James Ussher
From Philosopedia
James Ussher (sometimes spelled Usher) (4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656)
Ussher was an Anglican Archbishop of Armag and Primate of All Ireland between 1625-1656. He was chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1605. In 1620 or 1621 he became bishop of Meath and, in 1625, the archbishop of Annagh.
A believer in the Divine Right of Kings, Bishop Ussher wrote Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti, which was published in the 1650s. In that two-volume work, he figured out the genesis, deducing from Biblical sources that the creation was at 4004 B.C.E. For some time, his dating was used in the King James Version of the Bible. Specifically, he alleged that God created the world at 9 a.m. (some say noon) on October 23rd. It is believed he referred to Greenwich mean time, and the date was widely accepted in the Christian world up until the 19th Century.
In keeping with Ussher’s research, the 6000th birthday party of Earth, on 23 October 1996, was celebrated by secular humanists at the Buffalo, New York, Center for Inquiry. Anthropologist H. James Birx dressed up as himself, Tim Madigan dressed up as Noah, and biology professor Clyde Herreid dressed up as Darwin for a jocular press meeting.
Nicolas Walter has taken issue with Stephen Jay Gould’s Questioning the Millennium, which states that “Ussher set the moment of creation that would live in both infamy and memory—4004 BC (at noon on October 23.” But Walter, quoting from a copy in the British Library, found that Ussher had stated,
- In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth . . . which beginning of time (according to our Chronology) occurred at the beginning of that night which preceded the 23rd day of October in 4004 BC.
That is, at dusk on October 22, writes Walter. What was created at midday on October 23 was light, thereby correcting Gould.
John Hunt, writing in a gay and lesbian chat room, suggests that Walter may not have taken into consideration the following:
- The article at <www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ussher.htm> states that James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin was using the Julian calendar: although the Gregorian calendar had been introduced by the pope in 1582.
- The 4th October 1582 [Julian] was followed by the 15th Oct. [Gregorian]: causing people to think that they had been robbed of ten days of their life.
- Henry VIII had already dispensed with the pope: so Britain stuck with the Julian calendar until 1752. By this time a correction of eleven days was required: so the 2nd September 1752 was followed by 14th Sep..
- As the century years 1800 and 1900 were leap years in the Julian calendar, but not in the Gregorian, I reckon the difference is now 13 days. So 23rd Oct. 2007 [Julian] is 5th Nov. [Gregorian]. Which means that we still have nearly a fortnight before we can celebrate the anniversary of Ussher's utter lunacy.
(See entry for Andrew Usher.)
{CE; ER; John Hunt, galha@yahoogroups.com 22 October 2007}
