Our current understanding of the chronology of the universe, Galaxy, and Solar System represents the fulfillment of a quest that required more than t… - Brent Dalrymple

Estimates of the age of the Earth made prior to about 1950, biblical or otherwise, are all wrong, because they were based on methods now known to be invalid.

These calculations result in ages for the Earth of 4.52 to 4.56 Ga. Probably the best value is 4.54 Ga, found by (Fouad) Tera using the congruency point of the four oldest conformable lead ores. Its value, which is known to within 1% or better, is consistent with the ages of meteorites, the ages of the oldest lunar samples, and the ages of the oldest Earth rocks.

Biblical chronologies are historically important, but their credibility began to erode in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when it became apparent to some that it would be more profitable to seek a realistic age for the Earth through observation of nature than through a literal interpretation of parables. Today, scientists and biblical scholars alike agree that science is the proper arena in which to seek the numerical age of the Earth.