James Ussher

[[File:James_Ussher_2.jpg|thumb|upright|right|165px|This man's legacy is quite annoying.]]{{crenav|1}}
{{cquote|As in all cases, the findings of [[science]] are far more awe-inspiring than the rantings of the godly. The history of the cosmos begins, if we use the word "time" to mean anything at all, about [13.8] billion years ago. If we use the word "time" wrongly, we shall end up with the infantile computation of the celebrated Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh, who calculated that the [[Earth]] — "the Earth" alone, mind you, not the [[Universe|cosmos]] — had its birthday on Saturday, October 22, in 4004 BC, at six in the afternoon. This dating was endorsed by [[William Jennings Bryan]], a former [[America]]n secretary of state and two-time [[Democratic]] presidential nominee, in courtroom testimony in the third decade of the twentieth century.|||[[Christopher Hitchens]], ''[[God Is Not Great|God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything]]''<ref>Page 57-58.</ref>}}
'''James Ussher''' {{lived|1581|1656}} was the [[Anglican]] Archbishop of Armagh and [[Primate]] of All [[Ireland]] from 1625 to 1656.

He is most famous for calculating what was believed, at the time, to be the exact first day of [[creation]] based on a detailed examination of the [[Bible]] and of older chronologies and calendars. The date which he arrived at — the night preceding October 23, 4004 BCE — is still used by many [[Young Earth creationism|young earth creationists]] today<ref>To be somewhat fair, geology was still at best at its infancy in those days and Ussher used the available and considered best material back in the day. Modern YECs have no such excuses.</ref>.

==Ussher's chronology==
{{main|Age of the Earth#Early Christian and modern Young Earth Creationist views}}
The chronology Ussher devised gives the following biblically identified dates for important events.<ref>[http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ussher.htm Ussher dates]</ref>

*Sunday October 23, 4004 BCE - [[Creation Week|First day of creation]].
*Monday November 10, 4004 BCE - [[Adam and Eve]] [[Original sin | driven from paradise.]]
*2348 BCE - [[Global flood|The Great Flood]].
*1921 BCE - God's call to [[Abraham]].
*1491 BCE - The [[Exodus]] from Egypt.
*1012 BCE - The founding of the Temple in [[Jerusalem]].
*586 BCE - The destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon and the beginning of the Babylonian Captivity.
*4 BCE - The [[Nativity|birth]] of [[Jesus]].

===Biblical disagreements===
The main distinction between Ussher and other significantly different (i.e. in the hundreds of years) biblical chronologies depends on which [[Old Testament]] version is used.

As with most [[Protestant]] bibles today, Ussher relied on the {{wpl|Masoretic text}}. However, the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] and older [[Catholicism|Catholic]] bibles as well as ancient Christians prior to {{wpl|Jerome}} tend(ed) to use the [[Septuagint]] which moves the date of Creation back to around 5000-5500 BCE, but places the Flood much later (around 1850 BCE).

A third option, using the {{wpl|Samaritan Pentateuch}}, while locating Creation (in 4064 BCE) almost simultaneously to the Masoretic text, moves the Flood back to around 2800 BCE (or about 450 years prior to Masoretic calculations).

A few, more modern (and [[fringe]]) biblical chronologies have moved Creation back significantly, such as [[Harold Camping]]'s 11,013 BCE, or {{wpl|Dating creation#Other biblical estimations|two 19th century calculations}} of, respectively, 12,500 BCE and 20,000 BCE. [[Problems with biblical inerrancy|Go biblical inerrancy!]]

===Needed Leaps===
One of the more striking things about this chronology is how it makes assumptions that are simply not backed up in The Bible. For example, the amount of time Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden is not found anywhere in Genesis. Assuming it was a couple of weeks (or any amount of time) is inherently nothing but guessing, and it needs to be a rather short amount of time in order for the Earth to be--well, young. Many Christians have attempted to use other verses in The Bible to at least make the case The Bible implies the amount of time spent in the Garden was on the shorter side,<ref>[https://www.gotquestions.org/Adam-Eve-Garden-Eden.html How long were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?]</ref><ref>[https://apologeticspress.org/how-long-were-adam-and-eve-in-the-garden-before-sinning-5652/ How Long Were Adam and Eve in the Garden Before Sinning?]</ref> but none of them have shown anything definitive, and commonly rely on either the use of what could easily be seen as metaphor or on the words of people who would not have such information in the first place.

==See also==
*[[Origins debate]]
*[[Age of the Earth]]
*[[Merneptah Stele]]
*[[Paleontology]]
*[[Geology]]
*[[Sextus Julius Africanus]], who made a similar attempt long before

==Further reading==

*Barr, James, 'Why the World Was Created in 4004 B.C.: Archbishop Ussher and Biblical Chronology', ''Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester'', vol. 67, pp. 575-608
*Gould, Stephen Jay, 'Fall in the House of Ussher', ''Natural History'', vol. 100 (November 1991), pp. 12-21

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{biblebox}}
{{crebox|1}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ussher, James}}

[[Category:Bible woo]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:European history]]
[[Category:Ireland]]

Categories: Bible woo, Christians, European history, Ireland