Cultural Rivers, Order, and Covenant: Tools For Reading Scripture Well (John Walton) Ep. #222
1Description
In this thought-provoking episode, Walton explains his “cultural rivers” metaphor—how each culture swims in its own current of values, assumptions, and logic. We can’t read the Bible through modern, Western eyes without missing what mattered most to ancient audiences. Genesis, for example, isn’t about material origins but about God bringing order to a disordered world.
From Genesis 1–11, which Walton calls a unified pursuit-of-order narrative, to covenant as God’s chosen method of establishing order in Israel, this episode reshapes how we think about law, sin, impurity, and even concepts like raʿ (evil). Walton shows how words like shalom, menucha, and tov are all part of a spectrum of order—not morality.
He also addresses how Jesus and Paul recontextualize the Torah, why Exodus opens with a surprising parade of female heroes, and how poetry preserves communal memory in songs like Exodus 15. Whether you’re new to Walton’s “Lost World” series or a longtime reader, this episode offers fresh insight into how Scripture’s deepest themes emerge from its ancient context.
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Chapters:
00:00 Exploring Methodological Approaches to Texts
02:02 Cultural Rivers: Understanding Context in Ancient Texts
05:19 Genesis 1-11: The Pursuit of Order
08:04 The Role of Women in Exodus: A Unique Perspective
11:04 Intertextuality: Connections Between Genesis and Judges
14:12 The Concept of Order in the Torah
17:10 Jesus and Paul: Recontextualizing the Torah
20:16 The Significance of Women in the Exodus Narrative
23:20 Joseph and Daniel: Conceptual Connections
26:07 Final Thoughts and Future Discussions
32:50 Poetry And Prose Intermixed
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