Since the birth
of the Christian era, the periodization of history into ‘dark ages’ and the ‘age of
light’ and modernity have found favour with the Christian world. This
ahistorical periodization was encouraged by historians and meta-historians like
St. Augustine, Celerius, etc. Jesus Christ was made the epicenter of historical
evolution. The birth and life of Christ proved to be landmarks in historical
progress. All history and civilisation preceding the birth of Christ were
considered profane, evil, inferior, and barbarian. Mankind began its
spiritual and material progress only after the birth of Christ. Civilisation
and humanity were the results. Hence, B.C. signified a period before Christ and
was synonymous with darkness, ignorance, and sin. A.D. symbolised the age after
Christ and was synonymous with enlightenment and modernity.
This division of
history and its evolution were not acceptable to the people of the orient, especially of the non-Christian world. It was also to be borne in mind that
not all thinking and rational people of the occident accepted this periodization
of history. They found it historically, politically, and scientifically
incorrect. There have been movements of stupendous progress and great
achievements in philosophy, arts, literature, sciences, etc., in the so-called
period before Christ. All of the medieval ages were not enveloped in darkness or
wrapped in non-progress.
In the age after
Christ, dispassionate study shows enormous spans of darkness and non-progress.
Many a page of history has been darkened by misdeeds and bloody exploits. Naturally,
a new system or nomenclature that would substantiate ‘B.C.’ with a more
universally accepted ‘B.C.E.’ was rooted. ‘Before Common Era’ (B.C.E.) was
accepted by a large section of scholars and historians. However, the change
from ‘B.C.’ to ‘B.C.E.’ has not found its way into all historical texts.
Similarly, ‘A.D.’ has been substantiated by ‘Common Era’ (C.E.). This change is
more scientific and rational although it cannot be viewed as a paradigm shift
in the concept of periodization.
The changeover is slow and partial, primarily because, old habits do not die easily rather than a lack of conviction in the new changes. Another perceptible reason was the difficulty in comparative studies where earlier authors have profusely adopted ‘B.C.’ and ‘A.D.’
