©2002, InterVarsity Press, 208 pp., paperback.

We live in a culture that wants Christianity to be relegated to our private lives. The author reminds readers that the God of creation commands Christianity to flow out into every facet of life. He then shows how the Bible speaks to many areas of life that may seem to be neutral.  He rightly begins with God’s attributes including God’s sovereignty and providence. He aptly defines God’s sovereignty being total even over what Satan is allowed to do.

The author then examines God’s image in man. Although marred by sin, man by God’s grace is to reflect God in dominion over creation, in knowledge by growing in our understanding of God’s world and His plan being worked out, in holiness by increasingly seeking to take captive our thoughts and actions for the Lord, and in community as we seek to live in biblical harmony with one another even as the Trinity does so perfectly.

From this strong foundation he easily moves into the subjects of work, sex, science, the arts, and the tongue as focal points to apply God’s word. On each topic the author provides good insights grounded in scripture that need to be heard and practiced by each generation.

Although, I could mention a number of his practical points I will summarize some of his thoughts regarding work. He does not claim that a calling to pastor or foreign missionary is the highest calling that one can have. In fact, he points out that every God-honoring calling is of equal value. Neither Adam prior to the fall, nor Jesus as a young man had a calling to the pastorate. One was called to garden in Eden, and the other to his dad’s carpenter shop. Both were legitimate vocations and important in fulfilling God’s dominion mandate (Gen. 1:267-28). He provides good counsel regarding job-hopping, the source of hardship in the workplace, and how to address laziness. In these very practical sections he shows that God has provided in scripture a Christian worldview to govern our thinking regarding work. The same is true for other facets of life that he covers.

Worldview thinking is always controversial. It goes against the grain of societal thinking and also means that Christians can never view any area of life as neutral. Even among Christians there is controversy over the application of worldview. Although I profited from reading this book, I would differ with the author on a couple of points. The author takes a strong stand against evolution, but I wish he had also come down firmly favoring a six normative day creation span. I believe there is sufficient scriptural evidence to make this view clearly biblical. In addressing women and the church he states that women are not to be ordained to the office of elder as that office is one of authority, but he leaves the office of deacon as open to men and women. I believe that the act of ordination to office places one in an authoritative position. Deacons have authority. Acts 6 clearly indicates that the office of deacon was established because of the need then to exercise authority in ending a quarrel.

The title is misleading. There are many subjects that are not covered in this book. For example, a Christian worldview of history and many other academic subjects is not developed. There is no chapter on engineering or journalism from a Christian perspective. No one should expect a book of this size to cover all aspects of a Christian worldview. In fact a book could be written on each of these subjects.

Review ©2009 Byron Snapp, Hampton, Virginia