Ussher, James

Abstract

James Ussher was one of the first students at the newly established Trinity College, Dublin. He quickly went on to become the university’s most highly regarded graduate in the seventeenth century. An early appointment as Professor of Theological Controversies largely set the tone for the rest of his life, which was dedicated to winning the denominational argument with Catholicism by making reference to history. As a product of Trinity, he was a Ramist, and his encyclopedic approach to writing reflected this approach. Ussher would gather sources together in order to frame an argument, and his knowledge of ancient literature and languages was justly admired.

Ussher is perhaps most well-known for his Annales veteris testamenti (1654) which contained a dating of creation at 4004 BC that proved resilient up until the modern era and in some cases beyond. If Ussher’s reputation suffers from this, then it is to be regretted because there is much historical work in Annales that is groundbreaking in its attention to primary sources and sedulous in its attention to detail.