The world loves to laugh at Christians –­ we all know that – and nothing makes skep­tics laugh harder than the idea that the world was created about 6,000 years ago. It was Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh, Ireland who, in 1650, published The Annals of the World, based on the Old Testament. Later in 1658, these annals, by then ex­panded to include the New Testament, were published in English rather than Latin.

Because the secular world never ceases to disparage the work of James Ussher, many modern Christians cringe in embar­rassment at mention of his name. Some Christians are suspicious of bishops, not to mention archbishops! Others are ignorant of the nature of his work, and they are happy to remain so. Nevertheless James Ussher was an exceptionally learned man. His expertise in theology, Bible history and the early church fathers was most impres­sive even by modern standards. Indeed, some Christians today are coming to the re­alization that the works of James Ussher merit a second look.

A Scholar Indeed⤒🔗

Throughout his life, James Ussher was fascinated by the march of events in Bible history. Thus already at age 14 he first began to figure out what the sequence of events was from the creation, through to the time of the patriarchs, the exodus and the judges. Throughout his career he based such studies on the belief that the Bible is the only reli­able source document for chronological information from ancient times.

To begin this project he selected a base point from which to count events forward to Christ's birth, and backwards to the cre­ation of the world. He chose the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 562 BC as a date rea­sonably well established in Biblical and other ancient records.

Ussher consulted an amazing number of ancient secular and Biblical documents to develop his chronology. For many years he even employed agents – one in London and another on the continent – to locate and purchase rare ancient manuscripts for him. He applied suitable rules for counting the number of years that Hebrew and other contemporary kings had reigned.

He kept a running tally of who was on the throne in the northern kingdom and in the southern kingdom, and even in pagan kingdoms (and any alternative spellings of their names).

Very Precise, Very Logical←⤒🔗

Ussher calculated, based on the Old Testament genealogies, that creation took place in the year 4004 BC. People today laugh at his choice of day and time – how could he possibly know the specific date and time? But Ussher had reasons for it all – he had done impressive research. Since the Jewish year begins in the fall, he chose this as a reasonable first season. Thus he se­lected the Sunday after the fall equinox as a reasonable first day. And in his research, Ussher discovered that the ancient Jews and Egyptians used the Julian system of dates. He thus used this calendar through­out his work. Differences between the Ju­lian system and our modern Gregorian calendar mean that the chosen Sunday was in October rather than September. Also he chose evening because the Jewish day is calculated from the evening, and in Genesis we read, "the evening and the morning were the first day"

Interesting Calculations←⤒🔗

Based on a creation date of 4004 BC, Ussher came to some interesting conclu­sions. He calculated that Solomon's temple was finished in the 3000th year since cre­ation, and that Christ was born in the fall of 5 BC, the 4000th year since the creation.

Some of the most interesting calcula­tions involve the years of jubilee. This was a special celebration every 50th year, to mark the release of everyone from obliga­tion, debt or slavery (a foretaste of salvation in Christ). The first year of jubilee occurred in the year 1396 BC, the fiftieth year of the Israelites in Canaan. One of the happiest ju­bilees was the 9th celebration in the year 1004 BC. Solomon's temple had been com­pleted some months earlier, but he delayed the celebration until the beginning of the year of jubilee. Another happy jubilee was 710 BC, the same year as Hezekiah's deliv­erance from the Assyrians. The 18th cele­bration fell in the year 563 BC, which marked the occasion when Nebuchadnez­zar was freed from insanity. The 30th and last jubilee began in 26 AD, the start of the ministry of John the Baptist, the herald who announced the coming of the Christ.

Thus Ussher, familiar with many an­cient languages, proceeded through Bible history. The benefits of this man's scholar­ship have just recently become available to modern Christians who are unable to ob­tain rare copies of Ussher's seventeenth century publications. In 1997 the Christian organization Answers in Genesis obtained photocopies of the Latin 1650-54 edition and the 1658 English edition of Annals of the World. It soon became apparent that the English would need to be updated for mod­ern readers. Canadian Larry Pierce under­took to edit the mammoth work. It took four years to streamline the language and to check and update over ten thousand footnotes. The finished product with ap­pendices and an accompanying CD were first published in 2003.

James Ussher's chronology, it soon be­came apparent, does not agree with many modem experts, some of them conservative Christians. One expert, Edwin Thiele, for example, modified the Hebrew chronology to fit with current reconstructions of As­syrian history. Ussher, on the other hand, gives priority to the Biblical account. What­ever one's conclusions may be, it is inter­esting and useful to read the work of this Bible believing scholar and to compare his conclusions with other experts.

Ussher's History←⤒🔗

Thus the Annals of the World was pub­lished with much fanfare by Master Books. Unfortunately many Christians were unfa­miliar with who Archbishop Ussher was, what he believed, and thus of the signifi­cance of his work. Canadian Bruce Szwast, who produced the CD for Annals of the World, discovered an 1895 biography of James Ussher in a university library. The book was by J.A. Carr and titled The Life and Times of Archbishop James Ussher. Unable to borrow such a rare document, Szwast duplicated it in the library. Master Books then repub­lished this entire document in 2005. One note for anyone who is interested in reading this biography: it is published without any editing, even though it contains numerous Latin quotations. People in 1895 were mostly familiar with Latin, but for today's readers footnotes translating this Latin into English would have been very helpful. Still, this account of Ussher's life turns out to be most interesting.

James Ussher was born in Dublin in 1581. His parents were wealthy, influential and Protestant – his father was Protestant at any rate. Ussher's mother came from the Stanihurst clan. Many were ardent Ro­man Catholics who spent considerable en­ergy trying to convert James to Catholicism. Indeed, once widowed, his mother herself converted to Catholicism.

This was the era when Elizabeth I, a Protestant, was queen. She supported the idea of founding a college in Ireland for the training of local young men. Thus in 1591 Trinity College was instituted in Dublin and James Ussher (aged 12) was one of the first students when the college opened in 1593. The faculty was Scottish and Calvinist in outlook and the young James was im­pressed with their teaching. In response to pressure from the Roman Catholic side of the family, he set out to vindicate his Protes­tant faith. This interest caused the young James to develop a lifelong interest in the earliest Christian writers.

Three years after entering Trinity Col­lege, Ussher graduated with a B.A. He was now 15 years old. Four years later, now an M.A., Ussher was appointed to the staff of Trinity College where he taught catechism and Protestant theology. Since he was teaching the faith, by special dispensation in 1601, James Ussher was ordained a priest in the Reformed Church of Ireland (the Protestant Church). Only 21 years old, he immediately began to preach in the cathedral – his pleasant academic lifestyle was now interrupted by other duties.

Nevertheless in 1607 he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity Degree and in 1612 with a Doctor of Divinity degree, all from Trinity College, now the University of Dublin.

Taking on Catholicism←⤒🔗

In 1603 Queen Elizabeth died. She was succeeded by James I (Stuart) who reigned until 1625. During this time James Ussher wrote several important contributions to Christian thought. In 1613 he published a study of the theology and nature of the early church after AD 70. His purpose was to demonstrate that Roman Catholicism was a departure from Biblical theology. Ac­cording to J.A. Carr's 1895 biography of Ussher:

The treatise at once established Ussher's reputation as one of the most learned theologians of his day, and was fa­vorably received by the continental Re­formers, on whose behalf it did good service.

Up to this point, the Church of Ireland lacked any specific doctrinal standards. It was to remedy this situation that a convo­cation (calling together) of Irish clergy took place in 1615. The main item on the agenda was to draw up Articles of Religion (a doc­trinal statement). The most influential participant was Ussher, who was Professor of Divinity at the University of Dublin. The result was 104 articles, very Reformed in tone. These articles are similar to the Eng­lish Lambeth Articles of 1595, which form a Calvinistic appendix to the Thirty Nine Ar­ticles of the Faith (adopted by the Church of England in 1571). Later in 1646 the Westminster Confession was largely mod­eled on the Irish articles.

In 1619 James Ussher was called upon to meet King James I. The King asked Ussher to preach before parliament. In view of the rapport between Ussher and the King, few were surprised when Ussher was appointed Bishop of Meath in 1621. The following year saw the Bishop publish two of his most important works. The first was The Answer Made to a Challenge by a Jesuit in Ireland and the second, in like vein, was Concerning the Religion Professed by the Ancient Irish. The Bishop's contention was that the faith of the church fathers was Biblical and unlike what we see in modern Roman Catholic doctrine. In these documents the author discussed the following heresies and superstitions: the Real Presence, the priest's power to forgive sins, purgatory, prayers for the dead, prayers to saints, images, free will and merits.

Caught Up in Politics←⤒🔗

Events moved fast at this stage in British history. Ussher had been Bishop of Meath only four years when James I nom­inated this Irish cleric to be Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. This was the last official act of James in Irish affairs before he died in 1625.

Biographer J. A. Carr sums up the situation thus: "Perhaps noth­ing is more to the credit of the King than the steady friendship he maintained to­ ward Ussher, and the appreciation which he evinced of his devotion to the Protes­tant religion."

The Archbishop was now more involved in political troubles and church politics than he had ever been be­fore. Not surprisingly he developed a close relationship with King Charles I, son of the former king. Despite the turbulent times, Ussher published two important docu­ments. In 1631 he published an account of Gottescalcus, a 9^th century Benedictine monk, who espoused the doctrines of pre­destination and irresistible grace. The other document was a further development on the topic of doctrine in the early church. This work was entitled Religion of the Ancient Irish and Britons.

In 1640 James Ussher left Ireland, never to return. In 1641 a rebellion broke out in Ireland in which Church of Ireland clerics were accused of high treason. The Ussher property was also attacked. People hostile to the King and to the Churches of England and Ireland were gaining in influ­ence. The House of Commons confiscated Ussher's valuable library which had been rescued from Ireland. Only the efforts of two friends prevented the books from being sold. Nevertheless it was during this time that Ussher carried out his most signifi­cant academic research.

Ussher's interest had focused on Ig­natius, Bishop of Antioch and one of the early Christian martyrs (about 100 A.D.) This church father was famous for having composed several letters, but the contents were disputed. Ussher observed that pas­sages cited by three obscure English clergy differed from the common Greek and Latin versions (called the Long Recension). Moreover these English versions agreed with quotations found in the writings of Eusebius (275-339, Bishop of Caesarea) and Theodoret (393-457 Bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria). Ussher concluded that the English authors had all copied from an earlier and more reliable text than the Long Recension. Ussher then asked colleagues to search for this document in English libraries. Two such manuscripts were found. Thus Ussher in 1644 published a new more reliable text of the St. Ignatius letters. Two years later Isaak Vossius, Chair of History at University of Amsterdam, discovered in Florence, an ancient Greek manuscript which agreed with Ussher's published version. A final document was discovered in 1689 in Paris which also confirmed his work.

Since Ussher's arrival in England in 1640, the political and ecclesiastic situation in England had rapidly deteriorated as far as Ussher was concerned. Many of his friends and colleagues were imprisoned and executed. He himself moved from place to place. In 1649 King Charles I was executed by Oliver Cromwell's men. Ussher was grief stricken. As far as he was concerned, the Church was in ruins, the bishops scattered, the clergy persecuted, the flock divided, and the use of the prayer book was forbidden. Nevertheless it was during this time that James Ussher contin­ued with his witness to the world in the publication of his Annals of the World. Soon after this, James Ussher died. Oliver Cromwell arranged for a state funeral in Westminster Abbey in which the burial service from the Book of Common Prayer was read.

Conclusion←⤒🔗

And so ended the career of a dedicated Christian who loved nothing better than to study the Bible and to communicate what he had found to others. So the secular world may laugh, but we have much to learn from this eminent Irish Christian.