Adams Book Review
Brianna Adams
Regent University
Christian Worldview
Book Review
, Adams Book Review
Book Summary
Throughout this course I have had the privilege of reading the course text Engaging God’s
World: A Christian Version of Faith, Learning, and Living. The author wrote the book to convey
to his audience the importance of having a generalized understanding on how the Christian faith
should impact all aspects of our lives. There is a societal misconception that worldly measures,
awards, and pleasures are enough. Many people think these alone are enough to have them full
satisfied. This far from true. The author mentions the only way to obtain true happiness. He
informs us that we can “only be truly satisfied by God” (Plantinga, 2002). The book reveals how
we spend to much time diverting our efforts into focusing on worldly measures. He teaches us
we should in fact not do this because the only way to be fulfilled is by God. Nothing else here on
earth will do it, and this reading teaches us that.
The book continues to teach us important lessons. Another one being how we should aim our
hope. This too is a ongoing controversy still faced in today’s society. Many have their hope faced
on their own personal interests. Yet Plantinga tells us, “our hope should be looking out towards
the future of others “ (Plantinga, 2002). This is following the Biblical calling to love thy
neighbor. God never called us to simply do things to benefit ourselves. Instead, he continues to
call us to help those around us. Our success and positive outcomes can come from our ability to
help others. Because of this, it is important that we do not solely focus on ourselves, but the
world around us. Plantinga says it like this, “the way to thrive is to help others thrive; the way to
flourish is to cause others to flourish; the way to fulfill yourself is to spend yourself” (Plantinga,
2002). We are not called to put ourselves first. We are not called to focus solely on our wants, or
our needs. Instead we are called to be like Jesus. In order to do this correctly we must focus on
the needs and wants of others. We must change our mindset from me and I to we and they. The
Brianna Adams
Regent University
Christian Worldview
Book Review
, Adams Book Review
Book Summary
Throughout this course I have had the privilege of reading the course text Engaging God’s
World: A Christian Version of Faith, Learning, and Living. The author wrote the book to convey
to his audience the importance of having a generalized understanding on how the Christian faith
should impact all aspects of our lives. There is a societal misconception that worldly measures,
awards, and pleasures are enough. Many people think these alone are enough to have them full
satisfied. This far from true. The author mentions the only way to obtain true happiness. He
informs us that we can “only be truly satisfied by God” (Plantinga, 2002). The book reveals how
we spend to much time diverting our efforts into focusing on worldly measures. He teaches us
we should in fact not do this because the only way to be fulfilled is by God. Nothing else here on
earth will do it, and this reading teaches us that.
The book continues to teach us important lessons. Another one being how we should aim our
hope. This too is a ongoing controversy still faced in today’s society. Many have their hope faced
on their own personal interests. Yet Plantinga tells us, “our hope should be looking out towards
the future of others “ (Plantinga, 2002). This is following the Biblical calling to love thy
neighbor. God never called us to simply do things to benefit ourselves. Instead, he continues to
call us to help those around us. Our success and positive outcomes can come from our ability to
help others. Because of this, it is important that we do not solely focus on ourselves, but the
world around us. Plantinga says it like this, “the way to thrive is to help others thrive; the way to
flourish is to cause others to flourish; the way to fulfill yourself is to spend yourself” (Plantinga,
2002). We are not called to put ourselves first. We are not called to focus solely on our wants, or
our needs. Instead we are called to be like Jesus. In order to do this correctly we must focus on
the needs and wants of others. We must change our mindset from me and I to we and they. The
