How Old is Man

今天一般人所说的主前四千零四年，是三百多年前一位北爱尔兰的大主教雅各，阿瑟(James Ussher)，根据圣经上的家谱推算出亚当的年代。 可是他所根据的家谱并不完全，也未考虑希伯来人记载家谱的方式常有跳代的情形。 例如马太福音第一间的家谱说约兰「生」乌利亚，而在列王记下，我们发现约兰并非乌利亚之父，而是他的曾祖父，这里显然漏了三代。 创世纪记载从亚当到挪亚共有十代，从闪到亚伯拉罕也有十代，作者所注意的是「十」，其中显然还遗漏了许多代的人名。 所以后来有一位近东的文学者J.H.Raven就推翻了阿瑟的论点，认为圣经中人类历史的年代，用家谱来计算并不可靠，一定远超过六千年。 到了近代，英国有位学者John Urquhart 在1902年写了一本名叫"How Old is Man?"的书， 推算神创造人类是在主前8167年，加上西元后将近两千年，总共约有一万年以上。

The Annals of the World

In the years 1650-1654, James Ussher set out to write a history of the world from creation to A.D. 70. The result was published in 1650 as the literary classic "The Annals of the World." This famous comprehensive history of the world, originally published in Latin, offers a look at history rarely seen. Ussher traveled throughout Europe, gathering much information from the actual historical documents. Many of these documents are no longer available, having been destroyed since the time of his research. In its pages can be found the fascinating history of the ancient world from the Genesis creation through the destruction of the Jerusalem temple.