How Old Is Earth?

- Young-Earthcreationism is big, years,and that 's 710. The year before Christ big business. For example, at the great-great-great-great-great-grand- 4004. TheJulian Period 710. son -- lived 969 Ussher ended much-publicizedCreation years. Ussher's calculation that Creation at 70 AD because just outside Cincinnati,, believ- his chronology occurred the of ers can exhibits he believed that the of the during evening study contrasting history October 22, 4004 BC ended then. Ussher Saturday, "humanreason" with "God'sword" Jews Although became the most famous creation- calculated the dates of his- while watchingchildren cavort with many date when London bookseller dinosaurs (which were created on toric events (Adam and were ThomasGuy included it in annotated the sixth of the biblicalcreation driven from Paradise on Monday, day versions of the KingJames Version week and loaded aboard Noah's November10, 4004 BC, and Noah's EDITORIAL of the Bible in 1675 (the popularity can also see Methuselah ark landed at Araraton Wednesday, ark). They of these Bibles may have also been -- Noah's grandfatherwho died just May5, 2348 BC),he neverpredicted - aided by their engravings of top- before the flood at age 969 warn when the Earthwould end. less women). In 1701,the Churchof Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/70/6/326/54669/30163288.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 of God's visitors upcoming judg- Apparently not a believer in - at the of Oxford ment. The $27 million museum has England urging buildingsuspense, Ussher stated his clericJohn Feel and William been and Lloyd exceedinglypopular profit- famous conclusion in Annals' first of Winchester) -- began able. a $20 adult-admission (Bishop Despite paragraph(Figure 1): including Ussher's dates in its offi- more than 250,000 vis- fee, people In the God created cialBibles (Ussher's date remained in GUEST ited the museum duringits first five beginning Heaven and Earth, Gen. 1, v. these Bibles until 1900). For nearly months of operation. 1. Which beginning of time, threecenturies, most KingJames ver- sions of the Bible the influential The museum and Young-Earth accordingto our chronologie, (e.g., are based on Irish fell upon the entrance of the Scofield Reference Bible, as well as in hotel Ussher's night preceding the twenty Bibles placed by Gideons ArchbishopJames (1581- date. claim that creation occurred third day of Octob[er],in the rooms)included Ussher's Later, 1656) Ussher'sdate also in in 4004 BC. In Ussher's day, many year of the Julian [Period] appeared places Bible-based people had published noan art., chronologies of Earth'shistory; for .hrtaia example, the Benedictine monk VenerableBede (672-735) claimed that creationoccurred in 3952 BC, famedGerman astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) claimed that creation occurredin 3993 BC, and MartinLuther (1483-1546) claimed that creationoccurred in 3961 BC. However,the most famous creation- ANNALES date became that of Ussher, which VETE I S TESTAMENTI appeared in his 2,000-page Annals of the , deduced from prin4Mitndi origine deduffi. the first origins of the world (Annales veretistestamenti, a prima rnundiorig- PRINCIPIOcreavitDEUS Cce- 7 04004 ine deducti).Although that Biblepro- 4 um& Terrain. [Gexef.,1. 13 quodtempo- vides much historical information risprincipium(juxta. noftram Chronologiam) ciditin nods illiusinitium, XXIII. from (lux (e.g., a direct,unbroken lineage diem04tobris prxceilit, in anno Periodi Ju- Creationto Solomon), Ussher used ianx7io. additionalsources for dates between Primeigitur feculi die ((c)04.23. feria I.) Solomon and the destructionof the m fupremoCcelo creavit Deus Angelos indcfummo the death of Chaldean operisfailigio primal:a per- Temple(e.g., edo, adima Mundanz hujus fabricx fundamenta prograus miran- King Nebuchadnezzar).Ussher also usartifix, infimum hunc globum ex Abyffo& Terri confiatumcon- made ftiruir; concinentibus& collaudantibuscum fimul omnibus ipfius An- many assumptions,including XXXVIII. Terraeffet minis & & tene- that creation must have occurred b

326 THEAMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 70,NO. 6, AUGUST2008 such as Shakespeare'sAs You Like It, book in which White describedscience years of speculationand researchabout in which Rosalind laments "The poor and religion as being in perpetualcon- the age of the Earthwhen he reportedin world is almost six thousand years old flict (White, 1896). In 1644, in his The a papertitled "Age of Meteoritesand the (Shakespeare,1997)." The Bible intro- Harmony of the Foure Evangelists:Among Earth"that Earthhas "anage of 4.55 + duced into evidenceat the Scopes Trial themselves, and with the Old Testament, 0.07 x 10' years"(Patterson, 1956). included Ussher's which set a date for creation:"From chronology, Lightfoot RandyMoore was cited Clarence Darrow's the of time to this fullness during beginning H. T. Morse-Alumni Distinguished questioningof WilliamJennings Bryan. of it, hath laid this great, wondrous, In that that and occurrence of the birth TeachingProfessor of Biology testimony,Bryan responded happy Universityof Minnesota, Minneapolis, "itwould be just as easy for the kind of of the Redeemer in the yeere of the MN 55455 God we believe in to make the Earthin world, three thousand nine hundred [email protected] six days as in six years or in 6,000,000 twenty eight."Lightfoot even listed the - years or in 600,000,000 years.I do not actual day the September equinox. References think it importantwhether we believe Nevertheless,Lightfoot continues to be one or the other" (Trial Transcript, (inaccurately)associated with the claim Bowden,J.K. (1989). John Lightfoot: His Work and Travels.London: Bentham-Moxon 1925). This shocked many that creation occurred at 9:00 a.m. on testimony Trustat the BotanicGardens, October 4004 BC. Royal Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/70/6/326/54669/30163288.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 fundamentalists,and is whyJerry Falwell 23, Kew. noted that Bryan "lost the respect of who base their Fundamentalistswhen he subscribed Today, people Bryan,W.J. Trial Transcript. (1925). The knowledge of naturalhistory on scien- World's Most Famous Court Trial: to the idea of periods of time for cre- tific evidence instead of ationrather than hour superstition Tennessee Case. Dayton, TN: twenty-four days" know that Earthis approximately4.55 BryanCollege. (Falwell, 1981). Clearly, Young-Earth billion old. We know this not creationismis not a new idea. years Dalrymple,G. B. (1991). The Age of theEarth. from revelation or assumptions about Stanford,CA: Stanford University Press. confuse the claims when fruit on trees in the Manybiologists appeared The Fundamentalist of but from testable sci- Falwell, J. (1981). of Ussher with those of British theo- Garden Eden, Phenomenon: The entific observations. Scientists' Resurgence of logian John Lightfoot (1602-1675). quest Conservative Christianity. Garden City: Lightfootis often creditedwith claiming to determineEarth's age was long and Doubleday. that creation occurredat 9:00 a.m. on tortuous,and involved such approaches Moore,R. & Decker,M.D. (2008). More than October 23, 4004 BC (a date similar as measurementsof the cooling rates Darwin: An the of heated and Encyclopedia of People to that claimed eight years later by spheres (Buffon Kelvin), and Places of the Evolution-Creationism Ussher). However,in Verse 26 of the deposition rates of geologic sediments Controversy.Westport, CT: Greenwood small, 20-page booklet A Few and New (Phillips, Huxley, and Wallace), salin- Press. wrote that "Man and tidal friction Observations,Lightfoot ity (Joly), (George Patterson,C. (1956).Age of meteoritesand was created by the Trinityabout the Darwin, Charles and Emma's son). In the earth. Geochima et Cosmochimica third houre of the day, or nine of the the most influential of these studies, Acta, 10, 230-237. in In this American Cameron Claire clocke the morning." book, geochemist W. (1997). "Pat"Patterson the uranium- Shakespeare, FolgerShakespeare Lightfoot did not make a claim about applied Library: As You Like It. New York: the creation of the Earth;his "nine of lead method of radiometricdating to WashingtonSquare Press. the clocke in the referred severalmeteorites (which he morning" accurately Ussher, Annals the World: to the creation of humans. In assumedto have formedwhen the solar J. (1650). of James only Ussher's Classic Survey of World History. fact, Lightfootnever wrote that creation system originated). Patterson discov- (Modern English republication,ed. occurredon October23; thatwas added ered that all of the meteorites,as well Larry& MarionPierce). Green Forest, by subsequent writers, most notably as a modern marinesediment (presum- AR:Master Books, 2003. Andrew Dickson White in formed from rocks from several (1832-1918) ably White, A.D. (1896). A History of the Warfare his A History of the Warfare of Science differentcontinents), had the same age. of Science with Theology in Christendom. with Theology in Christendom(1896), a In 1956, Pattersonended hundreds of NewYork: D. Appleton and CO.

EncourageStudents ... "ToStep Outside" I enjoyed your April 2008 working at uMkuze reinvigorated lay down in the meadow and close Editorialregarding your experience me and I feel re-energized in my their eyes and listen and feel the in Africa.My oldest son and I had the classroom.As you mention we can- earth, then sitting through a lesson opportunityto work with Operation not usually offer these life altering inside. I just wanted to say that I Wallaceain South Africaas research experiences to our classroom stu- enjoyed your editorial and encour- assistants in a game preserve for dents but we can get them outside age all my students to step outside. the month of in 2007. I found and involved in their our habitats. July AliceHossie that my students were very inter- Luckily we have a small river near Mary Science ested in my trip and two have begun our school and I get my students Department investigatingtrips of their own. As a wet when ever possible. Some days, North GrenvilleDistrict High School LETTER high school science teacher,the time it can he more valuableto have them Kemptville,ON, Canada

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