The medieval scholar Maimonides developed a chronology that was followed in the Jewish world for many years. In the early Christian church, scholars such as Eusebius and Jerome wrote on the topic in detail. Scholars have studied the chronology of the Old Testament for centuries, attempting not only to sort out the biblical record itself, but also to harmonize this chronology with that of other ancient societies. Needless to say, this reckoning, which is assumed by many in the creationist community, is in utter disagreement with the findings of modern science, which dates the Earth as approximately 4.5 billion years old and the universe as approximately 13.8 billion years old.īut setting aside the scientific measurements of the age of the Earth and the big bang, and even setting aside “higher criticism” of the Bible, is it true that the Bible unambiguously assigns the date of 4000 BCE for the creation in Genesis? Is it possible to establish a reliable, comprehensive chronology of the Old Testament, based only on the biblical text itself, or based on the biblical text together with well-established archaeological data from the Middle East? Biblical chronology through the ages One issue that frequently arises is the biblical chronology, which, in traditional interpretations, has placed the creation in Genesis at 4000 BCE, so that the Earth, or even the entire universe, is a mere 6,000 years old. But others insisting on viewing the Bible as a perfect, complete and “inerrant” repository of God’s word, and to them modern science is an affront to the authority of the Bible. Even among those who assert the Bible to be the literal word of God, most are willing to accept that the Bible has some imperfections, such as translation errors, copyist errors, omissions and questionable inclusions, and, in any event, the Bible was never intended to be read primarily as a scientific or historical treatise - see Bible-inerrant. The Bible is accepted as an inspired chronicle of mankind’s search for existence, meaning and moral guidance by virtually all Christian denominations and also by the Jewish faith, whose Bible is the Old Testament. Updated 8 December 2022 (c) 2022 Introduction Can biblical chronology be used to date creation?
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