Wolters' Creation Regained

I can hardly recommend any higher Al Wolters' Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, which will be available next month in a new reprinting. This short book rocked my world several years ago. The impact on my thinking wasn't so much presenting new material or concepts, but helping me fit it all together. The worst thing about the book I found is that the margins are too small to fit all of my notes in, and I broke my binding. If you are serious about Christian worldview and consider yourself cut from the Kuyperian mold, this is required reading.

With just five chapters (though densely packed), he begins with "What is a Worldview?" Briefly examining what a worldview is, the important element I found about the chapter is its plea to recognize the comprehensive nature of the Christian faith. Our Christian worldview must be distinctly Christian and permeate all aspects of our thought and life (theory and praxis).

The second chapter, "Creation", begins by identifying the biblical theme of the Creator/creature distinction, and stresses the importance of this doctrine, and the doctrine of creation in general, for Christian thought and for advancing the Christian's cultural mission (the Cultural Mandate).

The third Chapter, "Fall", explores the critical Kuyperian theme of the Antithesis. The opposition to the Christian's cultural mission is not fundamentally natural, but spiritual.

The fourth chapter, "Redemption", closes with this zinger:

"The horizon of creation is at the same time the horizon of sin and of salvation. To conceive of either the fall or Christ's deliverance as encompassing less that (sic) the whole of creation is to compromise the biblical teaching of the radical nature of the fall and the cosmic scope of redemption." (p. 71)

The work of Christ on the Cross must extend not just to personal salvation, but to the whole of the cosmos. The vast expanse of creation is now the open frontier for pressing the comprehensive claims of Christ. This is the view of the ancient church, who emphasized Christus Victor (see Gustav Aulen's book of the same name, or Robert Webber's Ancient-Future Faith).

Finally, the fifth chapter, "Discerning Structure and Direction", was of tremendous importance to me. In light of the Antithesis, how do we as Christians utilize those aspects of creation that are used by pagan humanity in contravention of the gospel and the created ends of things. The doctrine of common grace always baffled me until I read this chapter. He also covers the Kuyperian doctrine of sphere sovereignty here, which opposes the pagan inevitability of totalitarianism (in whatever: politics, money, sex, etc.). Pagan revolution is opposed by Christian reformation. He applies his approach to various issues, including sexuality and dance.

One closing quote to give you an idea of where he's heading:

"In a certain sense the plea being made here for a biblical worldview is simply an appeal to the believer to take the Bible and its teaching seriously for the totality of our civilization right now and not to relegate it to some optional area called 'religion'." (pp. 7-8)

THIS IS SIMPLY A MUST-READ!!

Also be sure to check out this recent lecture (Oct. 2005) by Dr. Wolters entitled: "What is to be done...toward a neocalvinist agenda." He states quite honestly that the Kuyperian heirs are few in number in Christian circles, but the clarity of vision and the call to advance the comprehensive claims of Christ in all areas of life are elements that the entire Church needs to hear to be effective in the world today. He closes the article with a few paragraphs from his 1980 essay, "The Centre and the Circumference", which ought to be read in its entirety.