Chapter 4: Sleeping Giant Awake!: Why Restoring Creation and New Creation to the Gospel Can Reform the World Through Our Students

For over a century, the Protestant churches in Australia have abandoned pursuit of meaning and purpose in universities and limited their scholarship to theological colleges and Bible schools. In 2023, we find a nascent Christian higher education movement in Australia but on the margins. The problem addressed here is that truncated theologies have almost eliminated the creation from God’s work of redemption. As Protestant churches ceased explaining why and how we work, they lost the culture-restorative power of the gospel. By rediscovering how grace redeems all creation, Christian higher education can more effectively prepare young people as agents for good in any profession. With the publication of Creation Regained by Albert Wolters in 1984, a variegated movement begun in North America has been exploring the implications of creation theology for every human endeavor. Wolters reprises robust reformed theology dating to Augustine. Two elements from Wolters’ theology, worldview, and the scope of creation as visible and invisible, were applied in the formation of journalism students in the United States. This experience informed classroom delivery of Christian ethics, vocation, and character formation in the context of early childhood education in Australia. When introduced to the biblical account of God’s good creation in Genesis, and Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, even students of other faiths are surprised to find clarity, dignity, and new enthusiasm for their work.