Dating the execution of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22097817 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Vladimir Olegovich Nikishin (0000-0003-2209-5357, Lomonosov Moscow State University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 337-355 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | RUDN Journal of World History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2312-8127 • E-ISSN: 2312-833X |
| Publisher | Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (PUBLISHER • RU) |
| DOI | 10.22363/2312-8127-2025-17-3-337-355 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
The study is devoted to clarifying the chronology of such significant events of gospel history as the execution of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The author tries to reconcile the conflicting indications of the sources, primarily the texts of the canonical Gospels and such works of Josephus as “Antiquities of the Jews” and “The Jewish War”, in order to build an internally coherent chronological version of the sequence of events from the beginning of the relationship between Herod Antipas and Herodias until the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that attempts to reconcile the data reported by the evangelists, without criticizing them and accepting as unconditionally true the testimonies about the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, with the calculations of astronomers and the achievements of archaeologists have reached a dead end today. In this regard, there is a pressing need to once again, as impartially as possible, analyze the entire range of sources in order to finally bring clarity to this long-discussed issue. As a result of the undertaken analysis of sources and literature, the author came to the following conclusions: the romance of Herod Antipas and Herodias began in 34 or a little earlier, John the Baptist was executed in 35, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ took place on Friday, March 30, 36 AD. The author proceeds from the fact that Christ was born in September 12 BC, when the biblical wise men could observe Halley’s Comet - the most likely prototype of the Star of Bethlehem. In this case, at the time of the crucifixion, Christ should have been 46 full years old, which is indirectly confirmed in two places by the Evangelist John
| Highly cited | No |
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