Engaging Gods World Chapter Summary

The book I will review is Engaging Gods World: A Christian vision of faith, learning, and living, by Cornelius Plantinga (2002). In this book, Plantinga does not seem to state a specific thesis in the writing piece, but in reading the book it seems like the best statement that would fit a thesis of the book would be the following: “The point of all this learning is to prepare to add one’s own contribution to the supreme reformation project, which is God’s restoration of all things that have been corrupted by evil” (Plantinga, 2002, p. xii). From this thesis, I believe he achieved the purpose of directing the reader to see that God created all things including man, we fell from His paradise, He restores us to Himself in Christ, and now calls us to be part of His restoration project for the world.

Plantinga offers chapters one through four as an orientation for understanding the

He says, “But I fear that for most Christian students, mainstream higher education simply won’t be adequate to help them understand the kingdom of God and their own vocation within it” (Plantinga, 2002, p. 123). Yet Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matt. 28: 18-19). Peter says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). This command, to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, references the previous verse of taking care lest we be carried away by error. This assumes we are interacting with those who believe error since it assumes we could be tempted by it. When Christ came to earth He lived with and interacted with prostitutes, tax collectors and ancient terrorists. God calls us to secular interactions and relationships for the gospel to go forward, not to an enclosed Christian