The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate Edition Unstated Edition by John H. Walton (IVP Academic)

Walton's cosmic temple inauguration view of Genesis 1 is a landmark study in the interpretation of that controversial chapter. On the basis of ancient Near Eastern literatures, a rigorous study of the Hebrew word bara' ('create'), and a cogent and sustained argument, Walton has gifted the church with a fresh interpretation of Genesis 1. His view that the seven days refers to the inauguration of the cosmos as a functioning temple where God takes up his residence as his headquarters from which he runs the world merits reflection by all who love the God of Abraham

The Lost World of Genesis One’ was an interesting and challenging read for me. I found Walton’s previous work ‘Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament’ a little less thought provoking but also more substantive. His ‘Survey of the Old Testament’ co-authored with Andrew Hill is as good as any other that I’ve encountered. A common theme among his works is that creation-ex-nihilo is not to be found in the Old Testament and that the Israelites, like their ancient near eastern neighbors were only interested in how God created the cosmos to be functional. In the ‘Lost World’ he provides an alternative interpretation of Genesis 1: that the seven days in this chapter describe a functional account of how God inaugurated an already existing cosmos to be his Temple habitat. Within this temple habitat He would rule, control, and maintain His creation. Since this inauguration account is not an actual historical account but a functional account of creation, it has no bearing or relation to the scientific understanding of how the universe and our world come to be. Therefore, people of faith don’t have to worry about whether science contradicts the creation account in Genesis 1.

Per Walton, the Ancient Near East (ANE) concept of creation did not regard an object, or entity, as fully created until it was separated or differentiated from its environment, given a name or identity, and assigned a function. This description of how the ancients viewed the process of creation has real explanatory power to illuminate certain passages in the Old testament. It illuminates the fact that the sun, moon, and stars did not come into existence on day 4 for they had already come into existence materially by day 1. It is on day 4 that they were differentiated from their environment then given an identity and a function in relation to life on the earth. In another passage, Psalm 147:4, we are told that God counts the number of the stars and that He calls them all by name. Applying this ANE concept of creation to this verse indicates that the fact that each of the heavenly bodies is known by name means that each of the Heavenly bodies has an individual function. That they are also all counted by number would also seem to indicate that they have a collective function.