I was reflecting on some aspects of the Christmas story yesterday. It is that time of the year. I recalled this:
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
You have to admit that in some ways the admin burdens of tax have decreased.
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That part of the Bible story is acknowledged as a fabrication by many scholars.
I think you’ll find it is the subject of some debate
Like most things in the Bible
But I would agree it may not be Gospel truth….
Well (hope the html comes out) Luke 2:1-2 flatly contradicts Matthew 2:1, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem” as Quirinius did not become governor of Syria (and Judea) until several years after Herod died.
And there is no historical evidence for the Romans ever requiring people to travel to the home town of their distant ancestors to register for tax purposes. But it does make a good story, doesn’t it.
Like the law and accountancy, discerning the true meaning of the Bible is a matter of interpretation.
Just for the record, I checked all this before posting anticipating such a reaction and there is evidence Quirinius served twice….
And there is evidence of enrolments
I happen to think it very unlikely the story is true, to be candid, but I suspect there may be more truth to this than the average claim by the owner of an offshore company
Oh, I agree it is a mistake to read the Bible (or any other religious text) literally. And of course absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. But humour me: what is the evidence that Quirinius served as governor of Syria twice? Or indeed that the citizens of Judea were required to travel to the home town of their distant ancestors to register for tax purposes?
I found a paper this morning suggesting it
Did I make note of the reference? No….sorry…try Google
Richard, it is fantastic to see you have a sense of humor. So many serious economic bloggers seem not to have one!
There’s a rumour as a result that I don’t either
I mean, chartered accountant, political economist, tax greek and a sense of humour? That’s some Venn diagram overlap
Someone who reviewed one of your books even suggested you were a Roundhead. Can’t think who that was.
Well I’m not a Royalist
Several HRH’s have not much liked programmes I have worked on
I have come to regard the film “Carry On Cleopatra” as the most reliable source of ancient history for this period. Sid James leading his legion into a British village of mud huts with the cry of “Sinister dexter, sinister dexter” to bring them the benefits of Roman tax and spend says it all.
Jesus was probably born in Nazareth. Why would a young family (pregnant woman) go all the way just because in the past the family of one of them had lived in Bethlehem?
The place is terrible now – separation wall about 8 metres high and numerous illegal “settlements” and apartheid laws and rules.
Michael Hudson mentions that Jesus proclaimed the Jubilee year, which the Pharisees had circumvented, in his first sermon. Something the jews introduced after their sojourn in Babylon, where “the clean slate” was a royal prerogative. (Hudson: Junk Economics)
Not tax, but certainly economics. Perhaps its time will come again. Interesting how in recent times a certain EU country which not that long ago had huge debts forgiven, after having unleashed unimaginable terror throughout the land, refused to countenance such a scheme for another EU partner, preferring instead to save its own banks. Neoliberalism, the new dogma.
That first sermon in Caperneum is much more important than the Nativity story