Biblical scholars have always argued about the actual date that Jesus was born. Popular myth puts his birth on December 25th in the year 1 C.E., which is obviously not true if the gospels are based on fact (shepherds tending their flock). The December date was just the church co-opting the pagan holiday of Saturnalia.
The year of Jesus birth was determined by Dionysius Exiguus in the 5th century CE, based on his 30th year corresponding to the 15th year of Tiberius reign. This would put Jesus' birth in the 28th year of Augustus reign, so Dionysius Exiguus declared that year (754 AUC) as 1 AD. But Luke also claims that Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod, who died in 750AUC. Which puts his birth at 3BC. And he was likely born during the harvest, since Mary came to the Temple for purification 40 days after his birth, according to Luke. Scholars estimate his exact birthdate as September 11, 3 BC.
2000 years later, Regular Einstein, a band from New York with a geocities.com web site, wrote a song called "2000 Years Ago", about the birth of Jesus. This song appeared to me in a cassette that Ms. Einstein sent me in the year 1998. The first part of the cassette is a live performance by Regular Einstein, which the writing on the tape shows as happening 2/11/98. Two studio demos, "2000 Years Ago" and "Cages" were added to fill the blank space at the end of the cassette. These demos are likely from that same late 20th century time period corresponding to the second presidential term of W.J. Clinton.
I enjoyed the live performance, but was completely smitten by the demos, especially "2000 Years Ago" and asked Ms. E if I could include it on my 1998 Christmas mix. It isn't a Christmas song per se, but it references he whose birth is celebrated at Christmas, so I think it's seasonally appropriate. And if Jesus was born on 9/11/3BC, then his true 2000th birthday was in 1998CE, so the song was also historically appropriate. Plus it rocks!
Even though Jesus really was born 2000 years before "2000 Years Ago", the song didn't make the cut on the next Regular Einstein album, and the album wasn't even "released", so it ended up as an outtake from an album that never came out. One of many lost songs from the late 20th century, here it is as a 21st century mp3. Thanks be to Paula for letting me re-share it. Her solo album is now on emusic, and someday Regular Einstein will earn their rightful place on the digital frontier.
Regular Einstein - 2000 Years Ago
3 comments:
Good lord - that RegEin site is still around? Lookit the Baby Paula!
I found that site on the google while writing this post, so I had to find a way to weave it into the narrative..
Beautiful post, Steve.
That old Reggie site is the bane of my existence. It was embarrassing to me at the time, but the person who did it for us was so enthusiastic, I couldn't bring myself to ask her to take it down. And then, a few years later, I DID ask her to take it down (in the interests of non-confusion about outdated facts, etc.), and she said, "I can't--I have forgotten all the passwords."
That site will outlive us all.
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