可能性更大。
Another clue comes from Matthew 27, as
well
—
an earthquake.
< br>马太
福音第二十七章中还有一条线索——地震。
Afte
r Jesus died,
Matthew
states
―the earth
quaked, and the rocks were rent,‖ and
scientists
did
discover sediment deposits
that point to an earthquake in Israel
between 26 and 36 AD. That also
explains the darkness that
fell over
the land
after Jesus
death
—
dust from the
earthquake may have
blackened out the s
kies.
马太福音记载到：耶稣死后，“大地震动，岩
石崩裂
”。科学家们也确实发现了沉积物，证明公元
26
年到公元
36
年之间，
以色列确有地震发生。这也能
帮助解释耶稣死后一片灰暗笼罩
大地——地震所引发的灰尘使整个天空变得漆黑。
5
Nazareth vs.
Nazarene
5.
拿撒勒与拿撒勒人
Matthew
states that Jesus came from Nazareth, so ―that he
shall be
called a Nazarene.‖ That’s why
Jesus is known as Jesus of Nazareth.
There’s some disagreement about whether
Nazareth really was a city
during
Jesus’ time, but a Nazarene is actually
somethi
ng a bit
different. <
/p>
马太福音记载到，耶稣来自于拿撒勒，所以“耶稣是拿撒勒
人”。
这也是为什么我们都说拿撒勒的耶稣的原因。拿撒勒在耶稣时期
到底是不是一个城市，人
们颇有争议，但是拿撒勒人就当另提别论了。
Nazarenes were
a sect of Jews
who were
mentioned in the Dead Sea
Scrolls and
closely connected to the Essenes. The Essenes were
a
minority Jewish
sect
located in the Qumran community
and did
some things similarly to how
Jesus lived his life. They practiced
collective ownership, had a central
leader, and did not swear to oaths
against God. The two groups seem to
overlap, and it’s safe to assume
that
you could be both an Essene and a Nazarene. This
may have
been what Matthew was
referring to.
根据死海古卷的记载，
拿撒勒人是
犹太人的一个分支，
与爱色尼派的关系十分密切。
爱色尼派属于犹太教
中的一个少数派别，居住于昆兰社团，他们的生活习惯与
耶稣相似。他
们实行集体所有制，有一个最高领导人，从不违背上帝的旨意。拿撒勒
人与爱色尼派是相通的，一个人可以既是拿撒勒人又是爱色尼派信徒。
马太福音传达出的意思大抵如此。
Another
theor
y states that Nazarene isn’t a
reference to Nazareth or
the Nazarene
sect, but a Greek translation of the
Hebrew word for
―branch.‖
According to
proponents, the passage simply means that
Jesus is fulfilling a prophecy of being
a branch of past religious
leaders.
另一种理论认为拿撒勒人不是指拿撒勒也不是指拿撒勒教派，