The Creation of Light

In The Lost World of Genesis One, John Walton points out that the creation of light and the division of day and night is profoundly puzzling if we understand light in the modern way, as a material object. After all, it makes no sense that “light” and “darkness” could be mingled in the first place to be separated apart. Instead, it makes sense to think of “light” as a “period of light,” which is subsequently named “day” (and the period of darkness “night.”)

Consistent with the rest of Walton’s interpretation of the creation account, the creation story itself is about the…