Rethinking Genesis One

Last night I had the pleasure of listening to Dr. John Walton from Wheaton College. Dr. Walton was lecturing on "Genesis One as Ancient Cosmology." That's basically a fancy way to say, "We need to look at Genesis through the eyes of the ancient Israelites."

I highly recommend listening to the lecture by clicking here. It's about an hour long. And trust me, you won't regret it.

Dr. Walton started by questioning our understanding of what it means to create and what it means for something to exist. He stated that the ancient understanding of existence was based on function rather than material. Meaning, something exists if it has a function for humanity. Dr. Walton contrasted that to our modern understanding of existence, which is that something exists if when can observe or feel it.

This focus on function takes the focus from how God created the cosmos and puts it on why He made the universe. Consequently, Dr. Walton argued that Genesis one wasn't written to help us understand the science God used, or even how long it took God to create the universe.

One of his most profound statements was this, "The ancient creation narrative was not written to us, but it was written for us." That idea really gets at the heart of biblical interpretation.

If you get around to listening to the lecture, or even if you want to sound off without listening to it, I'd love to hear what you think about the issue.