Re: Jude 14 and the age of the world

David Campbell (bivalve@mailserv0.isis.unc.edu)
Thu, 15 Apr 1999 14:07:36 -0400

>I think this proves that someone deviated from believing in the 6000 year old
>earth; but, it does not mean that this person had sound exegetical reasons
>for his interpretation. Nor does it mean that the vast majority of scholars
>and laity even in the 17th century did not believe the earth was around 6000
>years old.

Hall further cites Origen as doubting that the "days" before the creation
of the sun could be 24 hour (from the same original reference). Hall does
not citre any evidence as to how long Origen did think they were.

Whatever the general opinion was (as most folks probably did not think much
about it) as to the age of the earth, these examples do show that
questioning the 6 24 hour day model plus approximately the length of the
genealogies is not purely an attempt to yield to modern scientific
evidence. Of course, modern scientific evidence has provided a much
greater impetus for closely examining the text, whereas earlier readers
were going largely on speculation.

David C.