# For how long has the 7 day weekly cycle been unbroken? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472 "2013-08-17T02:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/21 "2013-08-18T05:34:27Z")
Where are you, and how are you determining what day it is? If you’re in Samoa, and you use the local calendar, you could only go back as far as 2011. They went from a Thursday straight to Saturday. The poor Seventh Day Adventists had a schism over it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/22 "2013-08-18T05:50:36Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > As an offshoot to this what about Saturday? My impression was that a six day work week was normal until fairly recently. For how long have the majority of the population not been working on Saturday? Here in Panama working a half day on Saturday is still normal in many jobs. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/23 "2013-08-18T21:22:51Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Any day can be the seventh day if you can count to seven, which is exactly what the Talmud says you should do if lost in the desert, or otherwise unaware what day it is in your community’s calendar. The point is the ritual observance; the actual day it takes place on is completely immaterial. My point is that Christians do not observe the Jewish Sabbath, but in fact worship on the day after the Sabbath. The unbroken seven day cycle discussed here specifically refers to the Judeo-Christian counting of days (Sunday to Saturday, being one to seven). The change of the day of worship was an explicit change made by the early Christian community and confirmed by one of the early Catholic popes (however some minor protestant groups claim it was due to a “double day” vaguely described in the Old Testament to avoid admitting they are worshiping on the day the pope ordered!). ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/24 "2013-08-18T22:40:15Z")
Christians observe the same worship cycle as Jews, for the same reason. The fact that (most) Christians offset their actual day of observance from that adhered to by Jews is theologically insignificant. Again, any day in the cycle can be the “first” or the “seventh.” Religious communities adhere to arbitrary standards about which is which to identify their communality, and for practical reasons. There is no magic that works on Saturday but not Sunday, or vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/25 "2013-08-19T00:26:25Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Christians observe the same worship cycle as Jews, for the same reason. The fact that (most) Christians offset their actual day of observance from that adhered to by Jews is theologically insignificant. > > Again, any day in the cycle can be the “first” or the “seventh.” Religious communities adhere to arbitrary standards about which is which to identify their communality, and for practical reasons. There is no magic that works on Saturday but not Sunday, or vice-versa. My original comment was about the incorrect use of the word “Sabbath”. Implying that “Sunday” is the “Sabbath” would mean there was a discontinuity in the seven day cycle, which has never been documented to have occurred. This comment is now about the incorrect use of the word “theological”. The Christians changed the day of worship specifically because it was _theologically_ significant to them. They specifically wished to distinguish their New Testament worship from the Jewish Old Testament worship. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/26 "2013-08-19T02:00:32Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Where are you, and how are you determining what day it is? If you’re in Samoa, and you use the local calendar, you could only go back as far as 2011. They went from a Thursday straight to Saturday. The poor Seventh Day Adventists had a schism over it. Reading about that a few months ago gave me a headache! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/27 "2013-08-19T18:59:35Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Christians observe the same worship cycle as Jews, for the same reason. The fact that (most) Christians offset their actual day of observance from that adhered to by Jews is theologically insignificant. > > Again, any day in the cycle can be the “first” or the “seventh.” Religious communities adhere to arbitrary standards about which is which to identify their communality, and for practical reasons. There is no magic that works on Saturday but not Sunday, or vice-versa. Granted that in a continuously repeating cycle (like the week) which day is “first” and which day is “seventh” is somewhat arbitrary; Christians didn’t start counting Sunday as the seventh day, they changed the day of worship from the seventh day to the first day. The Christian theological position and the Jewish theological position still agree that the day on which most Christian churches meet is the first day of the week, and the day on which Jews keep the Sabbath (and some Christian churches which call themselves “Seventh-Day” meet) is the seventh day of the week. (Without getting into that whole “in Jewish reckoning the day starts at the previous sunset” issue.) It’s the influence of the secular workweek and the two-day weekend that causes people nowadays to consider Monday the first day of the week (and therefore Sunday as the last day). > [@runningdude](#): > > My original comment was about the incorrect use of the word “Sabbath”. Implying that “Sunday” is the “Sabbath” would mean there was a discontinuity in the seven day cycle, which has never been documented to have occurred. > > This comment is now about the incorrect use of the word “theological”. The Christians changed the day of worship specifically because it was _theologically_ significant to them. They specifically wished to distinguish their New Testament worship from the Jewish Old Testament worship. Some Christians _do_ refer to Sunday as “the Christian Sabbath”, while also explicitly acknowledging a discontinuity, not in the seven-day cycle as such, but in which day in that cycle is considered the “Sabbath”. From the [Westminister Confession of Faith, Chapter XXI, “Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day”](http://www.the-highway.com/WCFChXXI.html) (Presbyterian): > [@](#): > > VII. As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week: and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/28 "2013-08-19T19:13:00Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > … > > Some Christians _do_ refer to Sunday as “the Christian Sabbath”, while also explicitly acknowledging a discontinuity, not in the seven-day cycle as such, but in which day in that cycle is considered the “Sabbath”. From the [Westminister Confession of Faith, Chapter XXI, “Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day”](http://www.the-highway.com/WCFChXXI.html) (Presbyterian): This is correct. What is ironic is that the Presbyterians call it the “Sabbath” only because Saint Thomas Aquinas (a Catholic!) called it that.\* \*Technically, in his theological writings, he considered the commandment of worship on the Sabbath to be a reflection of [Natural Law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_law#Christian_natural_law), and that worship on Sunday fulfilled this fundamental requirement of human nature, though the commandment to worship on Saturday expired. There are many other theological opinions on this matter. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/29 "2013-08-19T19:28:08Z")
> [@runningdude](#): > > This comment is now about the incorrect use of the word “theological”. The Christians changed the day of worship specifically because it was _theologically_ significant to them. They specifically wished to distinguish their New Testament worship from the Jewish Old Testament worship. The desire to distinguish communities is a cultural factor, not a theological one. To my knowledge, the theological basis for a seven-day cycle is still understood by all Jewish and Christian parties to be symbolically (at least) grounded in six days of Creation plus seventh day of rest. ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/30 "2013-08-20T02:58:01Z")
Are there any cultures that observe something other than a seven day week? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472/31 "2013-08-20T03:23:43Z")
There are several mentioned in the Wikipedia article: > **[Week](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week)** > > A week is a unit of time equal to seven days. It is the standard time period used for short cycles of days in most parts of the world. The days are often used to indicate common work days and rest days, as well as days of worship. Weeks are often mapped against yearly calendars, but are typically not the basis for them, as weeks are not based on astronomy. > The modern seven-day week can be traced back to the Babylonians, who used it within their calendar. Other ancient cultures had different we... It’s not clear to what extent they are currently observed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-how-long-has-the-7-day-weekly-cycle-been-unbroken/666472.md?page=1)