{"id":10337,"date":"2026-04-25T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10337"},"modified":"2025-10-25T09:30:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T09:30:58","slug":"looking-at-john-h-waltons-book-2025-new-explorations-in-the-lost-world-of-genesis-part-5-of-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10337","title":{"rendered":"Looking at John H. Walton’s Book (2025) “New Explorations in the Lost World of Genesis”\u00a0\u00a0(Part 5 of 20)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0041 After that confession, I turn to chapter two, concerning methodology, and happily report that the Lost World books<\/em>are grounded on the premise of biblical authority<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God’s authority<\/em> is vested in human instruments<\/em> (as a formal requirement2<\/sub>).  Human agency operates through the Hebrew language, communication styles, genres and cultural understandings (efficient causes2<\/sub>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0042 The focus shifts to actuality2<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0043 Here is the general picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0044 Savor this image, because I am about to mess it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, this is as clear as the thing2<\/sub> gets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0045 Matter should belong to secondness,<\/em> but because the thing<\/em> is a mediation,<\/em> that secondness<\/em> is really a questionable expression of firstness<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questionable expression?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, let me say that I am looking for a piece of wood<\/em> in a woodpile.  Of course, each piece1<\/sub><\/em> is potentially the piece that I will choose<\/em>.  I choose only one peice2<\/sub>.  An observer may wonder1(?)<\/sub> what I am doing (mediation3<\/sub>) and whether that piece with fulfill2<\/sub> my design1<\/sub> (formal potential1<\/sub>) and satisfy my intent1<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0046 Now, apply that lesson to Hebrew words<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apply that to scripture<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who<\/em> is choosing the words?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

0047 Let me present the theological hylomorphe,<\/em> once again.  Notice that mediation3<\/sub> is the unspoken normal context.  Also, God’s design1<\/sub> and God’s intentions1<\/sub> are out of the picture.  Only the actuality2<\/sub> remains for examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0048 This is the standard application for a mediation-based hylomorphe of Genesis 1-11<\/em>.  Matter1(?)<\/sub> belongs to firstness.  Revelation brings matter1<\/sub> into secondness.  Yet, there is always the tag of possibility, because our view of what is revealed<\/em> may change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, the theological question<\/em> may be formulated as, “What does Genesis 1-11 reveal?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0049 As soon as the substance (per mediation) translates into efficient causes2<\/sub> and formal requirements2<\/sub>, then the literalist has an easier time.  Revelation2<\/sub> as matter1<\/sub> now works mechanically in order to render the form2<\/sub> of Genesis 1-11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, for the six days of creation-activity, each “day” as form2<\/sub> implicates, through the efficient causation of celestial periodicity2<\/sub> and the formal requirement that the period manifests God design2<\/sub>, a variety of schools of interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those schools is a day-age correspondence,<\/em> where a day in the life of a human<\/em> is like an age in the<\/em> um… experience?… of God<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another is a “day”-Earth rotation correspondence,<\/em> which speeds the creation business up a lot.  But, not for the variation of a “day”-human vision correspondence,<\/em> which comports with the day-age school<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0050 John H. Walton’s Lost World Inquiry endeavors to make the literalist’s work more sensible, because he joins the civilizational conditions of the ancient Near East<\/em> (ANE) to revealed matter1(?)<\/sub><\/em>.  He labels these ANE conditions as a “cultural river”.  The biblical author (redactor) floats in a river of cultural assumptions,<\/em> just as we all do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0051 The Lost World thing<\/em> presumes biblical authority<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is “biblical authority” configured?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revealed matter1(?)<\/sub> aspect<\/em> still touches base with the off-screen divine mediation3(1)<\/sub>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, the revealed matter1(?)<\/sub><\/em> must be couched by the author’s presence in an ANE cultural river2<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If God’s authority3<\/sub><\/em> is vested in the human instruments that he used to produce Scripture<\/em> (formal requirement2<\/sub>), and if human agency<\/em> operates within a cultural river2<\/sub>,<\/em> then the literalist<\/em> is required to engage ANE languages, rhetorical styles, genres, and cultural understanding<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0052 Walton labels the substance of the Lost World hylomorphe,<\/em> “accommodation”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All effective communication<\/em> requires accommodation to the audience<\/em>.  The audience of the first publication of the Pentateuch… er, the five books of Moses… is the folk coming back from exile in Babylon, hoping against all odds to re-establish the kingdom of… what used to be Judah,<\/em> but is now Israel<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0053 At this point in the section on method, Walton states that the purpose of Lost World Inquiry<\/em> is to recover the literary intentions built into the text<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that the same as revealed matter1(?)<\/sub>?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If one looks off-screen, this actuality2<\/sub> is contextualized by the normal context of divine mediation3<\/sub> and potentiated by the formal cause of God’s design1<\/sub> and the final causes of God’s intentions1<\/sub>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0041 After that confession, I turn to chapter two, concerning methodology, and happily report that the Lost World booksare grounded on the premise of biblical authority. God’s authority is vested in human instruments (as a formal requirement2).  Human agency operates through the Hebrew language, communication styles, genres and cultural understandings (efficient causes2). 0042 The focus shifts to actuality2. 0043 Here is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at John H. 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