Creation Regained by Albert M. Wolters

Creation Regained by Albert M. Wolters is a short, 120 page book about the creation and how the fall affects it.  The edition that I have (pictured below) is updated with a 25 page postscript that updates this work a bit. While this book is short, it does not want for depth.  Contained in its pages are a good bit of theological and philosophical terminology.  That does not mean the book is not worth the effort, but I imagine there are better primers for those new to books on Christian worldview. The book is divided into five chapters.  Chapter one answers the question, "What is a world-view?"  Chapters 2-4 concern creation, fall, and redemption, respectively.  The final chapter is on "Structure and Direction." This last chapter was, for me, the most interesting.  Wolters considers many of the structures that we encounter.  Structures are created institutions, things like family, government, education, society and the like.  These structures, in a post fall world, are not orientated in the way that should be.  The direction of these in a post fall world is not towards God and his glory, but away from God.  In other words, after the fall, all of society, all of creation, suffers under the curse.  But what is important for Wolters is the affirmation that these things, in and of themselves, are not evil.  Their orientation is wrong because fallen humans utilize them.  In redemption, these structures are being renewed.  Ultimately, at the consummation of the Kingdom, all will be renewed and glorify God.   This short, albeit slightly technical, book is a good summary of the Dutch Neo-Calvinist/Kuyperian worldview.  I would not recommend it as an introduction to the topic, but for those interested in the subject it is a worthwhile and interesting read.  He does spend a little bit too much ink in the first few chapters fighting off a Lutheran sacred/secular dichotomy, but by the last chapter the book finds it stride and considers the subject positively instead of polemically.  Perhaps that is why the final chapter is by far the best and most interesting.  All in all, a book worth reading if your interest gravitate toward this subject.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."