1580-1656
James Ussher, born and raised in Dublin, Ireland became an important figure in the Christian Church early in his life. In 1605, at just the age of twenty-four, Ussher became chancellor of St. Patrick's Cathedral, located in Dublin. Soon thereafter, he was designated Bishop of Meath in 1620. In 1625,he was appointed Anglican Archbishop of Armagh. This is when he became a well known scholar and theologian in the Church of Ireland.
While Archbishop of Armagh, Ussher became determined to approximate when the universe was created. He traveled to Britain and Europe in 1640 trying to seek the earliest available manuscripts he could find. He decided to use the Book of Genesis to determine when he thought the universe was created. After counting the “begats” of the Book of Genesis, Ussher came to the conclusion that the universe was created at 9:00 am on the twenty-third of October, 4004 BC. This date was in fact used in some editions of the King James Version of the Bible.
One of James Ussher’s most important writings was the Annals of the World. This book is composed of two volumes. The first volume was written in 1650, the second in 1654. In these books, he stated his theory of when the universe was created and the dates and times of other biblical occurrences based on the that theory.
Because of the scientific developments we have today, scientists believe Ussher’s date of creation inaccurate. If one used the date of Oct. 23, 4004 BC, and calculated how old the earth would be today, we’d find the earth would only be about 6,003 years old. Because people have studied the ages of geological structures, we now believe that the earth is in fact a few billion years old. There are though, some people today that still believe James Ussher’s theory.
In 1656, James Ussher died at the age of seventy-five, while still living in England.
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