The differences between the young Earth interpretation of Genesis and modern scientific theories believed by some day-age creationists such as the Big Bang, abiogenesis, and common descent are significant.
In the mid 19th century, American geologist Arnold Guyot sought to harmonize science and scripture by interpreting the "days" of Genesis 1 as epochs in cosmic history.
Similar views were held by a protégé of Lyell, John William Dawson, who was a prominent Canadian geologist and commentator, from an orthodox perspective, on science and religion in the latter part of the 19th century.
In these later years Wright believed that the "days" of Genesis represented geological ages and argued for the special creation of several plant and animal species "and at the same time endowed them with the marvellous capacity for variation which we know they possess."
They point out that the Hebrew words for father ('ab) and son (ben) can also mean forefather and descendent, respectively, and that the Biblical scripture occasionally "telescopes" genealogies to emphasise the more important ancestors.
[6] Day-age creationists often point to phenomena such as the Cambrian explosion as evidence of one of the Creation "days" appearing in the fossil record as a long period of time.