Giving up?

I have as long as I have been teaching used the swedish equivalent of "common era" and "before common era" instead of the older "before Christ". I also explain why: That it's religiously neutral, that it emphasizes that it's a convention, but also that we really can't say exactly when Christ was born. And of course that that's the way it's done in research and books nowadays.

But I'm considering giving up and go back to "before Christ", since that may decrease the amount of students who claim that the christian church had influence and indeed existed during the roman republic, or any other time BCE. Then they just might make the connection between a date before Christ and there not being any christians around. It ought to help; but one never knows of course.

A peasant outfit from the 1520s

I have updated my web site with a page about Valeria's blue peasant dress.