James Ussher and His Chronology on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: Today is the date of the creation of the world, according to Archbishop James Ussher. If you have an old King James Bible with annotations you may already have Ussher's Biblical chronology, which at Genesis 1 has the creation of the world set at October 23, 4004 B.C., at 9am. While this date came under fire in later centuries, the fantasy novel Good Omens humorously stated that he was only "off by a quarter of an hour." Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould came to Ussher's defense, not for being correct, but for it being "an honorable effort for its time." Isaac Newton put the year of creation at 4000 B.C., Kepler chose 3977 B.C. and Martin Luther insisted it was 3961 B.C.

"Ussher's chronology represented a considerable feat of scholarship: it demanded great depth of learning in what was then known of ancient history, including the rise of the Persians, Greeks and Romans, as well as expertise in the Bible, biblical languages, astronomy, ancient calendars and chronology. Ussher's account of historical events for which he had multiple sources other than the Bible is usually in close agreement with modern accounts – for example, he placed the death of Alexander in 323 BC and that of Julius Caesar in 44 BC." Source

Ussher determined that the creation of the world happened EXACTLY 4000 years before Christ's birth. Sixth-century monk Dionysius Exiguus established the current Anno Domini dating which gives us the year that Christ was born. Hence, the year 2021 is 2021 years after Christ was born. However, this date had to be later changed to 4 BC because the Bible states that Jesus was an infant during the reign of King Herod, and Herod died in 4 BC (Before Christ). So, 4000 years before Christ was 4004 BC. 

Interestingly, according to Ussher's chronology, 6000 years ended on October 23, 1997 (keep in mind that there is no year 0). Also, the concept of 0 didn't exist in Exiguus' time.

See also Aquinas, Augustine and the Illusion of Time
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/11/aquinas-augustine-and-illusion-of-time.html

See also 215 Books on Christian and Bible Theology on DVDrom 

Read Ussher's Annals of the World Online