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14 reviews for:
Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview
Albert M. Wolters, Michael W. Goheen
3.8 AVERAGE
14 reviews for:
Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview
Albert M. Wolters, Michael W. Goheen
3.8 AVERAGE
The topic was interesting but I did not enjoy reading the book. The author's tone came across extremely patronizing.
I appreciated this book as a slightly longer explanation of the Creation-Fall-Redemption paradigm. Wolters presents a strong case for the goodness of Creation in ways that are necessary for a Kuyperian/Dooyewerdian approach to Christianity and culture, something deeply needed in the context of too much neo-fundamentalism in contemporary Reformed circles. I particularly enjoyed the idea of Direction and Structure as a way of understanding the inherent good in a given cultural area and how sin has corrupted that area, but not beyond redemption. It was readable, compact, and thoroughly Biblical.
My two complaints, which are interrelated: first, the book was originally written in 1985 and, despite a revised 20th-anniversary edition from 2005, it seems somewhat outdated in 2021. I normally wouldn't fault an author for not publishing a subsequent edition, but my second complaint is that the book stays on a theoretical level for far too long in ways that make the book seem even more outdated in its application. I understand its purpose as an introductory philosophical text, but there were so many opportunities where I was pleading with the book to give more concrete examples of a given concept. Even the section on "Personal Renewal" was hardly specific even as it described issues like sexuality, aggression--a seemingly random choice--spiritual gifts, and dance. Perhaps this is again tied to the book's need for a new edition, but the conversations happening within Reformed churches in 2021 need more direction--pun intended--on how to use discernment when engaging with difficult issues that are, as the author points out, not simplistically black-and-white. More concrete, up-to-date examples would be incredibly useful in a third edition.
My two complaints, which are interrelated: first, the book was originally written in 1985 and, despite a revised 20th-anniversary edition from 2005, it seems somewhat outdated in 2021. I normally wouldn't fault an author for not publishing a subsequent edition, but my second complaint is that the book stays on a theoretical level for far too long in ways that make the book seem even more outdated in its application. I understand its purpose as an introductory philosophical text, but there were so many opportunities where I was pleading with the book to give more concrete examples of a given concept. Even the section on "Personal Renewal" was hardly specific even as it described issues like sexuality, aggression--a seemingly random choice--spiritual gifts, and dance. Perhaps this is again tied to the book's need for a new edition, but the conversations happening within Reformed churches in 2021 need more direction--pun intended--on how to use discernment when engaging with difficult issues that are, as the author points out, not simplistically black-and-white. More concrete, up-to-date examples would be incredibly useful in a third edition.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
...Didn't read the updated version with the postscript, but now that I know this exists, I may have to find an updated copy. This is, of all the books I bought in college, the one essential that I never considered selling back to the bookstore.
Had good information and it went more in depth to some things that I already knew but it was too repetitive. It could have said some things in less time.
Many Christians are vaguely familiar with the major movements of the Christian story—Creation, Fall, and Redemption. The is the best introduction to the distinctives of that worldview that I’ve read. Wolters imagines the scope and significance of God’s creation, the effects of the fall, and the project of redemption to reach so much farther than I’ve typically understood. This book provided some welcome clarity to some of the ideas that have been part of my paradigm shift over the last few years.
The point of this book is to provide a Christian world-view. Christians look at the world through the grand narrative of Creation-Fall-Redemption-New Creation. An epilogue to the latest edition answers some questions people asked about the original (what about the Old Testament, how does that fit?).
A few random, not-really-review, thoughts:
When I think of "Reformational" today I think of the churches, groups, pastors and scholars who can be described as the "New Calvinism" or the "Young, Restless and Reformed". This book paints another side of "Reformed" Christianity. I, personally, find much of the "New Calvinism" to be more like a "New Fundamentalism" as well as kind of closed to other Christians in an arrogant sort of way (in other words, those of us who are not Calvinists might be Christians...if we're lucky). But the style of Reformed thinking in this book I can deeply resonate with. The authors quote, positively, people like NT Wright and Leslie Newbigin, both also "Reformed" but certainly not young or restless.
The greatest value in this book is that it teaches people to be biblical in the right way. It does not say that every single question has an answer in the Bible, in that you can quote chapter and verse. Instead, the Bible is a tool through which you see the world (hence the term, worldview). The Bible, the narrative Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration, is a pair of glasses to help you understand everything else.
A few random, not-really-review, thoughts:
When I think of "Reformational" today I think of the churches, groups, pastors and scholars who can be described as the "New Calvinism" or the "Young, Restless and Reformed". This book paints another side of "Reformed" Christianity. I, personally, find much of the "New Calvinism" to be more like a "New Fundamentalism" as well as kind of closed to other Christians in an arrogant sort of way (in other words, those of us who are not Calvinists might be Christians...if we're lucky). But the style of Reformed thinking in this book I can deeply resonate with. The authors quote, positively, people like NT Wright and Leslie Newbigin, both also "Reformed" but certainly not young or restless.
The greatest value in this book is that it teaches people to be biblical in the right way. It does not say that every single question has an answer in the Bible, in that you can quote chapter and verse. Instead, the Bible is a tool through which you see the world (hence the term, worldview). The Bible, the narrative Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration, is a pair of glasses to help you understand everything else.
Darn near perfect. Encouraging, inspiring, biblical, and life-changing. Instant classic. All-time favorite.
Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview (Eerdmans) was originally written in 1985 by Al Wolters, and then re-released twenty years later, with an afterword by Michael Goheen. Wolters defines worldview as “the comprehensive framework of one’s basic beliefs about things,” a definition he then breaks down bit by bit (I won’t spell it out here, but each word is carefully chosen). He believes that a biblical worldview is best understood by the basic scriptural categories of creation, fall and redemption. He also contends that our worldview is to inform all of life; the Bible leaves no room for compartmentalizing certain parts of life into the mutually exclusive categories of sacred (church, spiritual practices, Bible study, etc) and secular (economics, politics, technology, etc)...
- See more at: http://tjhoiland.com/wordpress/2012/04/creation-regained
- See more at: http://tjhoiland.com/wordpress/2012/04/creation-regained