Forum Rome © Simon Peter Sutherland
Around 197 AD, early Christian author Tertullian, wrote concerning the Roman Census of Cyrinius. In his writing Tertullian claimed that there was a reference to the Mary of the Gospels “among the Romans“. The English translation of his words read like;
“Jesus was from the native soil of Bethlehem, and from the house of David. For, among the Romans, Mary is described in the census, of whom Christ was born.” (c. 197, W), 3.164. (A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. Birth of Jesus. Page 69. Hendrickson.)
This ancient historic claim is intriguing because it implies that Tertullian himself had seen archival evidence of the census written about in the Gospel of Luke. The text reads like so;
“And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.” (Luke 2: 1-2. NKJV)
This archival evidence has clearly vanished from our modern world, yet it seems that both Luke and Tertullian had access to documentation concerning the Roman census.
In a previous article, I theorised over the possibilities that the Census of Luke 2: 1-2 may have been referenced in The Mausoleum of Augustus on the funerary Res Gestae Divi Augusti in Rome. If this is true, then we have two Biblically external evidences that help collaborate the historicity of the Census of Luke 2: 1-2.
In the forum of Rome there are the remains of the ancient Curia Julia. The majority of the legal trials were held in that place. It is therefore possible that the census referenced by Tertullian was once held within the archives of the forum.
History tells us that Tertullian went to Rome after completing his education in Carthage. It was in Rome that Tertullian became interested in the Christian movement and did not return to Carthage until the end of the 2nd century. This places Tertullian as researching Christianity in Rome when documented evidence of the Census of Luke 2: 1-2 was still extant.
Simon Peter Sutherland 