In the on-going discussions between science and Christianity regarding the origin and history of the universe, there is a wide range of belief. How much of modern biology, astronomy, and geology is accepted by any given Christian group is dependent to a large extent on their interpretation of the first two chapters of the book of Genesis. Those who regard the creation stories found in the Hebrew scriptures as metaphor, teaching that God created the universe but not describing the exact process, usually have little problem integrating scientific calculations of a universe between 12 and 14 billion years old, and of our earth approximately 4.55 billion years old, with the theological statement, “In the beginning, God.” (Note: “Billion” as used here is the American “thousand million,” not the British “million million.”)
Those who read the creation stories literally to mean that creation occurred in six 24-hour days, on the other hand, calculate that our earth is somewhere between six and ten thousand years old. The range occurs because of different interpretations of the genealogies contained in various sections of the Hebrew Scriptures. This belief is referred to as “young earth creationism.”
