Re: Ussher and ICR
William A. Wetzel (n6rky@pacbell.net)
Wed, 24 Mar 1999 09:19:08 -0800
Ted Davis wrote:
>
> In a recent post, William A. Wetzel wrote:
> "By-the-way, I.C.R. is archbishop Usher in disguise :)"
>
> I understand the point, that Ussher's chronology (4004 BC, etc.) is not
> much different from ICR's. That much is true. But Ussher, who worked in
> the mid-17th century, was doing state-of-the-art scholarship at the time.
> Incidentally, he was a close friend of Robert Boyle's father Richard, 1st
> Earl of Cork, and probably was the person responsible for the younger Boyle
> writing an early book on biblical criticism (Some Considerations touching
> the Style of the Holy Scriptures), written before any of his scientific
> books except (perhaps) parts of the Usefulness of Natural Philosophy.
> Ussher relied on various sources, secular as well as sacred, in compiling
> his chronology. An important point is that he believed the medieval Jewish
> tradition that put 4000 years between the creation of the world and the
> coming of Messiah. Given the recent realization (in his day) that Herod
> died in 4 BC, you can see where the 4004 comes from. That isn't his only
> argument, but he thought it supported his conclusions.
>
> Overall, I'm saying that Ussher used methods that involved lots of
> extrabiblical assumptions to interpret the biblical text, assumptions
> involving the best scholarship of his day. ICR folk, IMO, also use lots of
> extrabiblical assumptions, but usually these do not involve the best
> scholarship of our day. At least not as far as I can see.
>
> Edward B. Davis
> Professor of the History of Science
> Messiah College
> Grantham, PA 17027
> 717-766-2511, ext 6840
Hi Ted:
I agree with what you had stated above. But unlike the scholars then, the
I.C.R. folk ignore what is available today. They not only break from what
is available today, they are completely outside of science in many fields
since their time.
I'm not going to get into the laundry list of that, because it would be a
counter productive issue at this point. My point is to recognize what the
error is, point it out to everyone - then disappear back into the "ether"
from which I came :)
Best Wishes,
--
William A. Wetzel
icq-uin# 13983514
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