Dating creation is the attempt to provide an estimate of the age of Earth or the age of the universe as understood through the creation myths of various religious traditions. Various traditional beliefs hold that the Earth, or the entire universe, was brought into being in a grand creation event by one or more deities. After these cultures develop calendars, a question arises: Precisely how long ago did this creation event happen?
Creation of the Earth. Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677)
James Ussher was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific Irish scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his identification of the genuine letters of the church father, Ignatius of Antioch, and for his chronology that sought to establish the time and date of the creation as "the entrance of the night preceding the 23rd day of October... the year before Christ 4004"; that is, around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC, per the proleptic Julian calendar.
James Ussher
In the years leading up to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Ussher's reputation as a scholar and moderate Calvinism meant that his opinion was sought by both King and Parliament
Title page of his Annals of the World
James Ussher's reported last words were "O Lord forgive me, especially my sins of omission"
