152 Why Didn’t God Call the Light Light? (John Walton)

When it comes to Genesis 1, Christians tend to divide into two major camps: old earth and young earth creationists. The former sees the days as long periods of time (e.g. Hugh Ross) while the latter insists on literal twenty-four hour periods (e.g. Ken Ham). Professor John Walton of Wheaton College advocates for a different reading of the bible’s first chapter. By carefully comparing Genesis to other ancient near eastern creation texts, he proposes that it’s talking about God providing functionality to the already-existing cosmos rather than creating structures ex nihilo.

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• For a much more in depth explanation of Walton’s perspective on Genesis 1, see his book The Lost World of Genesis One
• Visit his faculty page at Wheaton College
• See podcast Off Script 30: Stewarding the Earth or 84: Kingdom Restoration
• Intro music: Jazzy Frenchy by bensound.com. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.