The Census of Quirinius in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2 (Ad Navseam, Episode 107)

Ad Navseam

In this Christmas-themed episode Jeff and Dave take a break from the Aeneid to look at Luke's Gospel, chapter 2:1-5, and the puzzling census of Quirinius. Drawing from half a dozen scholarly articles on the subject, we try to puzzle out the four major objections to Luke's reliability as a historian on the topic of the census:

“1. Apart from the gospel, history knows nothing of a general Imperial census in the time of Augustus.
2. There could have been no Roman census in Palestine during the time of Herod the Great, a rex socius.
3. Such a census at such a time could not have been carried out by Quirinius, for he was not governor in Syria then, nor till 10 years later, when he did make a census which gave rise to a revolt under Judas of Galilee.
4. Under a Roman census it would not have been necessary for Joseph to go to Bethlehem, or for Mary to accompany him.” - Alexander Balmain Bruce, D.D. (from Epxositor's Greek New Testament, W. Robertson Nicoll, 1897; p. 470)
Can each of these objections be met? Was Publius Sulpicius Quirinius gov. of Syria twice, before the death of Herod the Great and again in 6-7 A.D. for the census mentioned in Acts 5? What about inscriptional evidence? Is Luke reliable as a historian?

You won't want to miss this thorough look at the subject, complete with some excellent intro. and outro. music generously provided by guitar wizard extraordinaire Jeff Scheetz.