This is not a book in itself, but rather an article in a compilation book called "The 21st Century Church - Out There". Subtitle - "19 Australian Leaders Help You Rediscover The Apostolic Dimension of Church." I expect this will be the first book I have read that was published in the year 2000.

James Thwaites believes that the Church is still bound by a Greek dichotomy between the spiritual and non-spiritual aspects of life. He seeks to equip people with a more Hebrew worldview, one that will place our work at the forefront of our calling and spirituality. He sees Post-Modernism as giving Christians a chance to revisit Creation. "With the overthrow of the Greek divide, we have an opportunity to recapture and engage the created realm, and see more clearly and deeply into what God has placed there for our life and our inheritance." (p28) He also says succinctly that "Creation is calling us out from the congregation to engage all things."

I must confess I have some difficulty putting all this together. The writer is certainly affirming that no work is necessarily secular or unspiritual. On the contrary, God is calling Christians to new discoveries in the realm of Creation. But it's also much more than that. It's a holistic Creation perspective that sees God working intimately in all our interaction with the world.

Does this harmonize in any way with our subculture theme? Thwaites agrees that we are a people forged by God to reveal Himself to the world. But whereas my emphasis is on the things that we Christians share in common (ie, our culture), he focuses more on our diversity. Whereas I have attempted to explain Christian witness in the solidarity of the Church, he sees it as happening in and through the achievements of individuals pressing ahead into new frontiers for God.

All this is very interesting, and I hope I live long enough to look back and say: "James Thwaites was right" or even "James Thwaites had it half right." It is, after all, cutting edge thinking about God, His Creation and His Church.