If religion is at war with science, then one battlefield where this perceived war is being waged is the age of the world. The use of the word ‘war’ is, of course, metaphorical and is no small amount of hyperbole. Still, there is an area of conflict between science and biblical religion regarding the world’s age.
In this essay, I will examine the positions of both science and biblical religion concerning the age of the world and offer a Catholic perspective designed to reconcile the two opposing camps.
Earth’s Age According To Science
Modern science, that is, science practiced after 1600 or so, differs significantly from its predecessors. Perhaps more accurately, the philosophy of science has changed. Sundered from classical philosophy, science is no longer concerned with matters such as morality or metaphysics. This break with philosophy has led science to become more specialized.
One area of specialty is geology, which includes the subdiscipline of geochronology. Geochronology concerns itself with providing a temporal framework for geology. Put simply, geochronology seeks to determine the age of things like geological events, fossils, rocks, and even the Earth.
There are various methods of dating artifacts. For example, the location and depth of fossils are used to determine the age. The deeper the fossil, the older it is. This method is limited in that it can only provide relative data and no exact age. A more exacting method involves measuring the levels of radiocarbon or potassium in the fossils.
By utilizing various processes such as carbon-14, potassium-argon, or uranium-lead dating, geochronology measures the decay of radioactive isotopes, which act as a kind of natural clock. Utilizing this method, science has determined the age of our planet to be approximately 4.5 billion years old. (See Mark Stelten, “A beginner’s guide to dating (rocks), USGS, 2024).
This number, 4.5 billion years, appears in stark contrast to the biblical claim of the age of the planet Earth.
Earth’s Age According To Genesis
The biblical data regarding the creation of Earth is drawn almost exclusively from the creation narratives in the Book of Genesis. I use the plural form “narratives” because Genesis contains two creation narratives, each with its own focus and intention. One narrative focuses on a cosmic and orderly creation, while the other narrative focuses on humanity’s relationship with God and creation.
According to the narratives presented in Genesis 1 and 2, God created light on the first day, separated the Earth and sky, created the oceans on day 2, and created vegetation on day 3. Day 4 depicts the creation of the sun and moon, day 5 the creation of animal life, and, finally, on day 6, God created human beings. On day 7, God rested.
The reader may observe a discrepancy in the creation order of Genesis. Specifically, the creation of light precedes the creation of the sun. This issue has been interpreted in various ways. For example, it has been suggested that the light refers to God’s creative power or to Christ, who is the light of the world.
A theory I find most compelling, however, is that the presence of light before the creation of the sun results from the Big Bang. There is evidence to suggest that the very early universe was actually very bright, owing to the presence of photons (light particles) forming. (See Schroeder, Gerald. Genesis and the Big Bang Theory. Bantam, 2011).
Regardless, it is evident that the creation narratives of the Bible differ radically from the current scientific consensus on the age of the Earth.
The Catholic Perspective
It seems to me that it is prudent to distinguish three very different perspectives regarding the age of our planet. The first is to take the Genesis creation stories as a literal history.
Viewed this way, God created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh. There are several reasons to support a literal interpretation. The use of the phrase “evening and morning” seems suggestive of a 24-hour period. Additionally, the text uses the Hebrew word “yom,” which is generally (though not exclusively) translated as “day.” Lastly, in Exodus 20:8-11, God commands the Israelites to work for six days and rest on the seventh. This language mirrors the language used in Genesis 1 and links it to the Sabbath.
The second way of interpreting Genesis is to discard it entirely in favor of a strictly scientific theory. This method initially favored and accepted a static state universe, that is, an eternal universe with no beginning and no end. However, further scientific discoveries have disproved the existence of an eternal universe in favor of one approximately 14 billion years old. Nonetheless, a strictly materialist or naturalistic scientific approach necessarily denies the Genesis creation accounts.
The last way of interpreting Genesis 1 involves finding a middle ground between the first two. We may call this way a Catholic interpretation, although it should be admitted that the Catholic Church has no official position or teaching vis-à-vis the age of the Earth.
Nevertheless, within Catholic circles, the Genesis creation narratives are seen as allegorical. That is to say that Genesis should be understood as conveying theological truths about God’s creation of the universe and humanity’s relationship with God rather than a literal historical or scientific account.
The advantage of this position is that it allows one to glean from the creation stories the germane points. Specifically, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe while simultaneously avoiding conflict with the scientific data.
Conclusion
In his seminal work, How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler writes of the importance of properly categorizing what one is reading. One cannot critique a work of fiction in the same way one does non-fiction. This strategy is applicable to the Bible, as well.
If we read Genesis as a literal depiction of creation, we risk placing it in direct conflict with science. In the same way, if we view Genesis as a scientific treatment, we miss much of the text’s theological importance and meaning.
However, if one takes a nuanced approach to the biblical text, one may have a much better chance of obtaining the truth.
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