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essay wrote: Finally, a Christmas question, for caf or anyone else who cares to answer: The gospel accounts tell us that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to take part in 'a census of the whole world', for the purpose of taxation, which was held when Quinerius was governor of Syria, and later, Herod slew all male infants in the area. Is either of these events (the census or the slaughter of innocents) recorded by the secular historians of the day? What was the purpose of registering taxpayers in the cities of their ancestors, rather than at their current addresses? And exactly when was Quinerius governor of Syria? I don't know, I'm just asking. caf -- Really, just asking? Regarding "the slaughter of innocents", I am not aware of any contemporary source besides Matthew that records that event. Considering the very small size of Bethlehem and its relative obscurity at that time in history, that is no surprise. In the scheme of things, in terms of atrocities committed by Herod the Great, the death of a few little boys was significant only to those most closely affected. It's funny to me, the way skepticism works, but if the single source were Josephus instead of Matthew, the episode would simply be accepted as historic fact. A great many historical facts are known from only a single source. About Quirinius and the tax census, there are numerous resources on the web that discuss both in more detail than I care to take the time for here. Try this link, THE CENSUS OF QUIRINIUS , which gives a reasonable presentation of much of the available information. I don't know anything about the organization that hosts the article, and just picked this article out of several that I briefly reviewed to save writing about it myself. Perhaps we already know that Luke refers to two censuses in his writing, one in Luke 2:1-5, the other in Acts 5:37. The one mentioned in Acts 5:37 is generally dated to 6 A.D. and is also mentioned by Josephus, along with a description of the rebellion and beginning of the Zealot movement. That Roman censuses sometimes required people to return to their ancestral home is affirmed in other records from the period. See the link. It is worthy of note that in Luke 2:2 the word some translations render "governor" or something similar is a very general word for ruling or leading, and does not refer to a specific office. In those cases where Luke does refer to specific offices in the gospel and in Acts, he is invariably exacting. (See F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents; Are They Reliable?) "A man whose accuracy can be demonstrated in matters where we are able to test it is likely to be accurate even where the means for testing him are not available." F.F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents p. 90
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