1650 - Annales Veteris Testamenti - "In Christian Church theology, Adam is generally dated at 4004 B.C., and this has been the case since AD 1650 when Ireland's Protestant Archbishop, James Ussher of Armagh, published his famous Annales Veteris Testamenti." [Based on: Laurence Gardner, Genesis of the Grail Kings, p. 15]
1654 - Dr. John Lightfoot / Date of Creation - "Heaven and earth, centre and circumference were made in the same instance of time and clouds full of water and man was created by the Trinity on the 26th of October, 4004 B.C., at 9 0'clock in the morning." [Based on: Dr. John Lightfoot, 1654]
1654 - Catholic Dogma / Date of Creation - "In 1654, more than a century before the Universal History was published, the Vatican Council had decreed that anyone daring to contradict the 4004 BC date [of Creation] was a heretic - an attitude that was not relaxed until Pope Pius XII addressed the 1952 papal Academy of Sciences in Rome. In this address, he announced that theologians must not ignore the discoveries of geological science, and that it was clear that the Earth had existed for thousands of millions of years."
1779 - Universal History - "A consortium of London booksellers issued the mammoth 42-volume Universal History - a work that came to be much revered and which stated with considered assurance that God's work of creation began on 21 August 4004 BC."
1870 - Trivia / Science vs. Religion - 1870: "Let him be ANATHEMA ... who shall say that human Sciences ought to be pursued in such a spirit of freedom that one may be allowed to hold as true their assertions even when opposed to revealed doctrines." - (Ecumenical Council of 1870)
Modern Commentary
1889 - Bible Criticism / Lux Mundi - "[....] In 1889 the book of biblical essays called Lux Mundi gave up all pretense of the scriptures' historicity or divine inspiration, admitting that the Bible is a confused mass of myth, legend, and garbled history, often contradicting provable facts. [....] After David Straus's Leben Jesu disposed of the historicity of the Gospel stories, and Renan's Vie de Jesus showed that the Gospels cannot be taken as literal truth but only as romantic symbolism, the Rev. Maurice Jones exclaimed, 'If the Christ-Myth theory is true, and if Jesus never lived, the whole civilized world has for close upon two thousand years lain under the spell of a lie.' The Archbishop of Canterbury found it impossible to deny the Bible's apparent lies, and began to backtrack with his plaintive question, 'May not the Holy Spirit make use of myth and legend?' [....]" [See: Barbara G. Walker, The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, pp. 98-99]
1996 - Theory of Evolution - "In 1996, Pope John Paul II claimed that the theory of evolution was 'more than a hypothesis'. He made his statement at a conference of the Papal Academy of Sciences, and it set the religious world thinking."
2006 - Intelligent Design Isn't Science? / The Vatican - January 19th, 2006: "The Vatican newspaper has published an article saying 'intelligent design' is not science and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms causes confusion. The article in Tuesday's [01/17/06] editions of L'Osservatore Romano was the latest in a series of intervations by Vatican officials - including Pope Benedict XVI - on the issue. The author, Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, laid out the scientific rationale for Darwin's theory of evolution, saying that in the scientific world, biological evolution 'represents the interpretative key of the history of life on Earth.' He said that certain American 'creationists' had brought the debate back to the 'dogmatic' 1800s, and said their arguments weren't science but ideology. Intelligent design 'doesn't belong to science and the pretext that it be taught as a scientific theory alongside Darwin's explanation is unjustified,' he wrote." [Based on: News Services article ('Intelligent design' isn't science, Vatican says), p. A9, S.L.P.D., 01/19/06] - [Paragraph indents not transcribed - E.M.]
2006 - "Rally for Evolution?" / St. Louis, Mo. - February 20th, 2006: "Scientists aren't just defending evolution anymore. Over the weekend [Feb. 2006] in St. Louis, the nation's leaders in science went on the offensive. [NP] With the fervor of preachers and the drive of generals, scientists from across the country rallied against what they describe as religious pressure in public schools. And they enlisted the help of hundreds of teachers. [NP] They came here, to the annual gathering of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the largest congregation of scientists in the country. [NP] 'We are not rolling over on this,' declared Alan Leshner, chief executive publisher of the journal Science. 'It's too important to the nation and to the nation's children' [....] Presenters at the conference said the battle is far from over. On Sunday morning [02/19/06], they announced the formation of a new organization of scientists, scientific groups and supporters. - the Alliance for Science - to fight what they see as an assault on science from religious conservatives. The new organization aims to create graduate fellowships, increase funding for research, train math and science teachers, and build tax incentives for research and development, said co-chairman Paul Forbes. [....] The debate doesn't effect every school. Private schools, in charge of their own curriculum, are often sheltered from it. But it has hit public schools across the country. [....] One Catholic scientist who has been vocal in his views about intelligent design, the Rev. George V. Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory, spoke at Sunday's teacher forum. [NP] 'One of the biggest problems teachers face is evangelical Christianity based on the literal interpretation of the scriptures,' he said, calling biblical literalism 'a plague in our midst.' [....]" [Based on: Article (Scientists rally here for evolution) by David Hunn (dhunn@post-dispatch.com) & Tim Townsend (ttownsend@post-dispatch.com), p. A1 & A8, S.L.P.D., 02/20/06] - [Article condensed (NP = New Paragraph) to save space. See link for actual context.] - D.R.D.] *Links: http://www.nebscience.org/aaas2.html
2008 - Pope Honors Galileo / 400 Years Later! - December 22st, 2008: "Pope Benedict XVI is marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope. [NP] Benedict said Sunday [12/21/08] that he wanted to salute all who are marking the 2009 anniversary and UNESCO's World Year of Astronomy. [NP] Speaking on the winter solstice, Benedict said understanding the laws of nature can stimulate understanding and appreciation of the Lord's works. [NP] The Roman Catholic Church condemned Galileo in the 17th century for supporting Nicholas Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun; church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe. In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized, calling the denunciation a tragic error." [Based on: News Services article (VATICAN CITY / Pope honors Galileo - 400 years after the fact), p. A17, S.L.P.D., 12/22/08]
*Trivia: "[....] The church denounced Galileo's theory as dangerous to the faith, but Galileo defied its warnings. Tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, later changed to house arrest. [....] At a Vatican conference last month [November 2008] entitled 'Science 400 Years after Galileo Galilei,' the Vatican's No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Galileo was an astronomer, but one who 'lovingly cultivated his faith and his profound religious conviction.' [NP] 'Galileo Galilei was a man of faith who saw nature as a book authored by God,' Bertone said. [NP] On Sunday [12/21/08], Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Italian astronomer and physicist, saying he and other scientists had helped the faithful better understand and 'contemplate with gratitude the Lord's works.' " [Based on: A.P. article (Galileo's image gets an update from Vatican on eve of anniversary), by Nicole Winfield, p. A9, S.L.P.D., 12/24/08]
2011 - God was behind Big Bang, pope says - January 6th, 2011: "VATICAN CITY — God's mind was behind complex scientific theories such as the Big Bang, and Christians should reject the idea that the universe came into being by accident, Pope Benedict said Thursday. [NP] 'The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe,' Benedict said on the day Christians mark the Epiphany, the day the Bible says the three kings reached the site where Jesus was born by following a star. [NP] 'Contemplating it (the universe) we are invited to read something profound into it: the wisdom of the creator, the inexhaustible creativity of God,' he said in a sermon to some 10,000 people in St. Peter's Basilica on the feast day. [NP] While the pope has spoken before about evolution, he has rarely delved back in time to discuss specific concepts such as the Big Bang, which scientists believe led to the formation of the universe some 13.7 billion years ago. [NP] Researchers at CERN, the nuclear research center in Geneva, have been smashing protons together at near the speed of light to simulate conditions that they believe brought into existence the primordial universe from which stars, planets and life on earth - and perhaps elsewhere - eventually emerged. [NP] Proof God doesn't exist? - Some atheists say science can prove that God does not exist, but Benedict said that some scientific theories were 'mind limiting' because 'they only arrive at a certain point ... and do not manage to explain the ultimate sense of reality.' [NP] He said scientific theories on the origin and development of the universe and humans, while not in conflict with faith, left many questions unanswered. [NP] 'In the beauty of the world, in its mystery, in its greatness and in its rationality ... we can only let ourselves be guided toward God, creator of heaven and earth,' he said. [NP] Benedict and his predecessor John Paul have been trying to shed the Church's image of being anti-science, a label that stuck when it condemned Galileo for teaching that the earth revolves around the sun, challenging the words of the Bible. [NP] Galileo was rehabilitated and the Church now also accepts evolution as a scientific theory and sees no reason why God could not have used a natural evolutionary process in the forming of the human species. [NP] The Catholic Church no longer teaches creationism - the belief that God created the world in six days as described in the Bible - and says that the account in the book of Genesis is an allegory for the way God created the world. [NP] But it objects to using evolution to back an atheist philosophy that denies God's existence or any divine role in creation. It also objects to using Genesis as a scientific text. " [Based on: Science on MSNBC.com article (God was behind Big Bang, pope says / 'The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe' ) by Philip Pullella, Reuters (see link) - updated 1/6/2011 10:10:20 AM ET] - [Brakets text (NP = New paragraph) added to save space. See link for context. - E.M.]
*Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40945242/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Page last updated 01/06/11