Age of the earth and days of creation
- T03.1 Young world by biblical chronology (consensus); split on the days: ordinary (Basil) vs instantaneous (Augustine) (medium)
- T03.2 All humanity descends from one first man (Acts 17:26; Augustine, City of God XII.21): classic consensus (high)
Two separate measures, shown side by side; neither is combined with the other (confidence-weighted, out of 4; counts show how many of this doctrine's 2 questions each rests on; ⚠ marks coverage more than 10 points below the median, a less certain rank). This doctrine is third-order (tier weight 1). How scoring works · Scripture and tradition · Glossary · Every score with its citation
Closeness to Scripture
Closeness to the fathers
Charts: closeness to the fathers by question, and timeline
- c. 370 Basil T03.1 · fathers varied
- c. 415 Augustine T03.1 · fathers varied
- c. 415 Augustine T03.1 · fathers varied
- c. 415 Augustine T03.2
- 1646 Westminster Confession Catholic
- 1646 Westminster Confession Orthodox
- 1646 Westminster Confession Oriental Orthodox
- 1646 Westminster Confession Lutheran
- 1646 Westminster Confession Anglican
- 1646 Westminster Confession Presbyterian
- 1646 Westminster Confession Reformed Baptist
- 1646 Westminster Confession General Baptist
- 1646 Westminster Confession Anabaptist
T3 · Age of the earth and days of creation
Literal days or other readings.
Tier: Third-order (scoring weight 1). How the tiers were set: theological triage. Method: conventions. Traditions’ sources: confessional sources.
In short
Genesis describes creation in six days. The fathers agreed the world was young, but disagreed on the days: Basil took them as ordinary days, Augustine thought God created everything at once and described it in days. Only the Presbyterian and Reformed Baptist confessions take a position (‘in the space of six days’).
Plan
Question: T03.1: were the creation days ordinary days, and is the world young? Scripture: Gen 1:1–2:3; Exod 20:11. Fathers: Basil, Hexaemeron 2.8; Augustine, City of God XI.6–7 and XII.10. Question: T03.2: Does all humanity descend from one first man?
Questions
Verdicts and trace
Weighed under the source-proximity principle: Scripture first, then the father eras I–IV.
T03.1 · Days of creation and the age of the world
| Question | Verdict | Confidence | Reasoning | Key sources | Scripture (benchmark) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T03.1 | Young world by biblical chronology (consensus); split on the days: ordinary (Basil) vs instantaneous (Augustine) | Medium | T03.1.1 · T03.1.3 weighing | basil-t03-s1 · augustine-t03-s1 · augustine-t03-s2 | T03.1.4: low-medium |
T03.2 · Does all humanity descend from one first man?
| Question | Verdict | Confidence | Reasoning | Key sources | Scripture (benchmark) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T03.2 | All humanity descends from one first man (Acts 17:26; Augustine, City of God XII.21): classic consensus | High | T03.2.1 · T03.2.3 weighing | augustine-t03-s3 | T03.2.4: high |
Post-750 development
Which of this doctrine’s questions each tradition stays closest to, or departs from. Each row links to the tradition’s notes; exact scores and bases are in the reasoning.
| Tradition | Closest to the fathers on | Departs or sharpens on |
|---|---|---|
| Catholic | T03.2 | — |
| Orthodox | T03.2 | — |
| Oriental Orthodox | T03.2 | — |
| Lutheran | T03.2 | — |
| Anglican | T03.2 | — |
| Presbyterian | partly T03.1, T03.2 | — |
| Reformed Baptist | partly T03.1, T03.2 | — |
| General Baptist | T03.2 | — |
| Anabaptist | partly T03.1, T03.2 | — |
Overall verdict
The Presbyterian and Reformed Baptist confessions (‘in the space of six days’) and Dordrecht I (‘in six days’) speak to it; the fathers split on the days but agreed on a young world. T03.2 (one first man) is consensus.
Verification status
Status from the score data: 3 tradition cells cite a text checked against an online source (marked verified); 9 cite the named article or practice without a separate check in this project (see each tradition’s section); 6 are not assessed (T03.1 Catholic, T03.1 Orthodox, T03.1 Oriental Orthodox, T03.1 Lutheran, T03.1 Anglican, T03.1 General Baptist), with the reason given in the reasoning page.