BC or PC?
Dear Friends,
You may have heard reports that the BBC intends to drop ‘BC’ and ‘AD’ for describing dates. ‘BC’, of course, stands for ‘Before Christ’ and ‘AD’ for ‘in the year of the Lord’. The plan is to adopt the terms ‘BCE’ and ‘CE’ in their place, standing for ‘Before Common Era’ and ‘Common Era’, terms which have been in use for some time in academic circles. These abbreviations are deemed to be less offensive to those who are not Christians as they contain no reference to ‘Christ’ or ‘Lord’. Whether this change will catch on more widely remains to be seen.
I can’t help feeling, though, that the change of terms is a bit of an own-goal. After all, the dates themselves will still be measured from the birth of Christ, even if that is not how they are described. And by calling the era ‘common’, isn’t that tantamount to saying that Christ is in common and for everyone? I realise that’s not what is intended!
Apart from that, I’m tempted now to write ‘AD’ whenever I write the date, just to remind myself gently (and anyone reading it) that the coming of the Lord has changed the history of our world forever. One thing Jesus’ coming, and especially his resurrection, guarantees is that there is a day of judgment coming, when we will all give account to God – and that is a truth most of our world would rather forget.
Chris Hobbs,
Vicar.