{"id":10357,"date":"2026-04-21T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10357"},"modified":"2025-10-25T09:39:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T09:39:55","slug":"looking-at-john-h-waltons-book-2025-new-explorations-in-the-lost-world-of-genesis-part-9-of-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10357","title":{"rendered":"Looking at John H. Walton’s Book (2025) “New Explorations in the Lost World of Genesis”\u00a0\u00a0(Part 9 of 20)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0085 All this goes into the drawer labeled, “methodology”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before skipping over the frequently asked questions portion<\/em> in this chapter, I want to review one caveat and introduce one implication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0086 The caveat is that the Lost World hylomorphe <\/em>descends from mediation as a triadic relation<\/em>.  The substance<\/em> is efficient causation2<\/sub> along with formal requirements2<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0087 Here is a picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Keep in mind that a thing is composed to two contiguous real elements.  So, the actuality2<\/sub> constitutes the object of Walton’s Lost World Inquiry<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0089 Walton assumes that the above category-based nested form<\/em> is shared by fellow inquirers, especially evangelicals in the plain-speaking traditions of the Reformation<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One problem is that this assumption does not receive the attention that it deserves.  This category-based nested form<\/em> is key to the success of the Lost World Project<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the normal context3<\/sub> of divine mediation3<\/sub> and the potential of God’s design1<\/sub> and intentions1<\/sub> does not limit itself to the slogan, sola scriptura<\/em>, now that God has revealed the archaeology of the ancient Near East<\/em> to the still-Christian western civilization<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, modern excavations and reconstructions of ancient Near East civilizations<\/em> cannot be ignored by Christian theologians<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0090 As noted in points 0079-0084, Walton’s resolution<\/em> occurs once the hylomorphe of traditional theological inquiry into the Creation Story and the Primeval History as objects of inquiry<\/em> entangles the archaeological discoveries of the ancient Near East<\/em> (ANE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0091 Fortunately, Walton’s resolution<\/em> resists entanglements with the science-informed Christian imaginations<\/em> that were formulated before the Lost World Inquiry<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

0092 Say what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John H. Walton does not want entanglements.  He wants a plain reading of the Genesis 1-11 text<\/em> in light of ANE civilizational conditions and history<\/em>.  This permits the exclusion of all preceding science-Christian entanglements<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the frequently asked-question section in the chapter on methodology<\/em> beats back many expressions of Christian imaginations informed by science<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these expressions<\/em> are ruled out as not relevant, once one regards Israelite thinking<\/em> as embedded in the conceptual world of the ANE<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0093 This examination suggests that Walton’s lockdown of the science-informed Christian imagination will not last long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have entered the fourth age of understanding, the Age of Triadic Relations<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0094 If Juri Lotman, a Marxist atheist, ends up convinced that we live in a semiosphere, a world perfused with signs, and if that conviction resurrects a theological insight buried deep within the Orthodox Church and Slavic civilization, then what happens when plain-speaking reformers embrace semiotic points of view?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will such an embrace fire the Christian imagination, already informed by science?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yipes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0095 What happens when, in question number seven on page 36, scholars suggest that both Israelites and other people in the ANE believed that the sky is a solid dome?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akkadian texts contain passages that proclaim that the stars are engraved on the underside of a solid sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Egyptian art portrays stars embedded in the underside of the body of Nut, the god of the firmament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0096 The thing that is the “sky”<\/em> is considered solid<\/em> to the peoples in the ANE<\/em>.  Solid matter<\/em> substantiates the form<\/em> of the term “firmament”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, this claim<\/em> sets up the occasion for an entanglement<\/em> with… gasp… the semiotics of natural signs<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

0097 To the Israelites and the peoples of the ANE, the solid dome is a sign-vehicle (SV) that stands for the sign-object of the word “firmament” (SO) in regards to imagery, appearances and so forth (SI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The referent (as matter) precedes the spoken word (as form).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the referent (as sign-vehicle, SV) stands for the spoken word (as sign-object, SO) on the basis of imagery (a sign-interpretant, SI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How confounding!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0085 All this goes into the drawer labeled, “methodology”. Before skipping over the frequently asked questions portion in this chapter, I want to review one caveat and introduce one implication. 0086 The caveat is that the Lost World hylomorphe descends from mediation as a triadic relation.  The substance is efficient causation2 along with formal requirements2. 0087 Here is a picture. Keep in mind that […]<\/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-10357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at John H. 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