Page 142 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

universe, origins of 1919

Oldest Lunar Rocks

This table lists the oldest lunar rocks recovered by expeditions to the moon. Combined
with similar dates obtained for rocks on earth, they help scientists determine the age
of earth.

Mission Technique Age (in billions of years)
Apollo 17 Rb-Sr isochron 4.55 ± 0.1

Apollo 17 Rb-Sr isochron 4.60 ± 0.1
Apollo 17 Rb-Sr isochron 4.49

Apollo 17 Rb-Sr isochron 4.43 ± 0.05

Apollo 17 Sm-Nd isochron 4.23 ± 0.05
Apollo 17 Sm-Nd isochron 4.34 ± 0.05

Apollo 16 40Ar/39 Ar4.47

Apollo 16 40Ar/39 Ar4.42
Source: Evolution–Dating Methods. www.origins.tv/darwin/datingmethods.htm

To understand what we are and where we have come chaos is at the beginning, and is in some sense the creator
from, we need to understand the history of the entire uni- and ground of reality. This short extract illustrates how
verse. Cosmologies offer the largest possible framework origin stories use richly symbolic narratives to deal with
within which to think about our place in time and space. problems that still challenge us today.
In the beginning, Eurynome, the Goddess of All Things,
Traditional Origin Stories
rose naked from Chaos, but found nothing substantial for
On the surface, origin stories often seem utterly different
her feet to rest upon, and therefore divided the sea from the
from each other. But all are attempts to grapple with the sky, dancing lonely upon its waves. She danced towards the
same fundamental questions.At the very beginning, they south,and the wind set in motion behind her seemed some-
have to explain how something can come out of nothing. thing new and apart with which to begin a work of cre-
Some origin stories (including the Genesis story) claim ation.Wheeling about, she caught hold of this north wind,
that a god or gods created the universe and ignore the rubbed it between her hands,and behold!The great serpent
nagging question of how the gods were created. Many Ophion. Eurynome danced to warm herself, wildly and
origin stories begin with a sort of nothingness out of more wildly, until Ophion, grown lustful, coiled about
those divine limbs and was moved to couple with her.Now,
which something appears without any clear explanation
the NorthWind, who is also called Boreas, fertilizes: which
of how and why. In this way they confront the most basic
is why mares often turn their hind-quarters to the wind and
duality of all: between nothing and something. Many ori-
breed foals without aid of a stallion. So Eurynome was like-
gin stories posit an initial state of chaos that is not quite
wise got with child. Next she assumed the form of a dove,
existence and not quite nonexistence; then, out of this
brooding on the waves and in due process of time, laid the
state arise both existence and nonexistence. Often, this
Universal Egg. At her bidding, Ophion coiled seven times
mysterious process is compared to sexual reproduction, about this egg, until it hatched and split in two. Out tum-
another strange form of creation in which the coming bled all the things that exist, her children: sun, moon, plan-
together of two people creates a third person. Robert ets, stars, the earth with its mountains and rivers, its trees,
Graves summarizes an ancient Greek myth in which herbs and living creatures. (Sproul 1991, 157)