g to find a date _Before Christ_ for the birth
of Jesus is due to the miscalculation of the monk, Dionysius the Little,
who in the sixth century introduced our modern reckoning from "the year of
our Lord."

52. But is it impossible to determine the time of Jesus' birth more
exactly? Luke (ii. 1, 2) offers what seems to be more definite
information, but his reference to the decree of Augustus and the enrolment
under Quirinius are among the most seriously challenged statements in the
gospels. It has been said (1) that history knows of no edict of Augustus
ordering a general enrolment of "the world;" (2) that a Roman census could
not have been taken in Palestine before the death of Herod; (3) that if
such an enrolment had been taken it would have been unnecessary for Joseph
and Mary to journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem; (4) that the census taken
when Quirinius was governor of Syria is definitely assigned by Josephus to
the year after the deposition of Archelaus, A.D. 6 (Ant. xviii. 1. 1; see
also Acts v. 37); (5) that if Luke's reference to this census as the
"first" be appealed to, it must be replied that Quirinius was not governor
of Syria at any time during the lifetime of Herod. This array of
difficulties is impressive, and has persuaded many conservative students
to concede that in his reference to the census Luke has fallen into error.
Some recent discoveries in Egypt, however, have furnished new information
concerning the imperial administration of that province. Inferring that a
policy adopted in Egypt may have prevailed also in Syria, Professor Ramsay
has recently put forth a strong argument for Luke's accuracy in respect of
this census (Was Christ born at Bethlehem, 95-248). That argument may be
condensed as follows: We have evidence of a system of Roman enrolments in
Egypt taken every fourteen years, and already traced back to the time of
Augustus, the earliest document so far recovered belonging, apparently, to
the census of A.D. 20. It is at least possible that this system of
Egyptian enrolments may have been part of an imperial policy, of which all
other trace is lost excepting the statement of Luke. It is significant
that the date of the census referred to by Josephus (A.D. 6) fits exactly
the fourteen-year cycle which obtained in Egypt. If the census of A.D. 6
was preceded by an earlier one its date would be B.C. 8; that is, it would
be actually taken in B.C. 7, in order to secure the full acts for B.C. 8.