A dissertation on the true age of the world

In A dissertation on the true age of the world: in which is determined the chronology of the period from creation to the Christian era, R. Wallace undertakes a learned reconstruction of sacred and early human chronology, seeking to calculate the world's age from biblical creation to the advent of Christianity. The work belongs to the long early modern tradition of chronological inquiry, where theology, scriptural exegesis, and historical method converge. Its style is rigorous and argumentative, marked by close engagement with genealogies, reigns, and textual authorities, and it reflects the period's conviction that universal history could be systematically ordered through disciplined comparison of sacred and historical records. Wallace emerges as a writer shaped by an intellectual culture in which chronology was central to apologetics, biblical interpretation, and the harmonization of revelation with historical knowledge. His dissertation suggests familiarity with the major chronological controversies of his age, especially disputes over scriptural numbers, ancient kingdoms, and the authority of competing textual traditions. Such concerns likely prompted him to produce a work aimed not merely at calculation, but at defending the coherence and credibility of sacred history. This book will reward readers interested in biblical chronology, early modern historiography, and the scholarly ambitions of religious thought. It is particularly valuable for those seeking to understand how chronology once served as a serious instrument of theology, history, and intellectual order.