pre-Ussher dating schemes?

carol regehr (cregehr@phys.ksu.edu)
Wed, 11 Jun 1997 12:34:44 -0500 (CDT)

I'm just starting to read an interesting new book, _The Life of
the Cosmos_, by Lee Smolin, Oxford UP. He starts out discussing
Copernicus, and on p. 4 states
"There is no evidence that any of these [Copernicus, Kepler, and
Galileo], the main protagonists of the revolution, ever doubted
that the universe had been created six thousand years earlier by
God, who waited and watched just outside of that stellar sphere."

Since Copernicus (1473-1543) pre-dates Ussher (1581-1656), was the
6000-year world a common belief even before Ussher? Can someone cite
a source on this for me?

Carol %^)

-- cregehr@phys.ksu.edu