John H. Walton

Who is John H. Walton?

John H. Walton is a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. He formerly was a professor 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 espouses a view of creation that resonates with ancient Near Eastern mindsets, much like a temple dedication ceremony, and not a strictly material account of cosmological origins. He uses a restaurant as an analogy, arguing that a restaurant does not begin to exist when the material building is completed, but when the owner declares the restaurant open for business His interpretation has drawn criticism, particularly from Christian philosopher William Lane Craig. Craig argues that Walton creates a false dilemma, failing to distinguish between efficient causation and material causation. "When God, for example, creates disaster, he is clearly the efficient cause of the disaster even though disaster is not a material object and therefore has no material cause. Walton is confused by his own terminology to think that because disaster doesn’t have a material cause, therefore, it can’t be an example of material creation."