The Business of Is-Ness: How to Live in the World God Made

by David Schrock, Kevin McClure (Narrator), Stephen J. Wellum - foreword

What is it? Few questions are more basic or more important that defining what a thing is. And yet, few questions are more confused. What is a human being? What is a man and a woman? What is marriage? And what is a family? Questions like these stand at the heart of modern ethics, and Christians who love their neighbors need to have good answers to them.

In nine chapters, The Business of Is-Ness answers nine questions about how to live in the world God has made the world. Without technical jargon, The Business of Is-Ness aims to help faithful Christians see from Scripture what the world is, as God intended. While the gospel of Jesus Christ offers redemption to sinners who worship creation instead of the Creator, such good news depends upon a proper understanding of God’s world. Indeed, grace does not destroy nature; it restores it. Yet, that truth depends a proper understanding of what nature is.

As Creator, God defines what the world is and how it is meant to work. And in his Word, God has revealed what those definitions are. Accordingly, anyone who takes seriously God’s Word can know with certainty what God has said about himself, his world, and everything in it.

In our confused age the nature of creation is under constant threat. So, it is vital that Christians know more than the gospel of redemption. They must also be able to proclaim and explain the doctrine of creation. In a word, “Is-Ness” is our business. And this book will help you proclaim the glorious truths of God’s creation, even as you look for the new creation.

Audible Audio

Published July 23, 2025

Reviews

[Rachel Winkler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was overall really good and helpful! Dr. Schrock says in the beginning of this book that he intends for this to be accessible for the layperson, and I think it is, but it was a lot to take in — you may have to go slow because it is dense and there is a lot packed into each chapter philosophically and exegetically. I only read it quickly because I listened to it while on a road trip.

That being said, Dr. Schrock does a great job at explaining what Scripture says about the world God created — how He intended things to be based on what we see in creation, how those things have been corrupted by sin, and how the gospel restores those things (in part now and in full in the new creation). He starts out with a short study of the doctrine of God and starting with the Creator-creature distinction properly orients the rest of what he talks about regarding the world, humanity, and the church. I especially found helpful his chapters on marriage, the family, and the nature of men and women.

Dr. Schrock does such a great job pushing back unashamedly against the culture’s attempt to redefine all of these things and instead point readers back to how God has defined these things as the Creator of them all.

One thing that needs to be kept in mind is to not hear what Dr. Schrock isn’t saying. There are a couple of points where I do believe he becomes a bit prescriptive, but for the most part he is simply saying what Scripture teaches regarding God’s design for humanity, marriage, family, men, women, and the church. I think he actually does a great job of making caveats and stating explicitly what he does NOT mean, acknowledging when he is speaking in general terms. It bears keeping in mind that he is speaking in generalities and not to any one person’s specific life circumstances. That’s not the goal of the book.

Keeping this in mind, I think this is an excellent and helpful guide to thinking biblically about the world God has made and how to live in it for His glory. Looking forward to being in a couple of Dr. Schrock’s classes early next year!

[Philip Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then I read a book that is a culmination of a bunch of conclusions I had recently come to, but expressed better than I could express it (and with sources cited that I haven't yet looked at). This is one of those books. Amen, amen, amen. A timely word. Also, I like progressive covenantalism so it went down pretty smoothly.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a regular listener to David's podcast, I was not surprised at all to find this a carefully argued, beautifully-articulated, delightfully organized book. He methodically applies the Bible to the ontology, or is-ness (his neologism) of 9 different aspects of creation, and he does so in order to reach the layman. If you have read more technical books in this vein, it will leave you underwhelmed at times, but I think he does a great job reaching his target audience. I think his best chapters are on what marriage and family are for. One nugget I took away is the common misconception that each individual's body is 'a temple', but rather that Paul is referring to each person as part of the church as 'The Temple'. Hardly a heterodox view, but it is a helpful clarification in understanding Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians.

[Ron Comoglio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the benefit of sitting under the preaching of this content in sermon form, and getting the full force of how much modern (and post-modern) culture had lied to me so insidiously. God’s ways are higher and better, if we would heed them.

I quote a sentence from the conclusion which really is a great preparatory thought: “Along the way, they will find, as we have found in this book, that there will be painful conflicts between what we think (and what we have been taught) and what God’s Word says. Yet that is exactly where sanctification occurs.”

[Daniel Fahringer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An accessible theological work exploring Biblical ontology, which has largely been lost in our day. An excellent read that I think would be a huge blessing for young Christians to help them better understand and live in the world God made as the subtitle says.