Difference between revisions of "Age of the Earth"
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The '''age of the Earth''' has been a matter of interest to humans for millennia, and today still causes debate, particularly between [[young Earth Creationism|young-Earth creationists]] who hold to a date of 6,000 years or so, and [[uniformitarianism|uniformitarians]] who hold to a date of about 4,500 million years. | The '''age of the Earth''' has been a matter of interest to humans for millennia, and today still causes debate, particularly between [[young Earth Creationism|young-Earth creationists]] who hold to a date of 6,000 years or so, and [[uniformitarianism|uniformitarians]] who hold to a date of about 4,500 million years. | ||
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| + | == Increasing ages == | ||
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| + | Early Jews and even some "heathens" believed that the total age of the Earth would be around 6,000 years.<ref>Burnet, p. 258.</ref> | ||
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| + | Similarly, people such as St. Barnabas and St. Irenæus held that the Earth would be 6,000 years old.<ref>Burnet, p. 259.</ref> | ||
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| + | In 1830, Dr. Hales published a list of 120 historical authorities from various cultures who had decided on a [[date of creation]]. These ranged from 6984 B.C. to 3616 B.C.<ref>Batten 2002 quotes from "Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Holy Bible", 1879 8th Edition, 1939, which relates this, and reproduces the selection of the dates from Young.</ref> | ||
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| + | Included in Hales' list is [[James Ussher]], who calculated the famous date of 4004 B.C. for creation. Young-Earth creationists still consider this date to be close to the actual date. | ||
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| + | In 1778 George-Louis Lecrerc, Count of Buffon, proposed that the Earth was about 74,832 years old.<ref name="ingv">INGV</ref> | ||
| + | [[James Hutton]], whilst not proposing a date, dismissed the Biblical account and claimed in 1785 that there was not evidence of a beginning at all.<ref name="ingv" /> | ||
| + | [[Charles Lyell]] supported Hutton's idea in 1830.<ref name="ingv" /> | ||
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== Bibliography == | == Bibliography == | ||
Revision as of 11:48, June 18, 2007
The age of the Earth has been a matter of interest to humans for millennia, and today still causes debate, particularly between young-Earth creationists who hold to a date of 6,000 years or so, and uniformitarians who hold to a date of about 4,500 million years.
Increasing ages
Early Jews and even some "heathens" believed that the total age of the Earth would be around 6,000 years.[1]
Similarly, people such as St. Barnabas and St. Irenæus held that the Earth would be 6,000 years old.[2]
In 1830, Dr. Hales published a list of 120 historical authorities from various cultures who had decided on a date of creation. These ranged from 6984 B.C. to 3616 B.C.[3]
Included in Hales' list is James Ussher, who calculated the famous date of 4004 B.C. for creation. Young-Earth creationists still consider this date to be close to the actual date.
In 1778 George-Louis Lecrerc, Count of Buffon, proposed that the Earth was about 74,832 years old.[4] James Hutton, whilst not proposing a date, dismissed the Biblical account and claimed in 1785 that there was not evidence of a beginning at all.[4] Charles Lyell supported Hutton's idea in 1830.[4]
Bibliography
- Burnet, Thomas, The Sacred Theory of the Earth, chapter V, 1691.
- Batten, Don, Old-earth or young-earth belief: Which belief is the recent aberration?, Creation 24(1):24–27, December 2001.
- The age of the Earth (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)).
