Chapter 7: The Lost World of Genesis One

Chapter 7 is titled 'Divine Rest Is in a Temple'. This chapter marks a change from Chapter 6 and the preceding chapters. 

What are temples for? The author argues that in olden days, temple is meant to be the resting place of the deity. The author quotes from Psalms to make his compelling case. Here is the quote: 

Let us go to his dwelling place,

let us worship at his footstool --

"arise, O Lord, ad come to your resting place, 

you and the ark of your might." 

For the Lord has chosen Zion, 

he has desired it for his dwelling: 

"This is my resting place for ever and ever; 

here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it." ( Psalms 132.7-8, 13-14; NIV)

The 'dwelling place' here signifies the temple, and this is where the Lord rests. 'Sabat' is to mean 'ceasing', a completion of certain activity. And when this activity ceases, certain kind of stability ensues.The idea that Temple is built is to ensure that the divine one will rest there, and provide stability from there; it is the headquarter from where he will provide safety or stability or governance to the adherents. This concept was there in ancient Israel as well as neighbouring kingdoms. The Lord rests on the seventh day is to mean that he is going to disengaged from the creative activity of the kind he was engaged in during the previous six days, and he will now be providing ruling or stability or running of the regular affairs.

Introduction of Wolterstorff's Justice: Rights and Wrongs

Besides other posts, I am going to be blogging about Justice: Rights and Wrongs, written by philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff of Yale University. This is not a book review, but a summary of each chapter. I have read the book twice, and this is my third reading of the book. Most of the books I have read do not get the privilege of being read twice, let alone thrice. C S Lewis Mere Christianity, Vinoth Ramachandra's God's That Fail  and Michael Sandel's Justice: What's the Right Things to do? are the only three books I have read twice, as far as I could remember right now. The Bible and Wolterstorff's book Justice are going to be the only two books I would have read thrice or more! Since this is my third reading, I want to believe that I have understood him well.

The book has 17 chapters, besides Preface and Introduction in the beginning and Epilogue at the end. So it's as if it has 20 chapters. This post will summarise Preface and Introduction together.

Nick begins to engage with the concept of justice after two life-changing events. The first one is on Apartheid South Africa in 1976, where he witnessed the Afrikaners denying justice to the 'blacks' and 'coloured' people. The second event in on Palestinian  issue in 1978, where he heard the Palestinians speak out against injustice meted out to them. These events energised him to speak out against injustice like no other events before. 

Nick is explicit that he is a Christian and his account of justice is a theistic account. Even so, his account of justice is based on inherent right that an individual possesses. He begins in the Introduction by stating that there are oppositions to the concept of rights as justice from within and outside the religious tradition he comes from. Some say that ethics of care is more appropriate; others argue against right-talks due to political and social reasons. Some say that the idea of right as justice gives rise to individualistic way of thinking and therefore it should be discouraged. Right-proponents are alleged to have said, 'this is my right; that is my right etc.' and focus so much on individual right, and thus fail to talk about care, responsibility, duty, obligation etc. Nick argues that it is one thing to care, but another thing to be cared; it is one thing to fail to do one's moral duty and thus wrong a person, but another thing to be a victim and be wronged. The language of care, duty, obligation etc cannot accommodate the story of the victim, of the one being wronged. Thus, doing away with the language of rights is to entail doing away with the story of the victim, and this is something we cannot afford. Theory of justice requires language and concept of rights, and we cannot do away with rights based concept of justice. This is Nick's defence of rights based idea of justice. 

Nick says that there are two primary conceptions of justice in the western tradition: justice as right order and the concept of justice based on inherent rights. Former is Plato's view and those who agree with him and the latter is his view and those who have argued something similar to his view even earlier. Aristotle's concept of justice as equality is possibly the third conception. Nick is going to argue for the concept of justice based on inherent right. But he will also be rejecting what proponents of justice as right order say about rights based justice which is that rights based idea of justice emerged much later. Nick will argue  that right-theorists position emerged much before Medieval period and therefore is not of recent origin and that this concept does not necessarily give rise to excessive individualism.

Chapter 6: The Lost of World Genesis One

This chapter deals with day 4 to day 6. The previous chapter deals with day 1 to day 3. In this chapter, the author proposes that the days are more about setting up the functionaries. Thus the first three days are parallel to the next three days. The author did not give this table, but I understand him to be saying something like this table: 

Day 1	Light	Day 4	Two Great Lights and stars
Day 2	Firmament	Day 5	Sea-Sky Creatures
Day 3	Dry Land/Vegetation	Day 6	Land Creatures

Significant in this chapter is the creation of human being. Like other species, human being too has a function to multiply. But they also have another important function: to take care of the rest of the created order. The idea that human being is made in the image of God signifies the idea of function, though there possibly are other meanings. Unlike other literature where the rest of the creation is for the benefit of the deity, the biblical  narrative focuses on human being; such that human being serves as the important link between God and the rest of the created order. 

There is the text that says the land is to produce living creatures. The author argues that these texts are not about the material composition of the animals.. When the children ask 'mummy, where from did I come?' The children are not given an explanation of how fertilisation takes place; they are just told '...from mummy or from hospital'. Thus the land (or mummy) is the location of where the animals ( or children) come from., not the material origin of the land ( or children). 

Affirmative Action & Electoral Politics

Introduction

Affirmative action is an approach devised to provide special opportunities to those groups of people who are disadvantaged because of various reasons. It is not a new approach. This concept was introduced in India by the framers of the Constitution to benefit those who are socially and educational backward. This policy of affirmative action being in place for over sixty years now has significantly contributed to the welfare of the people in the state. However, the fact that there is still social and economic inequality suggests that it is still in great need. The persisting inequality does not suggest that affirmative action as a political policy has failed; it rather suggests that it requires reform so it is more efficient. Critics of affirmative action have from time to time argued to do it away. The article will argue that affirmative action is required to establish a just and a flourishing society. 

The rest of the essay is available here, pp. 35-39.

NB: My article published in a peer reviewed journal no. ISSN: 2278-473X.

The Lost World of Genesis One: Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is titled Days One to Three in Genesis 1 Establish Functions. This chapter also provides further argument on function orientation of the first chapter of Genesis. Like Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, chapter 5 also focuses on biblical text.

Genesis 1: 3-5 read as "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day', and the darkness he called 'night'. And there was evening and there was morning -- the first day. (NIV) 

Dr. Walton asks how ''God called the light 'day', and the darkness he called 'night'' of verse 5 might best be understood. He says it is best understood if read as " God called the period of light 'day' and the period of darkness he called 'night'". With verse 5 understood that way, we can work backward to verse 4 and to verse 3. This is what we get! 

" Let there be a period of light (v. 3). God saw that the period of light was good, and he separated this period of light from the period of darkness (v. 4). God called the period of light 'day' and the period of darkness, he called 'night'." The author further argues that only when read this way, the line 'And there was evening and there was morning' makes sense. 

The result of reading this way is that one realises that the basis for time i.e day and night, are used in functional sense. And this is what took place on the first day. One the second day, God created the firmament -- that expanse which separates the water below from the water above and thus controls the weather. On the third day, God created the dry land and vegetation. "So on day one God created the basis for time; day two the basis for weather and day three the basis for food." They are the foundation of life in ancient thought! God was not about giving ancient Israel correct information about cosmic geography; his intention was to focus on functions and to establish that it was he who sets up the universe functioning.

The Lost World of Genesis One: Chapter 4

Chapter 4 of the book 'The Lost of Genesis One'  is titled The Beginning State in Genesis 1 is Nonfunctional. This chapter is a reinforcement of Chapter 3, which argues that the word 'create' concerns functioning. In this chapter, the words 'tohu' and 'bohu' are examined. The words are translated as 'formless and void' (KJV), 'formless and empty' (NIV/NLT), 'formless void' (RSV)... Genesis 1:1-2 read, 'In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters' (RSV).

The word 'tohu' occurs twenty ones times and 'bohu' thrice. Whenever 'bohu' occurs, it appears with 'tohu' and therefore 'tohu' is the word that requires a more detail analysis. Prof. Walton examines the texts where 'tohu' appears and then concludes that this word is never used to denote material creation. . The argument is supported by the fact that there is already 'the face of the waters'. With further textual support, the author argues that 'creation account in Genesis 1 can then be seen to begin with no function rather than with no material'. Moreover, the phrase 'it was good' supports the proposition... because 'good' here was used in the sense that it befits the corresponding function it is to perform. Here I am reminded of a point I read in the book of Dr. Ernest Lucas Can We Believe Genesis Today? Dr. Lucas says something to this effect that when we say 'this wood is good', it is not about the moral perfection of the wood; it is more to do with the fact that the wood is suitable for making, say, a table. So, coming back to Walton's book, the phrase 'it is good' is not about moral nature, but about the functioning that it is to perform. The Genesis account of creation... and the earth being a formless void is about bringing functionality from nonfunctional state.

"Create" (Hebrew bara) Concerns Functions: Chapter 3

Chapter 3 -- " Create" (Hebrew bara) Concerns Functions -- is similar to Chapter 2. Chapter 2 is about ancient cosmology in general; Chapter 3 is more specifically related to biblical idea of creation. But the thrust of the argument is that both are about function. 

The English word 'create' generally implies creating something or bringing something into existence. The Hebrew word 'bara' (create) does not really imply material creation or bringing into existence a matter. The verb 'bara' occurs about fifty times in the Bible. Since the term is not defined, in modern sense, it has to be understood by the way the word is used whenever it occurs. And when that is done, most often it is more about functional activity. Theoretically, it can mean material creation as well, but the way it is used in the text convincingly refers to functional activity. The author does say that he believes that God is responsible for the material creation, but he insists that the point in Genesis 1 is not really about that. 

Regarding the word 'beginning', the author further argues that it does not really mean the beginning of time and space. "In Hebrew usage this adverb typically introduces a period of time rather than a point in time." So the word 'beginning' is really a way of talking about the seven-day framework than about the beginning of time at the point of the Big Bang. This is also the way the word is generally used in other cultures of the day. The overall structure of Genesis 1 supports the argument.

Ancient Cosmology is Function Oriented: Chapter 2

This is the second post of the book The Lost World of Genesis, written by Dr. John Walton. The first chapter is titled Genesis 1 is Ancient Cosmology. This is chapter 2 which is titled Ancient Cosmology is Function Oriented. This chapter deals with a question: What does it mean for something to exist? There could be different answers to this question.

One possible answer to the question is to deal at the ontological level; another one is to deal at the teleological level. (The author does not use the word 'teleological'; it's mine. But I understand that to be the point he is trying to say.) Ancient cosmology is not about dealing with the material existence of the known universe; it is rather about the function of the universe. When we talk about a computer's existence, it can be discussed at different stages. When the manufactured parts are assembled or when the programmes are written or when the softwares are installed or when someone connects power and make use of all the above. In ancient cosmological terms 'unless people (or gods) are there to benefit from function, existence is not achieved.' Or to put it in computer's terminology -- unless someone boots the computer and uses it to her benefit, the computer won't be considered to be existing. Materially the computer exists, but functionally it does not exist! Ancient cosmology does not 'bother' about the material world unlike present cosmology; it is rather about the function it performs. To understand ancient cosmology in term of function that it performs is widespread in ancient near east literature. This was the cultural norm of the day -- whether it's the Sumerian or the Babylonians or the Egyptians.
 

Summary of The Lost World of Genesis One: Chapter 1

I am going to summarise each chapter of the book The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate, written by John H. Walton. Dr. Walton is an Old Testament Professor at Wheaton College and has written numerous articles on Ancient Near East literature/thought. The book has eighteen chapters and consists of 191 pages, and each chapter is provided as a kind of a proposal in interpreting and understanding the opening chapter of the Bible. Here goes the first chapter. 

Genesis chapter one is ancient cosmology. Since it talks about ancient cosmic geography, one should not impose modern scientific reading into the text. Their cosmological understanding is different from ours. Scientific understanding changes over time. So concordism -- biblical texts have scientific information embedded in them -- is not the right approach to read and understand the Scripture. Ancient people thought that the sky is strong enough to support the residence of heavenly beings or that human being think and feel with their intestine (not with their brain). God did communicate what he wanted to communicate, but did not really communicate that human understanding about cosmology or anatomy was wrong. Moreover, the ancient did not have the distinction between 'natural' and 'supernatural'. For them the works of deities pervaded every aspect of their life. So it's not the law of motion/gravity that guides that solar system; it's the work of a deity. 

NB: I try to give a description of the text correctly. But for further engagement, best is to read the book. Dr. Walton may or may not get things right, but I trust his sincerity and faithfulness to do justice to the Word.

Picture!

Receiving Best Paper Award in the Research Scholars Category for the 2nd National Conference on Politics and Governance, held on 3rd August, 2014.

From left: Yours truly, Prof. Sanjay Kumar (Director, Centre for Study of Developing Societies), Dr. Nupur Tiwari ( Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi) and Fr. Dr. Denzil Fernandes ( Indian Social Institute, New Delhi)