BSN: Ussher’s Chronology

  • James Ussher (1581-1656) was an Irish cleric and scholar who developed a chronology of the Bible on the assumption that creation occurred in six days and that the history of the Bible including the genealogies is sufficient to trace time backward to that point.
  • Some editions of the Bible include Ussher’s dating for every chapter.
  • Although Ussher can get very precise with his estimates (pegging creation to have occurred around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC), I don’t rely on his system for such precision; rather, I find him useful for a general sense of when things occurred because his assumptions about creation and the history of the Bible are reasonable.
  • Modern scholars tend to look down on, if not outright ridicule, Ussher’s work, but that’s primarily because of their allegiance to the theory of evolution. (Modern Biblical Scholarship versus Ancient Biblical Scholarship)
  • Ussher’s Dating of OT Books
  • Ussher’s Order of OT Books
  • Ussher’s Order of the OT Prophetic Books
  • Some of Ussher’s specific dates:
    • Moses – born 1571 BC, flees Egypt 1531 BC, returns to Egypt 1491 BC, dies 1451

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