Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation Quotes

“One can speculate as to why creation ex nihilo seems less important to biblical authors than transcendent sovereignty. Had it been more important, it would be explicated or implicated more strongly. Certainly, it is not expressed in the terms we might wish to find. But the doctrine is nevertheless there, assumed by orthodox Israelites, implicated in Isaiah, Proverbs, and Psalms, and likely implicit in Gen 1 even though it is neither explicated nor implicated in that particular passage.”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach

“As a clue to contextual relevance, we might ask to what use did later Old Testament interpreters put Gen 1?”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach

“This method of accommodation is similar to those found in Ps 58:4–5 and 1 Sam 28:11–15. In those two cases, erroneous assumptions in the audience’s encyclopedic entries about snakes and the underworld are allowed to remain in order to efficiently communicate the relevant point.”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach

“Following from this, it is not accurate to say that until the Enlightenment, there was an untroubled consensus to read Gen 1 as six ordinary days. An unbroken stream of pre-Enlightenment exegesis of Gen 1 felt free to interpret the days as other than normal (although “day-age” models, strictly speaking, did not emerge until the age of science). It may not have been the majority opinion, but an important minority of influential theologians throughout the ancient and medieval period deviated from literal interpretation. Therefore, attributing nonliteral exegesis simply to the church’s compromise with Enlightenment science does an injustice to complexities in the history of interpretation.”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach

“Luther and Calvin were explicit that the intent of Scripture was not to teach natural science, and their employment of accommodation served to relieve Scripture of that task. But beginning in the seventeenth century, scholars expected Scripture to serve as a framework for comprehensive knowledge of the world, including the interests of natural science. Demonstrating scientific concord became a necessary task to prove the validity of the Bible. By the time of Old Princeton, an old earth was commonly accepted among educated conservatives, who continued the tradition of scientific concordism.”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach

“The incarnation of the Son of God is the most extraordinary example. God took on human nature to make his gracious attributes personally experienced by humankind (John 1:14–18).”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach

“Literal interpretation, in the sense of initial dictionary meanings of words, has no privileged place in communication, including that of the Bible.”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach