I must admit that I am not familiar enough with Indian history to explain how the Judeo-Christian “Common Era” relates to the Indian “Common Era”, but I will try to amplify on what I mean by the “Common Era” as referred to in my article. Let me begin by quoting from today’s Wikipedia article about the calendar:

BEGIN QUOTE: “Calendars in widespread use today include the Gregorian calendar, which is the de facto international standard, and is used almost everywhere in the world for civil purposes, including in the People’s Republic of China and India (along with the Indian national calendar). Due to the Gregorian calendar’s obvious connotations of Western Christianity, non-Christians and even some Christians sometimes justify its use by replacing the traditional era notations “AD” and “BC” (”Anno Domini” and “Before Christ”) with “CE” and “BCE” (”Common Era” and “Before Common Era”).” END QUOTE

This Gregorian calendar centers around the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Israel about 2000 years ago. This calendar takes the year of Jesus’ birth as year 1, although current historical research now indicates that the date is probably only accurate within five or six years. In any case, you can see from the Wikipedia article that in some vocabularies “CE” and “BCE” have replaced “AD” and “BC”. Although Wikipedia implies that using “Common Era” and “Before Common Era” somehow distances the calendar from its Christian significance, I as a Christian believe that such usage magnifies (and properly so) the centrality of the mission of Jesus of Nazareth

To properly understand the term “Common Era”, it must be explained what is the “commonality” of which we are talking. What is shared in the Common Era that BEFORE the Common Era was NOT shared? Without attempting here to explain completely Jewish history and theology, let me summarize by saying that the Jewish scriptures present the idea that there is a god, that his name is Yahweh, that he is the only god, and that he has chosen the Jewish people for his own people, and that one day, through the Jewish people, a messiah, a chosen one, will come to earth. Through this Messiah, all nations of the earth will be blessed. When this extension of Jewish blessing to non-Jewish peoples, or “gentiles”, is accomplished, then will begin the Common Era when both Jew and believing gentile share Yahweh’s blessing..

Before the Common Era, Yahweh watched out only for the Jews. In the Common Era, Yahweh offers his blessings to Jews and gentiles. Today most Jews believe that the Messiah has not come. Christians, on the other hand, believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, and that as a consequence, gentiles who accept Jesus as the Messiah now share the blessings Yahweh previously bestowed only upon the Jews . That is the commonality to which the phrase “Common Era” refers: an era when Yahweh no longer blesses only Jews, but blesses also gentiles.

Before the Common Era, the history of God’s relationship to man, which took place only between Yahweh and the Jews, was exclusive. It was as if the rest of human events, whether of Indians, or Chinese, or Americans, or Africans, or Europeans, took place outside the bounds of meaningful history. However, when Jesus came, Christians believe, the Common Era truly begins. The unfolding of history now includes the whole human race, all peoples.

I understand that this explanation is very particular to the Judeo-Christian viewpoint. This particularity is part of the uniqueness of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Certainly for this explanation of the phrase “Common Era” within the context of the Gregorian calendar, this is the only commonality which makes sense. The Gregorian calendar centers around the birth of Jesus Christ. Many alternative calendars with their own significant dates have been used and proposed. The choice of a date from which to number the years is arbitrary. Perhaps the world may one day adapt a different year 1 as the center of history. Then Christians will be forced to maintain on their own a parallel Gregorian calendar. In this they will be no different from today’s Jews, Muslims, and other peoples who continue to use their own calendars while the rest of the world uses the Gregorian. If the Gregorian calendar ever ceases to be the defacto world calendar, I will regret the loss of Jesus’ birth as the accepted center of the world’s history, but Jesus will remain the center of my life.

All the best to you, gossip1414. You are the first commentator on my blog, and I appreciate your interest. /s/Mark Bateman