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Timothy Watts

In his book The Lost World of Genesis One, John Walton discusses the purpose of Genesis 1, its

background, the culture at the time, and why there are so many different views about it. Walton

certainly uses historical facts to back up his point of view and brings up interesting facts aboutthe ancient world.

Proposition 1 reasons that Genesis 1 was written with the understanding and logic of the ancient

cosmology. John Walton argues a very valid point. Much of the facts we know now about

science were not available back then, so they had a different viewpoint. Walton professionally

validates this argument with historical writings such as those of the ancient Babylonians and

Egyptians. The ancient texts sow the sky as a firm barrier as opposed to a gaseous open area. I

like the way he approaches this proposition by giving us a clear understanding of the thinking inthe ancient world.

IN proposition 2, Walton explains how ancient cosmology is function oriented - Meaning that

something is not viewed as actually coming into existence until it has a purpose or reason for

existing. He also says this is true in the modern world, but I, personally, do not really agree with

that. In the ancient world, however, he proves that they care more about what something can be

used for rather than how it came to be. The proof he used was very interesting to me. In ancient

Egyptian literature, the earth already existed, as did the sky, but they had no name, and therefore,

no function. The god that gave everything function, Atum, had no function either until he got a

name. He explains all his points with facts and proof in a very straightforward style.

In propositions 3-6, his arguments seem to get a little cloudy for me. He is very repetitive with

the word functional. He displays a chart which shows all the usages of the word bara which

means to create to show that it is always used with a functional meaning, but it appears to me

that it could also be the material meaning. Something useful he does is to use the original

Hebrew words and to try to find the context in order to find the meaning. In proposition 4, he

puts forth the idea that the phrase it was good means that the thing God created was

functioning properly. I think this is a closed minded way to look at it, especially without

contextual proof.

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In proposition 5, he goes so far as to say that the creation story is in order of functionality. He

then proceeded to say that God didnt create light on the first day, but created a period of light

and darknessalso known as day and night. About midway through this proposition, he admits

that Genesis 1 is also about the material origins of the world. He seems to be somewhat of a flip

flop. Its weird the way he describes the third day. He speaks of the creation of dry land, water,

and vegetation as functional as opposed to material although, to me, it seems very material. I

may be slightly biased because of a love for humans, but I agree very much with his statement

that the creation of humans is the climax of the creation account.

Proposition 7 is the most interesting thus far. He shows the earth to be Gods temple, describing

it as a place where God did not go to rest, but went to WORK. This, of course is also backed up

through contextual evidence.

Walton ushers in Proposition 10 by saying that all of genesis 1 definitely is function oriented. I

do appreciate that he said its hard to accept that after being taught for your whole life that its

material oriented. One thing I dont like about his writing style is his incessant need to repeat

every point he makes.

Proposition 12 is cool. He discusses various viewpoints such as Young Earth Creationism, Old

Earth Creationism and the Framework Hypothesis. He does a phenomenal job of explaining the

viewpoints of each group and not bashing any of them. He simply points out small flaws in the

different theories. For example, he says about the Young Earth Creationism Theory: It would

never occur to them that there are other alternatives and that in making this assumption they are

departing from a face-value reading of the biblical text. He gently states that they need to be a

little more open minded.

Part of his style that amuses me, is asking rhetorical questions and then answering them.

In proposition 13, he starts to tackle more popular and widespread issues such as evolution withhis ever-present use of metaphors. He strongly points that God is exact in his work so evolution

isnt an option. He then goes on in proposition 14 to help Christians change their view of God to

see him as a creator AND a provider.

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Proposition 15 gets more in depth into the contemporary issues and how they relate to the Bible.

He mentions a prevalent problem: the problem that not enough Christians want to investigate

further. He shows us both sides of the Intelligent Design view.

All in all, Walton does a good job of arguing his points, but I would say this is the most boring

book Ive ever read.