Interpreting Genesis 1-3

Dr. John Walton presents and Joe Fleener provides a response. My notes on the video are found after the video and I conclude with my assessment of the response.

Dr. John Walton, Old Testament, Wheaton College (dur. 1:08)

·         Inspiration and interpretation of scripture.

·         The importance of context and culture.

·         Scripture written for us, but not to us.

·         We must strip away our culture from our reading of scripture.

·         We need to place ourselves into the original setting as much as possible.

·         Communication takes place on the basis of what is familiar.

·         God could not communicate something completely foreign to ancient peoples.

·         Understanding ancient cosmology is crucial to reading creation accounts.

·         “Who’s in charge?” was the most important concept to communicate.

·         Material structure was not important.

·         God doesn’t always use “right” science to communicate, rather he uses familiar.

·         We can’t read the words of the text with our assumptions.

·         We have to define words and concepts according to what it meant to the original audience.

·         Textual authority can only come from what the original context would have communicated.

·         Naturalistic explanations do not eliminate God.

·         The Bible does not provide scientific revelations.

·         God does not “upgrade” Hebrew scientific understandings.

·         God accommodates the understandings of his audience to communicate using the already familiar.

·         Inerrancy only applies to what the Bible is meant to affirm.

·         Day 1: God created the basis of time.

·         Day 1: Time is not an object, light is not an object - no objects created on day 1.

·         We think creation means “creation of objects.”

·         The ancients did not think that way.

·         Usage is the key to meaning.

·         English words can mean different things in different cultures.

·         Usage determines meaning.

·         “Create” [baw-raw] does not have to create an object.

·         “Create” can mean creation of functions and orderings.

·         That God created everything is not in question.

·         The question is, what part of this creation story is the creation account telling?

·         The creation account begins with Gen 1:2.

·         Genesis 1:1 is an introduction.

·         There is already material at verse 2.

·         The starting point of this account is “no order” and “no function,” not “no material.”

·         the Egyptians talk about the desert and sea as “non-existent” - not materially, but in function.

·         Thesis: Genesis 1 is an origin account of order and functions; not material objects.

·      Ancients thought of the cosmos as a kingdom with someone in charge.

·         Creation account: who is in charge?

·         When God says “it is good” in the creation account it doesn’t mean perfect or righteous, but ready to function.

·         When God says “it is not good” it means something is not ready to function.

·         It is futile to ask “what objects were created on a particular day?”

·         Moderns are concerned with how the material aspects are built.

·         The ancients weren’t particularly concerned with that.

·         Moderns are concerned with the story of how the house was built.

·         The ancients were concerned with the story of how a home was created.

·         John 14 - Jesus says he will build a home for his family.

·         In the house story we are insignificant.

·         In the home story we are honored guests.

·         Day 2: Creation of weather.

·         Day 3: Food.

·         Time, weather, food - three crtitical functions of existence.

·         Days 4-6: functionaries are installed

·         Hebrews did not see sun, moon, and stars as objects - they were functionaries providing functions.

·         Day 7: a temple account

·         We moderns don’t see “temple” in the text, but the ancients would not have required it.

·         Why does God need to “rest”?

·         It is not six days of creation, but a full seven days.

·         When God “rests” it screams “a temple”!

·         God takes up residence by “resting.”

·         God moves in to take charge.

·         When the Bible says that the Israelites rested, it means they took charge and order established.

·         When Jesus says “I will give you rest” it means he will elevate his people to take charge in the kingdom.

·         When the book of Hebrews says “rest hasn’t been achieved” it means full order and charge has not been established.

·         Rest is where a being rules, not where someone sleeps.

·         Rest is the climax of the creation account.

·         The opposite of rest is not activity, but unrest.

·         The temple does not “exist” until God moves in.

·         God moves in by an “inauguration ceremony”

·         In ANE texts, an inauguration ceremony involves proclaims the functions of the temple, functionaries are installed, and a deity takes up rest in the temple, and takes seven days.

·         Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the Hebrew version of an ANE temple inauguration ceremony.

·         The Genesis creation account is a theological account, of the past but also of the promise for the future.

·         Seven, literal, 24-hours days – but it isn’t about the literal construction of the material world.

·         No claims are being are made about the age of the earth.

·         Genesis 2 is not about Day 6.

·         Genesis 2 is a sequel account.

·         If Genesis 1 and 2 are sequel accounts, the humans in Genesis 1 are not Adam and Eve.

·         Genesis 2 describes the “creation” of Adam and Eve.

·         Second account does not need to fit into Day 6.

·         Adam and Eve are not the first people – solves quite a few problems.

·         Biblical text suggests there were a whole lot more people than Adam and Eve’s descendants.

·         Adam and Eve are archetypes – one who represents all the others.

·         Does Genesis 2 refer to individuals or archetypes?

·         “Dust” – not chemistry or craftsmanship.

·         “Dust” = “mortality”.

·         People were created mortal (from dust).

·         Tree of life – no sense if people were created immortal.

·         Sin – humans lost the antidote to immortality.

·         Psalm 103:14 – “we” are all formed from “dust”.

·         Not unique to Adam – every human being formed from “dust”.

·         Formed from “dust” is not about material formation.

·         Formed from “dust” does not preclude being born from a woman.

·         Formed from “dust” is a statement about every human being throughout history; it is a statement about identity.

·         Gen 2: Does Adam believe Eve was created from his rib? No.

·         The word “rib” in Gen 2 is never used anatomically anywhere else.

·         Biblical text is not talking about surgery.

·         When Adam falls into deep sleep, God shows him a vision.

·         Adam sees a vision of him being cut into two halves, and Eve being created out of one half.

·         When Adam and Eve join together, humanity is restored to wholeness.

·         It is not about the material origins of woman; but about identity.

·         They (together) are given a priestly role.

·         Adam and Eve can be historical individuals, without being the very first biological humans.

·         There is no biblical account of human (material, biological) origins.

·         The Bible does not endorse or rule out evolutionary processes.

 

Joe Fleener provides a response to John Walton in the remaining 45 minutes.

·         How did the LXX translators understand Genesis 1?

·         How did pre-Enlightenment Christians understand it?

·         How did pre-Enlightenment Jews understand it?

·         How did the Qumran community understand it?

·         There is strong evidence that these understood Genesis 1 as material creation.

·         There is ample evidence that pre-Enlightenment.

·         God is The Author of the entire Bible.

·         The entirely of the Bible has an intentional beginning and an end.

·         Revelation refers back to the Genesis creation account.

·         Revelation discusses new material creation.

·         The language in Revelation is the same as LXX Genesis accounts of creation (therefore, Genesis 1 must be referring to material creation).

·         Various examples from Bible passages that describe God as creator of the material world.

·         The Flood is about material destruction.

·         Genesis 1 and 2 must be about material creation.

·         Paul’s use of the creation account as requiring it to be chronologically and materially literal.

·         Creation of sea creatures in Genesis 1: sometimes thought to be a polemic, but it is clearly a material creation.

·         Not either/or – but both/and.

·         Genesis 1 and 2 is both functional and material creation.

·         Genesis 1 is not science, but it is history.

·         There can be no conflict between science and Genesis 1, even though the Bible is not a science text.

·         How accurate are our understandings of ANE cultures?

·         Are the ANE texts reflective of how people really thought?

·         Scripture must be inerrant and true in all aspects: can something be theologically true, yet ontologically untrue?

·         Criticism of higher criticism in interpreting scripture.

·         Discomfort with the idea of a Cosmic Temple imagery.

My assessment of the response

In my opinion, Fleener’s response fails to convince. John Walton never said God didn’t materially create, which is what Fleener appears to be trying to answer. What John Walton says is that Genesis 1 and 2 are about functional creation which pre-supposes a material creation ex nihilo. Fleener is addressing a single statement from Walton’s work in which Walton appears to put forth a claim that reading Genesis 1 and 2 as a material creation account is strictly an Enlightenment development. Fleener falls into some of the interpretation issues that Walton describes: reading anachronistically; assuming the later Jews and pre-Enlightenment commentators were expressing the original author’s intent; assuming later text in the Bible perfectly reflect the understanding of the Genesis account; assuming a perfect revelation of theology and science from the Bible. What this tells me is that Walton and Fleener is talking past each other due to their different starting points.

Christmas Eve Service

Here is the Christmas Eve service in which I took part at the Baptist Church on December 24, 2014.

Petersburg Winter 2014 Community Concert

December 22, 2014 at the Lutheran Church.

Memorial Service Video (PDX)

Memorial service for Eloise (Elly) Sauls, held at Sunset Christian Fellowship in Hillsboro, Oregon on July 27, 2014.

A Short History of Ordination

An e-mail from the Ministerial Dept. of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists included a link to a lecture video on a short history of ordination in the Christian church. It’s good to listen to it (viewing is optional since the camera doesn’t pan to the slides) but for those not inclined to spend the 36 minutes, here are my notes.

Darius Jankiewicz (Yun-kye-vich) is an Australian of Polish birth. He emigrated from Poland to Australia in 1986 and there attended Avondale College. After a few years of ministry in Sydney, he and his wife moved to Berrien Springs, Michigan, to continue his education at Andrews University, where he first completed an MDiv and then a PhD focused on historical theology and specifically Roman Catholic ecclesiology. Following his studies at Andrews, he returned to ministry in Australia (Tasmania) and then became a missionary teacher at Fulton College in Fiji. From there, he was invited to become an associate professor of historical theology at the Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He has been married to his lovely Australian wife, Edyta, for over 22 years and has two wonderful daughters, Caitlin (13) and Ashley (11).

This presentation was given at the 2012 Women Clergy Conference sponsored by the NAD Ministerial Department. nadministerial.org/

• There is no clear, unambiguous support for ordination on any kind in scripture.
• Laying on of hands, when found in scripture, is most often associated with healing, and then with granting of spiritual gifts.
• Ordination is derived from political practices of the Roman empire where individuals were granted entry to a higher class of society.
• Tertullian was the first to introduce the practice of ordination into Christianity.
• He wanted to show that Christianity was a reasonable religion acceptable to pagan Rome because of similar practices.
• He knew exactly what he was doing - that he was introducing hierarchy into the Christian religion.
• Bishop/pastor, elder, deacon - threefold distinction traces back to Iganatius - in Acts, there is no distinction.
• In name of unity, power is centralized in one person.
• Prior to this time, each local church had multiple "bishops."
• Hippolytus - each office requires separate ordination.
• Iranaeus - in the name of unity, introduces concept that ordination confers a special spiritual gift of truth and discernment; i.e., infallibility; and this gift granted by succession of ordinations.
• Tertullian - introduces distinction between clergy and laity.
• Cyprian develops concept of Christian priesthood where ordained priests are now mediators between laity and God; i.e., ordained clergy required for sacraments; authority of ordained clergy increases.
• Augustine introduces the concept of an "indelible seal" of ordination, raising ordained minister to a higher spiritual level, a privileged order, and becomes channel of grace to laity.
• In three centuries, Christian ministry changes from functional to sacramental.
• Absolute ordination; ca. 4th-5th century - ordination (laying on of hands) assigned to person, rather than task. Ca. Council of Chalcedon. Prior to this, ordination was for a person to accomplish a task in a particular community.
• Towards end of 5th century - Pope Gelasius irked by reports of (impl. ordained) women ministering in churches.
• The practice of ordination only being allowed to be performed by ordained ministers dates back to Hippolytus. In Acts, all believers lay hands on Paul and Barnabas to set them aside for a specific ministry task.
• Jerome - utters that Christian community cannot exist without ordained, male ministers.
• Reformation did not alter ordination practices.
• First face of Adventism - no priests, no organization.
• Adventism realized some organization necessary for mission.
• Adventist ordination was originally functional. But has it changed to become sacramental?
• Two models of the church - both have organization - but function in different ways.
• 1) Church as an organization; 2) Church as a missionary movement.
• 1) Organization is essential for the existence of the church. Organization understood sacramentally - salvation comes from the organization. Dedicated to preservation of the organization, in the name of unity. Goal of church is mediation of salvation to its members. Ordination is a big issue.
• 2) Organization is not essential for the existence of the church. Understood functionally. Organization does not save anyone. Organization seeks to preserve mission. Goal is mission to the world. Organization can be changed and adapted to mission. Ordination is not an issue.
• The longer an organization exists, the more it is tempted to become sacramental.

Three Lakes Hike

Okay, we didn’t make it to all three. We got to Crane and Hill Lakes. Instead of going to Sand Lake, we decided to venture out to Ideal Cove and back.

The day was sunny and very, very warm… Okay, it was HOT. On the drive back home, the outside temperature reading hit 80F. But it was definitely a good day to go on a long hike.

Outing to LeConte Glacier

Today was Memorial Day. It was a warm and sunny day. My dad, sister, Shelley, and I went out with Gerry to LeConte Glacier. Unfortunately there was too much ice at the mouth to allow us to get very close. We managed to push through the ice to get in enough to at least be able to see the glacier.

We saw sea lions, sea gulls, seals, and bald eagles along the route.

Little Norway Parade

Here is video from yesterday’s Little Norway Parade.

Senior class parade through downtown

The seniors were taken from class for an early lunch period. The theme: Magic School Bus. A noise parade through downtown and then they went to Sandy Beach Park where they were given invitations to Op-Grad.

High School Spring Concert

The Petersburg High School performed their spring concert last evening. Shelley is in the choir this semester. Here are four video clips of the choir performance.

Early this morning the music groups boarded the ferry bound for Ketchikan for the annual Southeast Alaska Music Festival.

Signs of Spring

Yesterday I was looking for skunk cabbage but did not find any. Today I went out the back of our house to a place where I know is a field of them during the spring season. I got there and saw shoots coming up, the tops of most eaten off by deer. There is still residual snow and ice around, but there are a few signs of new growth. In a month or so the muskeg should be filled with spring growth and blossoms. For now it is still barren.

South part of the island

Today started out bright, sunny, and dry. There was a pancake breakfast at the hospital so we went there. I did the mid-morning devotions at the Manor. I returned, had lunch. Then the clouds rolled in and heavy rains came down. I had planned to go out the road, Mitkof Highway, towards some of the southern recreation spots on the island for more videos, but the weather turned against it.

I ended up taking a nap and when I awoke about 3 p.m. the sun had returned. I decided to drive out and see how things were. I didn’t know if the rains would return or not. I was happy I went out as the rains stayed away, the skies were dramatic, and I was able to get some good scenic images.

Another Sunny Spring Day

Forecast for today was clouds and showers. It turned out to be rather wrong as the sky was clear and the sun bright after the fog burned off. I went around towards the city and harbors and captured some video clips as seen here.

Spring in Petersburg

It was windy, rainy, and just plain stormy last night. During the day, however, the skies broke apart with some showers and sun. I went out on my bicycle and took along a camcorder to test out both it and video editing and production on my new computer. Here is the result.

More Optical Illusions

These images are from my dad.

View Full Album

This is a video of a painting that appears to change perspective as the viewer moves around. The end of the video gives a hint as to how the painting is constructed to allow this illusion to occur.

Recital Video

Here is the video of Shelley’s recital pieces from last night. It is Windows Media Video and 3.5MB in size. For streaming you will need at least 300Kbps bandwidth.

Weekend Events

This weekend I came another year closer to 40… I received a filet knife (brand name: Masahiro – not the same characters though), knife skills book, and a remote control helicopter. We didn’t have the right batteries, so it wasn’t until Sunday (yesterday) that I finally got it flying.

On Sabbath we had our Christmas program. The planning for it was a bit haphazard and last-minute, but it all came together. We had brunch beforehand followed by the program. Here is a link (Windows Media Video) to the whole program. It’s 44MB in size, so be warned. You’ll also need at least 300Kbps to stream and view.

The program consisted of singing, music, stories, and a couple of acts by Mum’s the Word, a drama class/group in which Shelley participates.

Yesterday evening, the same drama group performed one of the acts, a Tableau, at the Bible Church’s Christmas program.

This evening, Shelley has a piano recital.

The weather continues to be cold and dry here. While the Northwest region farther south appears to be snowed in, we’re just cold. Temps have been in the single digits to the low teens for several days. We discovered that the church water had frozen on Sabbath morning. It took a little bit of time and effort to get that thawed out. Our water pipe also froze (where it always does once temps get and stay this low) on two mornings. It looks like we’ll get a little warmer – into the 20’s – after today. Break out the shorts!

Video: Drama presentation

Yesterday afternoon, as part of the Holiday Literary sponsored by the Public Library, the drama class in which Shelley participates presented two acts.

The first was a Reader’s Theatre and the second a mime act.

Click HERE for video.

The video is encoded for 128Kbps connections, Windows Media, and is about 6.5 MB in size.

Watching some boats go by

Last week when Amy had her birthday party, I moved my office/study area from the kitchen table (where it's been in both the apartment and in our house) to our bedroom right next to the front window.

Now that I've had some time up there, I think I'm going to leave my office/study there. It's just so nice to be able to view the eagles, gulls, ravens, and yes, even crows flying about. It's nice to watch the tides come in and out. And I can watch the boats come and go.

The following is about a 1-minute video clip (there is no audio) of the comings and goings of some of the boats that I saw today. I originally wanted to catch some eagles in action, but as soon as I got a camera, they all disappeared. So all you get are boats. You do get a variety, though.

Piano Recital Spring 2008

Just two days after returning from our trip south, Shelley had a piano recital. She had her music with her during our trip, but had very little chance to practice. I think she may have played just one time during the 2-1/2 weeks. Even so, the performance went quite well. Her proficiency is progressing quite well as you can see and hear in the accompanying video.

Click the image to download the video (Windows Media Video, 5.4 MB).