Talk:Quirinius
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Samiam
There is some controversey with the entire Quirinius deal, mainly from Biblical Inerrants who are uncomfortable that the Bible contradicts the historical evidence. A have looked up this issue extensively on the web; I haven't seen anyone address an issue which is discussed somewhere on the following page:
A link to a page describing the Quirinius controversey in great detail
Naturally, this page is biased, but I can't find as well-written of a page on the other side of the debate.
[edit] Suggested cultural dichotomy
Luke explains that he has patched together other peoples' stories to make what he thinks to be a coherent whole: he is not an original source and needs careful handling as a result. It is to be noted that he is not even internally consistent: in the Gospel, he places the Road-to-Emmaus incident on the afternoon of Easter Sunday, followed by another appearance and the Ascension immediately after that: they were able to leave the city before the gates closed at dusk that evening. In Acts, it's forty days after!
According to Matthew (2:23), an original source, Joseph only moved to Nazareth after returning from Egypt on the death of Herod the Great: it was Archelaus' succession which dissuaded him from settling back into Bethlehem. Luke is therefore wrong in stating that they travelled from Nazareth before the birth: he was from a different culture and misunderstood Jewish idiom refering to his Official birth (the Queen suffers from the same problem!).
Examine the term coming-of-age: it is only after a child survived to the age of 12 that it was felt worth counting a child as an established member of the human race, formally counting his age.
Jesus was born in the reign of Herod the Great, which according to Josephus places his birth in the period 6-4 BCE. Augustus' decision on the succession took months, maybe as much as a year after Herod's death in 4 BC, and Archelaus was deposed 9 years later, in 6 AD: 10-12 years after Jesus' birth.
Luke states that Jesus was presented Bar-Mitzvah in the Temple aged 12. The Census is also 6-7 AD: it's clear that with the Herodian line broken, Joseph and his children, of the rival Davidic line, no longer risked execution and could go home.
