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Calculating the The '''date of creationCreation''' has exercised been debated for many minds for hundreds of years. Separate calculations have given different answers although most are fairly close to each other.

Any year that purports to date from creation Creation as an [[epoch]] is labeled '''AM''', for '''Anno Mundi''', which is [[Latin]] for "In the Year of the World."

The Bible contains [[chronogenealogies]] from [[Adam]] to [[Abraham]], listing the age at which each person in the genealogy gave birth to the next person in the list, thus allowing by simple addition a determination of how many years passed between [[creation story|creationCreation]] and Abraham. There are other chronological indications also, allowing that calculation to be extended into the times of the kings, when the dates can be correlated with other events in history for which the absolute date is known. By this means, in theory, one can calculate the date of creationCreation.

Different researchers have proposed different answers approaches to this and similar problems, but none of these problems change the result by a very significant amount.

The best known date of creation Creation is the one calculated by Archbishop [[James Ussher]] in the 17th century - namely 6:00 &nbsp;p.m. Saturday, [[October 23]], [[4004 BC]].<ref name=Ussher>[[James Ussher]], ''[[The Annals of the World]]'', [[Larry Pierce]], ed., Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003 (ISBN 0890513600), pgh. 1ff.</ref> Ussher calculated the date year of Creation by the following means:

*Ussher here made a key assumption that is in great dispute. We read that Abraham was 75 years old when he embarked into Canaan.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=12|verses=4}}</ref> We also read that [[Terah]] was 70 years old when he "begat" Abraham, [[Nahor]] (the younger), and [[Haran]].<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=11|verses=26}}</ref> Ussher's assumption, which added another sixty years to the reckoning of Creation, was this: that Abraham did not embark on his own ''until after Terah had died'' at the age of 205.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=11|verses=32}}</ref> This would mean that Terah was actually 130 years old, not 70, when Abraham was born--and born—and presumably that Nahor the Younger or Haran was born when Terah was 70. Ussher's sole warrant for this assumption is that the Bible describes Abraham's departure after it describes Terah's "death." But Terah's "death" might be spiritual rather than physical, in that Terah had originally intended to take all his family out of [[Ur]] of the [[Chaldees]] and into Canaan, ''but forgot his purpose'' and grew too accustomed to worldly enticements in the country of Haran. If that is the case, then Abraham might have departed when Terah was still alive--which alive—which is what the inventors of the present Hebrew calendar assumed.

*Finally, Ussher backtracked the genealogy of Shem to Adam.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=5}}</ref> He further  To arrive at the month and approximate date, Ussher concluded that Creation must have occurred during the Autumnal [[Equinox]], which in fact is the favorite start of many of the world's [[Calendar|calendarscalendar]]s, ancient and modern. He ''also'' assumed that the ancient Hebrews ''did not'' attempt to synchronize their [[month]]s with the [[moon]] until ''after'' their exile into [[Babylonia]]. He thus calculated the date of creation Creation at October 23, 4004 BC according to the [[Julian calendar]]. Because the seven days of Creation (including one day of rest) set the pattern for our [[week]], Ussher decided that the Creation began on the first day of the week, i.e. Sunday.However, because the day was defined as being an "evening and morning", and some calendars to this day still have the days beginning at sunset, Ussher concluded Creation actually began at what on modern western calendars would be 6 p.m. (sunset at the equinox) on Saturday.

Another to calculate the date of creation was [[Johannes Kepler]], who also attempted to calculate the date using his own methods (sadly lost to time); he worked it out to be 3992 B.C.

Such calculations in fact date from at least the Middle Ages, and offer a range of dates from around 5000 to 4000 BC. The date used by Eastern Orthodox Christianity is often 1 September, 5509 BC. This was the date used as the beginning point for their calendars. Traditionalist Catholics often use 5199 BC. Judaic tradition reckons the date of creation Creation at 3760 BC. Another calculation, beginning with the date of the destruction of Jerusalem known from secular history and working backwards, arrives at 4163 BC. <ref> http://web.newsguy.com/rubyredinger/age.html Biblical age of the Earth</ref>

Based on If [[geologylogical fallacy|geologicalfallacious reasoning]] dating methods is allowed&mdash;specifically, making a central (which include certain assumptions which and implausible) assumption about the past to prove timing in the past&mdash;then it is possible to claim an older Creation as follows: * assume that radiometric decay rates have remained constant and are questioned unaffected by creation scientists)environmental changes.<ref>For example, see Batten, Don, etThis assumption is known to be false. al., Tests of [http://www.creationontheweb.com/images/pdfs/cabook/chapter4.pdf The Creation Answers Book, chapter 4[radiometric dating]] methods have often shown that they do not agree with known ages of rocks that have been seen to form from volcanic eruptions in recent and historic times, 2007and there are also examples of [[radiometric dating]] methods not agreeing with each other.</ref>, secular scientific research dates * use [[radiometric dating]] to estimate an age for the formation crust of the [[Earth to around ]].<ref>Mostly [[atheistic]] scientists arrive at an estimated age of the [[Earth]] of 4.5 [[billion]] (4.5 * 10⁹) years agousing the above approach.<ref> See [http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html USGS, ''Geologic Time: Age of the Earth.''] Accessed April 18, 2007.</ref> According to the [[Big Bang Theory|Big Bang theory]], the [[universe]] began even earlier, about 13.7 billion years ago. <ref>[http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/age.html, ''Age of the Universe'']</ref> ==Old Earth Creationism==[[Old Earth Creationism|Old Earth creationists]] don't attempt to calculate a date of Creation as they reject the biblical account being literal in favour of the age of the earth calculated by [[naturalism|naturalistic]] scientists.