Darkness during Christ’s Crucifixion an Eclipse?
Luke 23:44f says:
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. (NASB)
The popular naturalistic explanation for that is an eclipse. The sun was obscured by the moon, obviously. Dr Ehrman also hints at that in his “The New Testament” text in chapter 9 on the Gospel of Luke.
That explanation is, of course, totally wrong and somewhat hilarious. The Jews use a lunar calendar to determine their festivals, and Passover is no different.
From Wikipedia:
Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, which corresponds to the full moon of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, in accordance with the Hebrew Bible.
Now, an eclipse during a full moon is truly a miracle, even for the anti-supernatural standard applied to the Bible by mainline scholars.