The Reckoning of Time

work by Bede

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July 16, 2026

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De temporum ratione, or On the Reckoning of Time, is a work by the Anglo-Saxon scholar Bede, completed around 725 CE. This treatise, along with his earlier De temporibus, primarily focused on the calculation of Easter.1

Bede's work was instrumental in popularizing the use of the anno Domini (ad) dating system, which counts years from the birth of Christ. This method became widely adopted due to the influence of his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People). Bede was a theologian, historian, and chronologist, and his writings remain vital sources for understanding early Anglo-Saxon history and the spread of Christianity.123

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eschatology
Medieval and Reformation millennialism
…of the millennium, Bede’s masterwork, The Reckoning of Time, concluded with an extensive verbatim quotation of Augustine’s response to Hesychius regarding the proper eschatological attitude. By the mid-5900s Bede’s chronology and Easter Tables were adopted widely, and, at the approach of 6000 am II, with the exception of a few,…
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…of the millennium, Bede’s masterwork, The Reckoning of Time, concluded with an extensive verbatim quotation of Augustine’s response to Hesychius regarding the proper eschatological attitude. By the mid-5900s Bede’s chronology and Easter Tables were adopted widely, and, at the approach of 6000 am II, with the exception of a few,…
Read More