In the Foreword to the new edition of Pro-Existence, Udo Middelmann writes:

Life in the circle of reality does not consist only of observing what happens, in holding people's hands and washing their faces to accompany them in their sad state. Human beings have a calling from God to be human, to gain dominion by figuring out how creation and the human being works in order to build with those insights, vary and embellish life, as well as to actively oppose the decline towards the permanment lure of evil.

Elijah was sent to a king to denounce his evil reign. Jesus came to do the Father's will, to heal the sick and argue with false teachers. Paul defended himself all the way to the court in Rome against mistreatment. Isaac dug a well to irrigate the fields for his sheep.

All such actions follow from the encouragement to Adam and Eve after the fall to stop accusing each other, to put the hand to the plow against an encroaching nature, and to have babies against the approaching death. Their work diminished the weight of a pitiless fallen nature. Their son Cain carried on to develop cities, metallurgy and music, as God encouraged and protected him.

To be human is to actively engage life and not simply to react to events, hide in prayer closets, or to blindly accept the status quo, whether it is thought to be set by media, politics, or by any group, religion, or orientation that erases a human being's God-given individuality.

Yesterday's press release announcing the formation of the Francis Schaeffer Center for Worldview and Culture states, "Courses created by FSC will give students a unique opportunity to work through
. . . foundational resources on worldview and cultural engagement."

Middelmann's book Pro-Existence is a "foundational resource," in my view, and I would recommend it to any person seeking to better understand what it means to stand as a human being living in community with God and man in today's world.