From Dean Ohlman on February 17, 2011

This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?” (Isaiah 66:).

Not too long ago I read a book that I feel is monumental in its significance: The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John H. Walton, professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. Its implications, if widely accepted, will go a long way toward defusing the controversy over the interpretation of the Genesis account of creation—something that RBC has also been striving to do for a number of years [see our booklet “The Genesis Account of Creation: Defusing the Controversy” ].

Because it is such a hot button issue in the church—and even outside the church—we have chosen to leave that controversy for other forums and not deal with it on this site. The reason is that the issue of interpreting the Genesis account of creation has a tendency to completely take over a conversation and invariable creates more heat than light. Further, we want WOC to center on celebrating and being good stewards of the creation instead of debating about what God did to give it to us and exactly how He did it (as if we actually could know that!)

I’m mentioning the IVP book for the prime purpose of sharing what John Walton says is the implication of his study. In short, what Walton has concluded is that Genesis chapter one is really not about the creation of the material cosmos. His extensive study of the ancient world at the time when Genesis was written, a study benefitted by more and more ancient documents from Old Testament times becoming available, has convinced him that the first chapters of the Bible are part of a “temple [or tabernacle] inauguration” ceremony similar to those found in other ancient accounts of origins—only it is the one true account about the work of the one true God [see the shema in Deuteronomy 6:4ff] that sets itself in contrast to the polytheistic religions surrounding Israel.

Walton’s belief is that Genesis one is really about God’s making His world to function, and not about His creating its material elements. So the first verse of the Bible is really saying, “In the beginning, God caused His creation to function.” The material cosmos is already made and God is now making it all to work perfectly according to His purposes and by His design. All other ancient cosmologies are centered on the same thing: how the gods made everything to work. Walton concludes that the biblical statement about the creation being “very good” is an expression that means everything is functioning just right. And now that everything in the cosmos is working and the Creator’s chief earthly functionaries, man and woman, are set to their work as temple attendants, He is ready to enter and reign in His cosmic temple. That happens on day seven and continues to happen as God maintains and sustains the universe—His sacred space. Walton’s elaboration is at the heart of what this website is all about:

Once we turn our thinking away from the “natural world” to “cosmic temple” our perspective about the world around us is revolutionized. It is difficult to think of the “natural world” as sacred (because we just designated it “natural”). When the cosmos is viewed in secular terms, it is hard to persuade people to respect it unless they can be convinced that it is in their own best interests to do so. If it is secular, it is easy to think of it only as a resource to be exploited. We even refer to “natural” resources.

But when we adopt the biblical perspective of the cosmic temple, it is no longer possible to look at the world (or space) in secular terms. It is not ours to exploit. We do not have natural resources; we have sacred resources. Obviously this view is far removed from a view that sees nature as divine: As sacred space the cosmos is His place. It is therefore not His person. The cosmos is His place, and our privileged place in it is His gift to us. The blessing He granted was that He gave us the permission and the ability to subdue and rule. We are stewards.

At the same time we recognize that the most important feature of sacred space is found in what it is by definition: the place of God’s presence. The cosmic temple idea recognizes that God is here and that all of this is His. It is this theology that becomes the basis for our respect of our world and the ecological sensitivity we ought to nurture.

I found this book to be a thrilling affirmation of what I have come to believe about the elegant and lofty meaning of the Genesis account—but did not have the theological background to articulate. I highly recommend it—recognizing, of course, that I am not a “professional” theologian.