The Light of Eden: A Christian Worldview

I must admit that when I first heard of Harold C. Raley's The Light of Eden and noted its subject was a Christian worldview, my initial reaction was "Oh no, not another one!" Much ink has been spilled since the 1980s in defending the proposition that a hybrid of Republican politics and that "old time religion" (how a religious movement that is at most a few centuries old in a two millennia history of the Church qualifies as "old time" is a whole other matter) can be used to construct a Christian worldview and I dreaded this would be more of the same. I could not have been more wrong. Dr. Raley's book is a thoughtful and provocative analysis of what it means to live and think as a Christian. Acknowledging both the biblical witness of Evangelical Protestantism and the theological richness of the Christian tradition, he affirms the positive insights of both and seeks to reason within a framework that is overtly Christian and neither assumes a cultural vacuum nor relies upon an alien philosophical system for its structure. The book is divided into seven sections that each deal with a particular piece of the puzzle of seeing the world as a Christian. In succeeding sections, the author takes the reader on a journey from the Scriptural foundations through a uniquely Christian way of seeing truth, man and his dilemma, society, and history. At each step, he integrates his reasoning within a thoroughly Christian outlook and points out the differences within other frameworks. In all his reasoning, Dr. Raley is careful to retain fidelity to the Christian witness. Where the outlook given differs from the "conventional wisdom" - even that within the Church - he takes great care to explain where he believes prior developments erred. Throughout, his tenor is fair and he does not subject any particular view to ridicule nor engage in "straw man" argumentation but seeks to fairly evaluate opposing views. The writing is always crisp and not bogged down in technical details without losing the depth required for the topic. With all the attention given in the Church to upholding a "Christian world view", one would hope The Light of Eden would garner some notice. It certainly deserves to be read widely within the Church. However, given its focus on foundational issues rather than political headlines, it is might be overlooked by the movers and shakers in American Evangelicalism. This is a shame because it is very rare to have a truly Christian philosophy presented so vividly. This is a thoughtful and challenging book that all thinking Christians should read.