# Is there a standard term for Jesus' conception? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723 "2018-01-29T15:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/21 "2018-02-02T14:56:47Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > How about “Nativity”? That’s the actual birth. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/22 "2018-02-02T15:02:19Z")
[Annunciation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation). Several Christian churches have a [holiday dedicated to it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Annunciation), the date for which has, as has been pointed out, been selected as the day nine months before Christmas. It seems, however, that Conception of Christ (Latin _conceptio Christi_) is an acceptable alternative term for it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/23 "2018-02-02T15:14:09Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > [Annunciation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation). Several Christian churches have a [holiday dedicated to it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Annunciation), the date for which has, as has been pointed out, been selected as the day nine months before Christmas. It seems, however, that Conception of Christ (Latin _conceptio Christi_) is an acceptable alternative term for it. The Annunciation is the announcement that Mary “would conceive”, not the actual conception (although they were presumably concurrent events). I prefer to envision the Angel Gabriel here as Paul Anka: _Having God’s baby What a wonderful way to show how much you love Him…_ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/24 "2018-02-03T04:14:15Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The feast is set on that day by the method of “ok, nine months before the birth, March 25”. We just don’t have separate names for the conception, the implantation, the Holy Placenta… Well, we do have the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, the traditional date of Jesus’ circumcision. And from that, we have the [_Holy Foreskin_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Prepuce), which a dozen or so churches have/had as a relic. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/25 "2018-02-03T15:40:56Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, we do have the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, the traditional date of Jesus’ circumcision. > > And from that, we have the [_Holy Foreskin_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Prepuce), which a dozen or so churches have/had as a relic. Actually that’s New Year’s day, not the 6th. A week after the birth. Jan 1 got redenominated as primarily Feast of Mary Mother of God after Vat II - I suppose the church may have been tired of having to explain “circuncision” to the children at catechism. But it was and is still a celebration of Jesus’ simultaneous human and divine natures. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/26 "2018-02-03T20:49:26Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, we do have the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, the traditional date of Jesus’ circumcision. The [Epiphany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(holiday)) on January 6 commemorates the visit of the Magi. As has been pointed out, the Feast of the Circumcision (now the Solemnity of Mary), is celebrated on January 1. The correct answer to the question in the OP, the Incarnation, was given in the second post. From the Wiki article on the Incarnation: > [@](#): > > The Incarnation is commemorated and celebrated each year at Christmas, and also reference can be made to the Feast of the Annunciation; “different aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation” are celebrated at Christmas and the Annunciation. You can’t expect medical precision from theology. Christ was incarnated (made flesh) when he was conceived, which would have taken place at or shortly after the Annunciation. But the most obvious evidence of his incarnation was his birth at Christmas. Hence that’s when his incarnation is mainly commemorated. As already pointed out, the dates when Christ was born and when he was conceived do not conform to when they actually would have taken place. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/27 "2018-02-03T21:57:41Z")
**Is there a standard term for Jesus’ conception?** The Ejaculate Deception? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/28 "2018-02-04T03:54:46Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, we do have the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, the traditional date of Jesus’ circumcision. > And from that, we have the [_Holy Foreskin_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Prepuce), which a dozen or so churches have/had as a relic. Cf. the standard reference here, [The SDGQ Sacred Foreskin Hijack Thread.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=546818) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723/29 "2018-02-04T04:22:26Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As already pointed out, the dates when Christ was born and when he was conceived do not conform to when they actually would have taken place. Says who? Maybe Mary had a Jesus-shaped tumor growing inside her for nine months, and upon the Incarnation the tumor transmuted into Jesus. Coulda been two seconds prior to birth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-standard-term-for-jesus-conception/807723.md?page=1)