Mobile Ed: OT301 Origins of Genesis 1-3 (4 hour course)
Publisher:
, 2014–2019
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Overview
Take an in-depth look at the first three chapters of Genesis with Old Testament expert Dr. John H. Walton. In this follow-up course to OT201, Dr. Walton focuses closely on the ancient Near Eastern context of the text, helping you see how the claims of Genesis 1–3 would have been understood by the book’s original audience. He also examines the function of the creation story and contentious issues between science and the biblical text.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion you should be able to:
- Describe the challenges of reading an ancient text
- Explain the concepts of “compatible truths” and “authoritative claims” and their significance for understanding the relationship between the Bible and science
- Define “cosmic geography” and explain how ancient Near Eastern people viewed the cosmos
- Discuss the functional focus of the creation account and contrast it with a material focus
- Explain the concept and significance of a cosmic temple in Gen 1
- Define an “archetype” and explain its importance in the account of Adam and Eve in Gen 2
- Explain the concepts of order, non-order, disorder, and goodness in Gen 1–3
- Summarize why the Church’s interaction with science is important
Course Outline
Unit 1: The Text and the Text in Its Context
- Internal Logic in Genesis 1–3
- Two Helpful Resources for Exploring Questions in Genesis
- Authority
- Reading an Ancient Text
- Useful Resources for Studying Biblical Interpretation
- Communication
- Quiz – Unit 1
Unit 2: The Bible’s Ancient Near Eastern Context
- Unit 2: The Bible’s Ancient Near Eastern Context
- Differences in How We See the World
- The Importance of the Ancient Near East
- Finding Ancient Near Eastern Creation Accounts
- The Necessity of the Ancient Near East
- Mythological Views of the World
- Israel’s Cosmic Geography
- Reading the Text
- Quiz – Unit 2
Unit 3: Science and the Bible
- Natural and Supernatural
- Two Principles for Understanding Science and the Bible
- Quiz – Unit 3
Unit 4: Proposed Thesis: Functional Focus
- Text Analysis
- Comparing Ancient Near Eastern Creation Accounts with Genesis
- The Meaning of Bara' (“To Create”)
- Searching for God as the Subject of Bara'
- The Starting Point
- Comparing Different Translations of Genesis 1:1
- A Functional Focus
- Quiz – Unit 4
Unit 5: Functions and Functionaries
- A House and a Home
- Functions: Days One through Three
- Ancient Near Eastern Focus on Functions
- Functionaries: Days Four through Six
- The Image of God
- The Meaning of 'Asah (“To Make”)
- Using the Proximity Search to Find Where 'Asah Occurs with Bara'
- Quiz – Unit 5
- Midterm Exam
Unit 6: Proposed Thesis: A Cosmic Temple
- Cosmos as Sacred Space: Why Does God Rest?
- Researching Temple Accounts in Relation to Genesis 1
- Cosmos as Sacred Space: Whose Home Is It?
- Seven Days
- Conclusions Regarding Genesis 1
Unit 7: Cosmology outside Genesis
- Material and Functional Issues
- Conclusion
- Quiz – Unit 6–7
Unit 8: Genesis 2–3
- Use of the Word “Adam”
- Literary Introduction
- Archetypal Proposal
- Formed from Dust
- Human Origins in the Ancient Near East
- Quiz – Unit 8a
- Woman from the Side of Man
- Highlighting Important Words with the “Interesting Words” Feature
- Priestly Roles
- Categorizing Uses of 'Ezer with a Passage List
- Archetype Summary
- Ancient Near Eastern Archetypes
- Message of Archetypes
- Adam in the New Testament
- Narrative Art
- Quiz – Unit 8b
Unit 9: Summary Issues
- Material Origins Implications
- “It Was Good”
- Order, Non-Order, Disorder
- Hypothetical Model: Pre-Fall
- Hypothetical Model: Fall
- Answers to Issues
- How Should We Think?
- Why It Matters
- Quiz – Unit 9
- Final Exam
Product Details
- Title: OT301 Origins of Genesis 1–3
- Instructor: John H. Walton
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2014
- Product Type: Logos Mobile Education
- Resource Type: Courseware, including transcripts, audio, and video resources
- Courses: 1
- Video Hours: 4
Video lectures from this course are also available separately on DVD.
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About John H. Walton
John H. Walton is professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College Graduate School. Before teaching at Wheaton, Walton taught at Moody Bible Institute for 20 years.
His primary focus is in areas of comparison between the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East, particularly Genesis. He is the author or coauthor of several books, including Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, and A Survey of the Old Testament.
Getting the most out of Mobile Ed
Logos Mobile Education is a highly effective cross-platform learning environment that integrates world class teaching with the powerful study tools and theological libraries available in Logos Bible Software. Every course provides links to additional resources and suggested readings that supplement the lecture material at the end of every transcript segment.
This course comes with an Activities resource that functions as a type of “workbook” for the course. This resource includes learning activities such as: places for you to respond to reflection questions, exercises that will challenge and show you how deepen your understanding of this course by using specific Logos tools and resources, tutorial videos on different features of Logos Bible Software, and links to relevant Logos guides and tools. A link to open the Activities resource is conveniently placed at the end of every segment.
Reviews
6 ratings
DMM
3/19/2025
Overall, I enjoyed this. I don't agree with everything he says, but it was interesting to hear his viewpoint on, for example, Genesis 1. I can better understand how people get there. I did appreciate his viewpoint on rest. The whole point of the 7th day wasn't about taking a nap or a vacation, but rather, days 1-6 were about putting things in order, and then after that, rest is things working as they are intended to. he gives an example of moving into a new house, and the house is full of boxes to unpack. Once that's done, you can rest... doesn't mean you're just sitting down doing nothing but it means that now everything is as it's supposed to be and you can get on with the whole point of being in the house.Jim Dean
3/18/2025
If you have a grammatical-historical-normal hermeneutic, and especially if you are dispensational, this series will NOT be your cup of tea. It does provide a mildly interesting alternative way of looking at Gen 1-3 ... the initial arguments make some sense, but then the author gets "married" to those ideas and starts reinterpreting many other parts of the Bible as well. THE MISTAKE that the author makes (imo) is that he presents his "function vs form ... home vs house" understanding AS THE ONLY CORRECT one. He argues that the ones that God used to inscripturate His Word *had to* understand all about what they were writing ... as must have the readers at the time of writing. This is patently false ... we know that many things in the OT were a "mystery" ... only partially or incorrectly understood, until the coming of Christ. He points out that only in the last 100 years have we had access to ancient writings and pictures etc from various false religions, and that those showed what the people understood back then. He says we today MUST KNOW all that perspective to properly understand scripture. This falls apart on simple examination. If that's true, then what about the 2000-3000 years before the last century, but well past those ancient times, when such info was NOT available? Certainly God didn't (oopsie) leave all those people in the dark? Also, this puts God in a box ... it implies that He did NOT account for the later perspectives and insights that came thousands of years AFTER those ancient times. Why couldn't God have structured His revelation so that BOTH ancient and modern believers, and all those in-between, could have understood it properly? And ... regarding form vs function re Gen 1 ... why couldn't BOTH be true? That certainly would be more sensible and orderly than forcing people who, since the Greeks, have had more of an analytical and scientific approach and intellectual structure ... forcing all the people NOT in the ancient mindset ... to dispense with their common understandings. No ... God is bigger than that. And He doesn't try to hide His truth from us, or make it confusing or mystical. I could go on much further and could present refutations of many of the "derivative truths" that the author is promoting here. Once and a while, I'd listen and say "hmm, that's interesting" ... but only in places where it didn't flat out contradict classic understandings. IMO, this is dangerous information. It restricts the understanding of MANY basic things in the Bible (even the Sabbath) to be in the field that only a FEW have the background to follow. I gave this two stars out of charity.
Dino
3/8/2025
Gustavo Natanael Silva Gimenez
1/28/2025
Jeff
2/28/2017
Having been brought up with the traditional 6 days literal view, this is actually quite interesting. It gives you something to think about and answers some questions that's always there if you hold to a literal 6 days view. The teaching on the Sabbath is particularly insightful. Worth a view even if you don't hold to his view.
Tom Daniels
2/25/2017
Any work that deny's the scriptural 6 day creation while attempting to insert the religion of evolutionism is a must pass.
Prayson Daniel
2/18/2016
Walton's works are a breathe of new air in understanding Genesis 1-2. I have read almost all his major books on Genesis 1. Watch all of his free online lectures on the subject. The more I read ANE literature the more I agree with Walton. Whether you agree or disagree with Walton's revolutionary understanding of Genesis 1-2, his works are must read for any one who is interested in going beyond YE-OE creationism. I cannot wait to a day I can afford this classes.Charles Sigler
1/1/2015
Walton's position on creation in "The Historical Adam" is called the Archetypal Creation View. His essay there has the following summary: In my view, Adam and Eve are historical figures—real people in a real past. Nevertheless, I am persuaded that the biblical text in more interested in them as archetypal figures who represent all of humanity. This is particularly true in the account of Genesis 2 about their formation. I contend that the formation accounts are not addressing their material formation as biological specimens, but are addressing the formation of all humanity: we are all formed from dust, and we are gendered halves. If this is true, Genesis 2 is not making claims about biological origins of humanity, and therefore the Bible should not be viewed as offering competing claims against science about human origins. If this is true, Adam and Eve also may or may not be the first humans or parents of the entire human race. Such an archetypal focus is theologically viable and is well-represented in the ancient Near East.
Save extra on academic resources through June 6!$44.99
Regular price: $149.99
Save $105.00 (70%)