0041 After that confession, I turn to chapter two, concerning methodology, and happily report that the Lost World booksare grounded on the premise of biblical authority.

God’s authority is vested in human instruments (as a formal requirement₂).  Human agency operates through the Hebrew language, communication styles, genres and cultural understandings (efficient causes₂).

0042 The focus shifts to actuality₂.

0043 Here is the general picture.

0044 Savor this image, because I am about to mess it up.

Yes, this is as clear as the thing₂ gets.

0045 Matter should belong to secondness, but because the thing is a mediation, that secondness is really a questionable expression of firstness.

Questionable expression?

Well, let me say that I am looking for a piece of wood in a woodpile.  Of course, each piece₁ is potentially the piece that I will choose.  I choose only one peice₂.  An observer may wonder_1(?) what I am doing (mediation₃) and whether that piece with fulfill₂ my design₁ (formal potential₁) and satisfy my intent₁.

0046 Now, apply that lesson to Hebrew words.

Apply that to scripture.

Who is choosing the words?

0047 Let me present the theological hylomorphe, once again.  Notice that mediation₃ is the unspoken normal context.  Also, God’s design₁ and God’s intentions₁ are out of the picture.  Only the actuality₂ remains for examination.

0048 This is the standard application for a mediation-based hylomorphe of Genesis 1-11.  Matter_1(?) belongs to firstness.  Revelation brings matter₁ into secondness.  Yet, there is always the tag of possibility, because our view of what is revealed may change.

At this point, the theological question may be formulated as, “What does Genesis 1-11 reveal?”

0049 As soon as the substance (per mediation) translates into efficient causes₂ and formal requirements₂, then the literalist has an easier time.  Revelation₂ as matter₁ now works mechanically in order to render the form₂ of Genesis 1-11.

For example, for the six days of creation-activity, each “day” as form₂ implicates, through the efficient causation of celestial periodicity₂ and the formal requirement that the period manifests God design₂, a variety of schools of interpretation.

One of those schools is a day-age correspondence, where a day in the life of a human is like an age in the um… experience?… of God.

Another is a “day”-Earth rotation correspondence, which speeds the creation business up a lot.  But, not for the variation of a “day”-human vision correspondence, which comports with the day-age school.

0050 John H. Walton’s Lost World Inquiry endeavors to make the literalist’s work more sensible, because he joins the civilizational conditions of the ancient Near East (ANE) to revealed matter_1(?).  He labels these ANE conditions as a “cultural river”.  The biblical author (redactor) floats in a river of cultural assumptions, just as we all do.

0051 The Lost World thing presumes biblical authority.

How is “biblical authority” configured?

The revealed matter_1(?) aspect still touches base with the off-screen divine mediation₃₍₁₎.

But, the revealed matter_1(?) must be couched by the author’s presence in an ANE cultural river₂.

If God’s authority₃ is vested in the human instruments that he used to produce Scripture (formal requirement₂), and if human agency operates within a cultural river₂, then the literalist is required to engage ANE languages, rhetorical styles, genres, and cultural understanding.

0052 Walton labels the substance of the Lost World hylomorphe, “accommodation”.

All effective communication requires accommodation to the audience.  The audience of the first publication of the Pentateuch… er, the five books of Moses… is the folk coming back from exile in Babylon, hoping against all odds to re-establish the kingdom of… what used to be Judah, but is now Israel.

0053 At this point in the section on method, Walton states that the purpose of Lost World Inquiry is to recover the literary intentions built into the text.

Is that the same as revealed matter_1(?)?

If one looks off-screen, this actuality₂ is contextualized by the normal context of divine mediation₃ and potentiated by the formal cause of God’s design₁ and the final causes of God’s intentions₁.

0054 Am I suggesting that the cultural river₂ of ANE civilizations is potentiated by God’s design₁ and intentions₁ in the normal context of divine mediation₃?

If so, then the thing₂ that is the object of Lost World Inquiry may be regarded as a “high-context mediation”… er…. “communication”.  The topics of reference (esse_ce) and affirmation (essence) are introduced here.  I have already covered them in point 0014.  The thing is not the text of Genesis 1-11_2, per se.  The form is the text of Genesis1-11 as substantiated by the matter of revelation_1(?) and the cultural rivers of the ANE₂.

0055 A reader may ask, “What type of methodology is this?”

Consider the construction of the book under examination.  There five sections: introduction (chapter 1), methods (2), results (3-8), discussion (9) and conclusion (10).

0056 I ask, “What is the genre indicated by this construction?”

Of course, science comes to mind.

In terms of genre, this book is a scientific publication.

According to the empirio-schematic judgment, a disciplinary language (relation) brings mathematical and mechanical models (what ought to be) into relation with observations and measurements of phenomena (what is).

0057 A reference is appropriate here.  Razie Mah derives the empirio-schematic and Positivist’s judgments in Looking at Jacques Maritain’s Book (1935) Natural Philosophy.  The book is available for purchase at smashwords and other e-book venues.

In the scientific publication that is under examination, the disciplinary language (relation) includes expertise in the languages and cultures of the ANE.  Walton, as a scientist, observes and measures, not only the Genesis text, but other literature of the ancient Near East (what is).  Finally, the hylomorphe of Lost World Inquiry is the model (what ought to be).

0058 Now, hold onto your seat, because I am about to go off the rails.

How can Aristotle’s hylomorphe constitute a model when the positivist intellect rules out metaphysics?

The positivist intellect is the relation in the Positivist’s judgment.  Aristotle’s hylomorphe as matter [substantiating] form, should not apply.

0059 This is where the Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics assists.

During the 1960s through the 1980s, a loose confederation of academics, experts in Slavic languages and literature,struggles with a mandate of the socialist regime of the USSR.  All scientific inquiry must conform to the fact that material arrangements substantiate human conditions.

This fact… is really a doctrine… I mean, a model… that is, a thing.

0060 Here is a picture.

0061 Does this imply that the hylomorphe of Walton’s Lost World Inquiry is a fact… a doctrine… a model… and a thing?

Yeah, read the section on methodology and decide for yourself.

Instead of Marxist materialism, insert the hylomorphe of the Lost World Inquiry.

0062 How is that for going off the rails?

The train doesn’t stop. 

0063 I now refer to Razie Mah’s blogs for December 2025, titled Looking at Igor Pilshchikov and Mikhail Trunin’s Article (2016) “The Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics”.

The story is absolutely implausible.  These experts in Slavic languages labor to accommodate the Marxist model, whereby material arrangements [substantiate] human conditions, while retaining their… um… “academic integrity”.

Is there really referent to that term?

How about “academic turf”?

The problem is that they are not psychologists.  So, material arrangements cannot be reduced to brain processes.  They are not sociologists.  So material arrangements cannot be reduced to sociological conditions.  They are not experts in communication, so material arrangements cannot be reduced to signal-to-noise ratios.  But, they are sort of compatible with cyberneticists, because no one knows what a cyberneticist actually studies.

0064 Okay, this loose affiliation of experts in Slavic languages and literature propose their own version of the cybernetics option.  Their research seeks to penetrate various levels of signs and structure that are intrinsic to the production of a literary text and then recover the literary intentions that are built into the text.

Does that sound familiar?

In order to perform such penetrations and recoveries, they adopt methodologies called “semiology” and “structuralism”to fashion a bridge from the literary text as form to a scientific language of meaning, presence and message as matter.

0065 In this performance, they make a discovery.

0066 Aristotle’s hylomorphe has an unexpected fraternal twin.

Together, they constitute a very dangerous pair.

A single form is substantiated by one matter and then entangles another matter.

Any adult can come up with an example that is dangerous, but what about enriching?

0067 If Jesus turns his apostles into fishers of men, then he creates an confounding.

For the hylomorphe, Jesus [empowers] the apostles to preach.  The substance is [empowering].

For the entanglement, the preaching of the apostles [entangles and hooks] the imagination of humans.  The entanglement confounds the hylomorphe and makes it enriching.

And, that is very dangerous.

Just ask Second Temple Sadducees and Pharisees.

0068 Here is a picture.

0069 A confounding of substance, on one hand, and entanglement, on the other, can be either enriching or destructive.  So, watch out for confoundings.

0070 Atheists working for a socialist regime end up discovering an insight held deep within Slavic civilization.

How crazy is that?

0071 Indeed, the first Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics (1960s-1980s) never ideated the insight as an implication of the historic reality that the Slavic civilization has an unbroken line of tradition through Eastern Christianity all the way back to Aristotle.  This makes the Slavic civilization intrinsically distinct from Western Christendom, where only Platonic traditions survive the fall of Rome and Aristotle’s works are recovered during the Crusades.

0072 Here is a picture of the confounding.

0073 The Islamic civilizations of the Near East are still angry about the Crusaders trashing the place and setting up shop.  History adds insult to injury with Thomas Aquinas baptizing Aristotle’s philosophy and moving the logosforward into (what eventually gives rise to) the discovery of the sign as a triadic relation by John Poinsot (in the early 1600s) and Charles Peirce (in the late 1800s).

Strangely, these historic memories are supplemented by the modern Western colonization that yields the treasure trove that we currently label “the literature of the ancient Near East”.

0074 Be that as it may, let me write out the confounding discovered by the Tartu-Moscow School.

Two matters (one substantiating, one entangled) are contiguous with one form.

0075 The top three rows constitute the Marxist model of our current Lebenswelt.

The bottom three rows constitute a foundational insight of the Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics.

0076 Why are confoundings dangerous?

Here is how one atheist genius operating within the Tartu-Moscow School resolves the danger.

0077 This resolution only happens after the fall of the godless USSR.

This resolution is a tribute to the Aristotle-loving Christian faith of an Orthodox civilization.

0078 Yes, the business about the Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics, at least its first manifestation (1960s-1980s), is off the rails.

No, I am still on the track of Walton’s methodology in chapter two.

0079 Here is an application to the interpretation of the Creation Story (Genesis 1-2.3) and the Primeval History(Genesis 2.4-11).

0080 In the scientific modern age, the Christian imagination is informed by science.  Since the positivist intellect rules out metaphysics (especially, when “metaphysics” means “religious presuppositions”), many aspects of the Christian imagination are already… how shall I phrase it?… “disallowed”.

After all, science is invented only after the plain-speaking traditions of the Reformation are hijacked by the speak-plainly exhortations of the mechanical philosophers.  Disciplinary languages are constructed in such a fashion that the meaning, presence and message of each technical term is obvious to all.  Technical terms are rigorously defined.

0081 This is absolutely the case for the disciplinary languages of mathematics, physics and chemistry and its derivatives, including astronomy, geology, biochemistry, and so on. 

This is a little less absolute for the disciplinary languages of biology and its derivatives.  After all, what do the words, “adaptation” and “niche”, really mean?

This is no longer absolute for the disciplinary sciences related to humans, but pretending to be scientific, ranging from economics to health sciences.

Finally, this is downright wooly when variations of Aristotle’s hylomorphe are taken to be models.

0082 Now, where was I?

Oh yes, the modern Christian imagination is informed by science.

This can be pictured as a confounding, as follows.

0083 Of course, confoundings are dangerous.

John H. Walton resolves the danger in the following fashion.

0084 Hmmm.

On page 36, it seems that the author explicitly rejects this resolution.  He does not suggest that the literature of the ancient Near East (ANE) carries authority or that it stands next to Scripture.  Instead, he insists that the literature of the ANE provides a reliable window into how people thought in the ancient world.  Therefore, it um… provides information… that is… um… essential to the process of interpretation.

0085 All this goes into the drawer labeled, “methodology”.

Before skipping over the frequently asked questions portion in this chapter, I want to review one caveat and introduce one implication.

0086 The caveat is that the Lost World hylomorphe descends from mediation as a triadic relation.  The substance is efficient causation₂ along with formal requirements₂.

0087 Here is a picture.

Keep in mind that a thing is composed to two contiguous real elements.  So, the actuality₂ constitutes the object of Walton’s Lost World Inquiry.

0089 Walton assumes that the above category-based nested form is shared by fellow inquirers, especially evangelicals in the plain-speaking traditions of the Reformation.

One problem is that this assumption does not receive the attention that it deserves.  This category-based nested form is key to the success of the Lost World Project.

Unfortunately, the normal context₃ of divine mediation₃ and the potential of God’s design₁ and intentions₁ does not limit itself to the slogan, sola scriptura, now that God has revealed the archaeology of the ancient Near East to the still-Christian western civilization.

In other words, modern excavations and reconstructions of ancient Near East civilizations cannot be ignored by Christian theologians.

0090 As noted in points 0079-0084, Walton’s resolution occurs once the hylomorphe of traditional theological inquiry into the Creation Story and the Primeval History as objects of inquiry entangles the archaeological discoveries of the ancient Near East (ANE).

0091 Fortunately, Walton’s resolution resists entanglements with the science-informed Christian imaginations that were formulated before the Lost World Inquiry.

Here is a picture.

0092 Say what?

John H. Walton does not want entanglements.  He wants a plain reading of the Genesis 1-11 text in light of ANE civilizational conditions and history.  This permits the exclusion of all preceding science-Christian entanglements.

Indeed, the frequently asked-question section in the chapter on methodology beats back many expressions of Christian imaginations informed by science.

Many of these expressions are ruled out as not relevant, once one regards Israelite thinking as embedded in the conceptual world of the ANE.

0093 This examination suggests that Walton’s lockdown of the science-informed Christian imagination will not last long.

Why?

We have entered the fourth age of understanding, the Age of Triadic Relations.

0094 If Juri Lotman, a Marxist atheist, ends up convinced that we live in a semiosphere, a world perfused with signs, and if that conviction resurrects a theological insight buried deep within the Orthodox Church and Slavic civilization, then what happens when plain-speaking reformers embrace semiotic points of view?

Will such an embrace fire the Christian imagination, already informed by science?

Yipes!

0095 What happens when, in question number seven on page 36, scholars suggest that both Israelites and other people in the ANE believed that the sky is a solid dome?

Akkadian texts contain passages that proclaim that the stars are engraved on the underside of a solid sky.

Egyptian art portrays stars embedded in the underside of the body of Nut, the god of the firmament.

0096 The thing that is the “sky” is considered solid to the peoples in the ANE.  Solid matter substantiates the form of the term “firmament”.

But, this claim sets up the occasion for an entanglement with… gasp… the semiotics of natural signs.

0097 To the Israelites and the peoples of the ANE, the solid dome is a sign-vehicle (SV) that stands for the sign-object of the word “firmament” (SO) in regards to imagery, appearances and so forth (SI).

The referent (as matter) precedes the spoken word (as form).

At the same time, the referent (as sign-vehicle, SV) stands for the spoken word (as sign-object, SO) on the basis of imagery (a sign-interpretant, SI).

How confounding!

0098 Perhaps, the above figure may not offer a proper introduction to the way that semiotics gets entangled in the way that the appearance of a solid dome (SV) stands for the word, “firmament” (SO), in regards to the semiotic way that things can be pictured or pointed to (SI).

Semiotic way (SI)?

The appearance of the thing (the sky, SV) as matter is objectified by a spoken word, “firmament” (SO), as form, as if the spoken word pictures or points to the thing itself (SI).

The key point is “as if”.

0099 In terms of existence, the sky comes first.

Then, the person notices that the sky has the appearance of a dome.  Plus, that dome looks solid, even though the air… does not seem solid at all.

Now comes the label, “firmament”, which is the form that is substantiated by the matter of the solidity of the dome.

But, what is the basis of that substantiation?

0100 The normal context₃ of mediation₃ and the potentials₁ of design₁ and intention₁ are off screen.

But, if they were on screen, I imagine that the mediation₃ is something like the establishment of the natural order of things₃ and the design₁ would be a solid dome with the intention₁ of a structure to hang those shiny little stars, plus the planets, which are moving stars₁.

That is to say, the sign-interpretant (SI) is picture… or an indicator… or a symbol of the mediation₃ and its potential₁.

0101 With that said, I claim that what I imagine as an image, a pointing or a label may be regarded as one of the three types of the natural sign: icon, index and symbol.

In this instance, the solid dome as matter [substantiates] the term, “firmament”, as form.

Plus, this thing entangles an iconic natural sign-relation, where the solidity of the dome (SV) portrays the design and intention (SI) of a sign-object, a spoken word, “firmament” (SO), in regards to God’s establishment of the natural order of things (SI).

0102 How crazy is that?

If the spoken words (as forms) of the Israelites and the people of the ANE civilizations entangle a sign-relation as matter, as if it is perfectly routine, then we have a problem with spoken words.  Spoken words do not refer to things. Spoken words are forms in confoundings.  Plus, we already know that confoundings are dangerous.  Okay, they also may be enriching.  But, this looks unhinged.

Maybe, all that I need to do is tighten the screws.

0103 If I proceed to turn in the same direction, the reference of the solidity of the dome as esse_ce affirms the form of the spoken word, “firmament” as essence, on the basis that… um… spoken words picture and point to things?… no, it cannot be that…. appearances?… convention?… habits?… or maybe we can consult the breakthrough 20th century linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure and say, “arbitrary relations”.

If a thing as matter [substantiates] a spoken word as form, then the only way that the substance works is when a mediation₃, formal design₁ and a final cause₁ are present as entangled matter.

But, they are not directly entangled.  They are entangled by way of a natural sign-relation.  An icon, index or symbol corresponds to the entangled matter.

0104 Yes, that sounds perfectly logical and completely screwed up at the same time.

0105 To me, the entanglement of a sign-relation as matter demonstrates that there is more to Walton’s terms, referenceand affirmation, than meets the eye.  They do not actually₂ work without a normal context₃ and potential₁.  The normal context₃ is mediation₃.  The potential₁ include formal design₁ and final attributes₁.  These elements of the category-based nested form are off-screen.  A natural sign-relation brings them on-screen in a confounding manner.

0106 I ask, “What is Walton doing in his Lost World Inquiry?”

Well, let me switch matter and form around and present the entangled matter as a sign-relation.

The spoken word goes from form to matter.  The solidity of the dome goes from matter to form.

The “firmament” as matter [substantiates] the solidity of the dome as form.

Does the correspond to what Walton proposes concerning how the spoken word operates?  

The term “firmament”, as a sign-vehicle (SV) [substantiates] the solid dome, as a sign-object (SO).

I am turning in the same direction, aren’t I?

0107 Matter is the entangled SV.  Form is the entangled SO.  Some sort of natural picture, indicator or representation of the corresponding mediation₃ and its potentials₁ is the SI.

The spoken word as matter is the SV.  If the solid dome as form is the SO, then an originating natural sign… dare I call it relation?… maybe, “connection”, will do… is the SI.  

Here is a picture.

0108 What Walton is doing is in green.  The entanglement is in purple.

0109 First, what is Walton’s thing?

Walton’s thing is a hylomorphe that takes the shape of a sign-vehicle (as originating matter) and sign-object (as form) when entangled with semiotic matter (as a sign-interpretant).

0110 According to Ferdinand de Saussure, a spoken word (parole) is arbitrarily related to its corresponding thought (langue).  Consequently, each spoken word (parole) exists in a system of differences.   So does its corresponding thought (langue).

0111 Perhaps, Walton does not endorse semiology or structuralism, but I suspect that he regards the word, “firmament”(or whatever the Hebrew word is) as matter (SV) that stands for a solid dome as form (SO) in regards to the way people think in ancient civilizations (SI).

0111 Uh oh.  The Lost World Inquiry is supposed to recover the way people think in ancient civilizations!

Plus, as already noted, people in the ancient civilizations of the Near East apparently turn the screw the other way.

The solidity of the dome as matter [substantiates] the term, “firmament”, as form.

0112 Second, what does the Lost World’s confounding with semiotics imply?

The confounding takes the shape of a sign-relation.

Plus, the sign-interpretant (SI) of that sign-relation is a natural sign-relation (that is, an icon, an index or a symbol) that images, indicates or represents an off-screen mediation₃ and its potentials₁.

Let me offer an example and loosen the screw.

According to Walton, the Egyptian word “Nut” as a name (matter, SV) stands for the solidity of the dome of the firmament (form, SO).

The sign-relation is not complete without a sign-interpretant (SI).

Okay, the SI corresponds a sign-relation where the form (SV_SI) stands for its matter (SO_SI) to a picture, an indication or a representation of the off-screen mediation₃ and its potentials₁ (SI_SI) associated with the Lost World dyad.

0113 Here is a picture of the example.

0114 As soon as semiotics as matter is entangled with the hylomorphe of the Lost World Project, then the confounding takes the shape of a sign-relation.

In this example, the Egyptian word, “Nut”, as a name (matter, SV) stands for the solidity of the dome of the heavens (form, SO) in regards to another sign-relation that depicts the way people think in the civilizations of the ancient Near East (SI).

0115 And, how do they think?

The solidity of the dome of the heavens (matter, SV_SI) stands for the divine being of “Nut” (form, SO_SI) in regards to a sign where the off-screen mediation as matter is entangled with the divine name as form (SI_SI).

0116 Once again, what is that off-screen mediation?

Here is a picture.

0117 The off-screen elements are a normal context₃ and its potentials₁.  They cannot represent themselves, so they are pictured, pointed to or represented by the sign-interpretant (SI_SI) within the entangled sign-interpretant (SI).

Consequently, I expect to that people in ancient Egyptian civilization ideate that the solid dome of the heavens as matter(SV_SI) stands for the divine being… er, name of the Egyptian god, “Nut”, as form (SO_SI) in regards to an indication of a divine creator₃ establishing the world’s order₁ according to divine intentions₁ (SI_SI).

0118 Now, to close this examination of Walton’s chapter two, on methodology, I present the general sign that takes shape within the confounding of the Lost World Project.

0119 This will serve as a model for the results section of Walton’s book.

0120 Walton’s book is structured like a scientific presentation.  There are five sections: introduction (chapter 1), methods (2), results (3-8), discussion (9) and conclusion (10).

So far, this examination has looked at the introduction and methods.

These are crucial to the Lost World of Genesis Project.  The book is about new explorations within this project.

0121 Chapter three presents the first result.  The Creation Story (Genesis 1-2.3) concerns function and order, instead of physical and material things.

The claim stands under the label of “functional ontology”.  Of course, “function” is a modern term that covers final causes₁, that is, intentions₁.  “Ontology” is the logos (“the word”) of being (“ontos”).  Being is relational.  Matter is material.  When it comes to mediation₃, being and material both belong with matter₁.

Further explorations add the idea of order.  “Order” describes the formal design₁ of God’s creative activity.

0122 Here is a picture of Walton’s view of the Creation Story as a sequence of mediations.  Four terms stand out, the rest fall into the background.  Well, the rest are precisely what Walton regards as given for his Lost World approach.

Here is a picture.

Note how all the elements in secondness are emphasized in the Lost World approach.  The efficient cause₂ includes the cultural river of the ANE₂.  The formal requirement₂ is that a human author₂ composes the script as an instrument of God.  The form₂ is the text for each Genesis day.

The Lost World goal is to lock down mediation₃, matter₁, formal design₁ and final causes₁.

0123 From Walton’s point of view, the mediation₃ is the author₃ writing the Genesis script₃ or envisioning the narrative₃ or witnessing a vision₃.

0124 What is this author-visionary witnessing for the Creation Story?

For each day, the author witnesses something that is not formed or functional (matter) transforming into something that is (form).

The efficient cause₂ for narrating the vision includes the cultural river₂ of the ANE and the formal requirement₂ is that the author is a human₂ working as an instrument of God.

Given the efficient causes₂, formal requirements₂ and form₂, the mediation₃ must be a visionary narrating₃ what he has witnessed (matter₁).

Matter₁ is the contents of the vision.  Matter₁ is mediated into the current text for each Genesis day (form₂).

Here is a picture.

0125 Walton’s inquiries into the Biblical text and the literature of the ANE demonstrate that the formal design₁ of the Creation Story operates to formalize the origins of order in the minds of the audience₁.

The audience is the Israelites, returning from Babylonian exile.

0126 Also, the final cause for this story is to impress the lesson that God creates order.  Order and function go together.  Walton calls it the “order spectrum”.  A thing that is properly ordered is completely functional.  A thing that is not properly ordered can range from sort of functional to dysfunctional to broken.

Needless to say, Judah being carried off to captivity goes into the bin labeled, “broken”.

0127 What does the author’s mediation imply?

The Lost World approach seems to impose its own language of meaning, presence and message onto the Genesis 1 text.

How so?

It regards the author’s mediation₃ as authoritative.

On one hand, the above mediation does not consider “matter” as the modern scientific equivalent to “physical”.  So, straightforward or direct concordist approaches are… well… not “authoritative”.  Only fools need apply.

0128 On the other hand, the sign in the entangled Lost World approach cannot avoid the significance of what the visionary appears to be seeing, which ends up as a description of some type of process where matter that is not formends up as the day’s form.

Here is a picture of the substantiation and the entanglement.

How confounding.

Each Genesis day (SV) depicts the creation of a form (SO) that entangles a natural-sign relation (SI), where the form (SV_SI) stands for matter (SV_SI) in regards to a corresponding epoch in the Earth’s evolutionary record (SI_SI).

What does this imply?

Are concordists back in business?

0129 Let me take day one as an example.

Here is a picture of the Lost World confounding.

0130 The matter consists of something witnessed by a visionary’ on the first day of six days of visions.

The form is what comes into existence during each day.  These forms are listed by Walton on pages 98-99, in response to a frequently asked question.  Why cannot the Creation Story portray both the origination of the material world, as well as an establishment of order?

0131 [Stands for] is the substance.

[In regards to] is the entanglement.

The entangled matter is a sign-relation, where the form (of day and night, SV_SI) stands for what is portrayed in day one (matter, such as a wind moving over waters and so on, SO_SI) in regards to an indication of the unseen elements of a corresponding mediation (the normal context₃ of divine creation₃ and the potentials₁ of time-based order₁ and the functionality of darkness and light in a solar system₁, SI_SI).

0132 Let me recap.

The Lost World hylomorphe of {the matter of the Genesis verses in each day [substantiates] an observable form} entangles semiotic matters, because the Genesis verses in each day (SV) stand for an observable form (SO).  So, there must be a sign-interpretant (SI)

0133 Entangled matter embodies that sign-interpretant (SI).

The sign-interpretant (SI) as matter consists of a natural sign-relation (icon, index and symbol) where an observable form (SV_SI) stands for what is portrayed in the Genesis verses in each day (SO_SI) on the basis of imaging, pointing to or representing the off-screen elements of a mediation serving as the normal context₃ and potentials₁ for that particular day₂ (SI_SI).

0133 In other words, the Lost World confounding takes the shape of a sign-relation.  Matter is the SV. Form is the SO.  Entangled matter is the SI.

Plus, the sign-interpretant (SI) of that sign-relation is itself a natural sign-relation that keys into, not a human mediation, but a divine mediation.

0134 Note how the elements in secondness₂ for the human and divine mediation remain the same.

The mediation₃ differs between human actor₃ (for the Lost World) and divine actor₃ (for… what the Lost World approach entangles).

For the human actor, the visionary narrates₃.

For the divine action, the vision proceeds₃.

0135 The matter₁, for both, are the contents of the vision.

0136 The formal design₁ for the human mediation₃ is the establishment (or maybe, rationalization) of order₁… I mean… origins₁.

The formal design₁ for the divine mediation₃ is the creation (or maybe, the manifestation) of the order that everyone can witness₁.

Including scientists?

0137 The final attributes₁ for the human mediation₃ includes God’s intention for humans to co-participate in His divine order₁.

The final attributes₁ for the divine mediation₃ includes God’s intention to… um… establish our world as functional₁.

0138 Overall, when Walton adds the cultural river to revealed matter in his Lost World interpretation of the Genesis text, he ends up with a human “thing” composed of the hylomorphe of {items in the text as matter [substantiates] whatever comes to exist as form}.  Walton’s objective is to comprehend what the “whatever” must be in terms of ancient Near East civilization.

0139 The Lost World thing (matter and form) entangles semiotic matter that makes it seem that [substantiates] takes the shape of [stands for] in a sign-relation.  Correspondingly, [entanglement] takes the shape of [in regards to].  So, the confounding becomes structured as a sign-relation where items in the text as matter (SV) stands for whatever comes to exist as form (SO) in regards to a sign-relation that images, indicates or symbolizes God’s mediation (SI).  Plus, mediation (as a triadic relation) gets reconfigured into a category-based nested form.

The sign-interpretant (SI) is a natural sign relation where the form of whatever comes to exist (SV_SI) stands for the matter that is portrayed in the verses of a particular Genesis day (SO_SI) in regards to picturing, pointing or representing the off-screen elements of the category-based nested form (that is, God as mediator₃, divine design₁ and divine intentions₁) (SI_SI).

0140 Let me try the argument again.

The Lost World hylomorphe appears in the following figure.  The entanglement appears as a wisp.

0141 Then a sequence of mumbo-jumbo operations follows.

The confounding takes the shape of a sign-relation whose sign-interpretant (SI) is a natural sign-relation that appears to reverse the SV and SO elements of the confounding-shaped sign-relation in the process of imaging, indicating and representing the normal context₃ and the potentials₁ of divine mediation.

After the mumbo-jumbo, if I resolve the confounding in favor of entanglement, then I get the following hylomorphe.

0142 What am I to make of these two figures?

Well, to me, it looks like the resolution of the semiotic incorporation in favor of entanglement is a mirror image of the Lost World hylomorphe.

0143 On the originating side of the mirror is the human as author in the cultural milieu of the ANE, the subject of inquiry for the Lost World approach.

On the entangled side of the mirror is a semiotic expression of God creating₃ according to His design₁ and intentions₁producing the object that the human author is trying to um... what is the correct word?… how about… “communicate”.

0144 If I were a medieval scholastic, I might use the technical terms, “ens rationis” for the originating side of the mirror and “ens reale” as the entangled side.

0145 Here is a picture.

0146 Walton’s Lost World approach emphasizes ens rationis.  In particular, Walton is interested in elucidating the author’s intentions within the civilizational milieu of the ANE.

0147 The Lost World thing is an actuality₂ where {descriptions from each Genesis day as matter [substantiate] something that comes into existence as a form in ens rationis (mind-dependent being)}₂.  This is typical for interpretation of a text.  The text is foundational.  The interpretation is derivative.

In sum, the Lost World thing₂ is contextualized by human mediation₃ operating on the author’s (culturally influenced) designs₁ and intentions₁.   The results are listed under ens rationis in the above figure.

0148 The irony is that this actuality₂ has the character of a dyad, {a sign-vehicle [stands for] a sign-object}, that expresses only two elements of a triadic relation.  A third element, a sign-interpretant, is bound to be entangled.

That is to say, “Descriptions from each Genesis day (as matter) (SV) stand for something that comes into existence (as form) (SO) on the basis, not necessarily of the modern Lost World interpretation (SI), but another SI that embodies the character of a natural sign.

0149 The sign-interpretant (SI) turns out to be a natural sign, where the sign-vehicle (SV_SI) is not the originating matter (descriptions from the Genesis day), but the interpreted form (the thing that apparently comes into existence as um… ens reale (mind-independent being)).

The interpreted form₂ (SV_SI) stands for the originating matter₂ (SO_SI) in regards to an image, an indication or a symbolization of a divine mediation₃ operating on divine design₁ and intentions₁ (SI_SI).

The implications are listed under ens reale in the above figure.

0150 What does this imply?

0151 Walton’s Lost World approach emphasizes the mind-dependent features (or ens rationis) of the Genesis text.  However, his approach entangles a sign-relation (that reshapes the ens rationis by acting as a sign-interpretant) that points to the mediation₃, formal causes₁ and final attributes₁ which stand off-stage of the Lost World actuality₂ of {Biblical textual matter [substantiating] interpreted form, informed by the cultural milieu of the ancient Near East}₂.

0152 Once the confounding takes hold, the Lost World approach faces reversal as the sign-interpretant that images, indicates or represents God’s mediation₃, designs₁ and intentions₁ transforms into matter that substantiates what is portrayed in each day (as form).