Mar 10 2010

John Walton to Speak at Butler University – March 18th

Category: Religious News — Polycarp @ 11:59 am

The First Sunset: Cosmology in the Ancient World and Genesis One

March 18, 2010, 6:00 p.m. Johnson Room of Robertson Hall

John Walton, Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College (Illinois), and author of The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate, will talk about the interpretation of creation narratives in the Bible. This lecture is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religion and will be co-sponsored by the Sunset Project.

I’m going, thanks to my lovely wife who has decided to let me. I’ll be going through Ohio which is really the only downside to the entire trip, but they have a Popeyes‘ just miles from campus. How cool is that!

Looking forward to it.

Thanks to Professor James McGrath for the heads up. If you are in the area – or 5 1/2 hours away like me, you might want to consider going.

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Feb 08 2010

John Walton on Genesis

Category: Genesis — Polycarp @ 11:59 am

First, I reckon you have to watch the video here, but Biologos makes an excellent point:

John Walton offers some important reminders in this video with regard to how we should approach a reading of the book of Genesis. Walton says that first and foremost, we have to approach Genesis for what it is, which is an ancient text. While it is a text that is written for us—in the sense that it was written for all people in all times and places—it was not written to us. That is, it was not written in our language or with our culture in mind.

And on the same token, you might want to check out this post, which begins:

This is an essential catholic and evangelical truth: the Word of God does not speak of something the way, for example, I may speak of something I know or have an opinion about. Scripture is God speaking. When Scripture speaks, we hear the voice of God.

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Feb 08 2010

John Walton Responds to Vern Poythress’s Review of “The Lost World of Genesis One”

Category: Genesis — Polycarp @ 11:59 am

You can find more of our recent discussions here and my review and interaction with John Walton’s book here. I would highly recommend reading Professor Walton’s book, which can be purchased here (or through Amazon).

Continue reading “John Walton Responds to Vern Poythress’s Review of “The Lost World of Genesis One””

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Dec 18 2009

John Walton on Creation in Genesis

Category: Genesis, Old Testament — Polycarp @ 4:59 pm

John Walton has a book coming out from Eisenbrauns on the creation narratives in Genesis.  The book has seen some delays and it is not on the Eisenbrauns website yet.  However, if you want a sneak peak of the book while you await its publication John has an article, “Creation in Genesis 1:1-2:3 and the Ancient Near East: Order out of Disorder after Chaoskampf,” in Calvin Theological Journal 43 (2008): 48-63 in which he provides a summary of his views on Genesis 1 as an ancient Near Eastern temple cosmology as well as an extended excerpt of a section from the forthcoming book on theomachy (or, divine conflict).

Awilum.com » John Walton on Creation in Genesis.


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Aug 17 2009

Exploring the Lost World of Genesis One (2)

Category: Book Review — Polycarp @ 7:59 pm
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For a start, see my recent review and part one of this series. Over the next two posts, I want to look at some of the strengths and weaknesses of his argument. I would strongly recommend this book to the reader who wants to start an exploration of a literal in context approach.

As I stated before, I would like to recommend this book to the reader, both scientific and theological. While I shared with you my view of the weaknesses of John H. Walton’s thesis, I would like to take this time to share with you my view of the strengths, and there are many, but I only want to talk about three of them.

  • It allows for a theological context to develop free of traditional views
  • It allows for the exploration of the purpose of Genesis 1 without the need to explore the scientific ramifications
  • It allows for a literal view of the 7 day creation account while attempting to find the author’s original context.

Continue reading “Exploring the Lost World of Genesis One (2)”

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Aug 12 2009

Book Review: The Lost World of Genesis One

Category: Book Review — Polycarp @ 7:59 am
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Your first question is most likely, why did I ask for this book? Well, to be honest, while I was reading James McGrath’s book, The Only True God, he mentioned a connection between monotheism and the act of Creation. While I am always, at some level, a literal creationist, I find the idea of mixing science and theology a bit troubling. The Bible is the word of God and has the charge to reveal to us those things about God which we cannot discern from nature (Romans 1.20; 2nd Timothy 3.15-16).

Frankly, I think that merely accepting the Six Day principle of Genesis 1 causes us to miss some of the deeper theology which God intended as He instructed Moses to write Genesis 1. Already, we know that Genesis 1.26 holds key theological ideas in later Christological debates. Moreover, if we briefly examine the idea that things came from things, we can build upon that precept for many biblical things – such as marriage. Even in the first few verses, we approach doctrinal lines which we see completed, or rather expanded, in the New Testament, such as the Spirit and the Water (John 3).

Continue reading “Book Review: The Lost World of Genesis One”

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