What Augustine was for orthodoxy and Calvin was for theology, Archbishop James Ussher was for biblical historiography. No man in church history left a more indelible imprint on the thinking of Christians concerning the chronology of the ancient world than Ussher. Hundreds of years after first publishing this work, Ussher’s scholarship has stood the test of time.

Updated from a seventeenth-century Latin manuscript to modern English, The Annals of the World contains the fascinating history of the ancients, from the Genesis creation to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. Ussher traveled throughout Europe, gathering much information from the actual historical documents, many of which are now lost to the world.

The Annals of the World was so highly regarded for its accuracy, that its timeline (pointing to an earth of just over six thousand years) was included in the margins of many King James Version Bibles for three centuries. When the Church began to embrace evolutionary chronology, Ussher’s notes were removed.

The Annals of the World is packaged in a beautiful display box, and the volume itself is smythe-sewn with gold-gilded edges and foil embossing. It includes eight appendices and contains over ten thousand footnotes from the original text, which have been updated with references from works in the Loeb Classical Library by Harvard Press. (Click here to view how entries in the book are precisely dated and referenced.)

In my opinion, the translation into English and publication of The Annals of the World, for the first time in almost four hundred years, is the most significant Christian publishing event of 2003. This is a multi-generational book meant to be passed on to your children. Christian fathers owe it to their posterity to acquire this volume and display it in a place of prominence in the family library.

Of Ussher, Dr. Francis Nigel Lee writes, “Raised in a Bible-believing Calvinistic environment, Dr. Ussher soaked himself in the Holy Scriptures without ceasing. He also read the Early Church Fathers — systematically, every day, for eighteen years. Head of Ireland’s foremost Theological Faculty, Ussher was internationally the greatest Anglican antiquarian and theologian of his age — if not of all time.” (Click here to read more commentary on Ussher by Francis Nigel Lee.) Beautifully packaged and presented. Includes fully-searchable timeline reference CD-ROM. Hardback with Box.