Understanding Worldview
It’s a term we hear all the time but what does it really mean?
What is its significance?
How does it influence my role as a teacher?
Teaching with Ends in Mind
“ We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ” Paul, Colossians 1:28
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8
Teaching with Ends in MindPaul’s Prayer
“ …we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Colossians 1:9-10
The Context• Warfare: A Culture War• The Root of the Problem• Opposing WorldviewsFor though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
What does culture have to do with it?
• Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.
THEORY OF CULTURAL DETERMINISM • The position that the ideas, meanings, beliefs and values
people learn as members of society determines human nature. People are what they learn. Optimistic version of cultural determinism places no limits on the abilities of human beings to do or to be whatever they want. Some anthropologists suggest that there is no universal "right way" of being human. "Right way" is almost always "our way"; that "our way" in one society almost never corresponds to "our way" in any other society. Proper attitude of an informed human being could only be that of tolerance.
• Hofstede, G. (1997). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind. New York: McGraw Hill. http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/choudhury/culture.html
Cultural Determinism
• The optimistic version of this theory postulates that human nature being infinitely malleable, human beings can choose the ways of life they prefer.
• The pessimistic version maintains that people are what they are conditioned to be; this is something over which they have no control. Human beings are passive creatures and do whatever their culture tells them to do.
Joshua 24:15
• 15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
“We were made for greatness, but there is something about our culture that undermines its intelligibility and achievement.“ ~ J. P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, p. 21.
What is a Worldview?
• world·view• ˈwərldˌvyoL o/• noun• a particular philosophy of life or conception
of the world.• "I have broadened my worldview by
experiencing a whole new culture"
Worldview
• world·view (wûrldvy)n. In both senses also called Weltanschauung.
• 1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.
• 2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.
• The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
What is a worldview?
“A worldview is simply the total of our beliefs about the world, the ‘big picture’ that directs our daily decisions and actions.”
~ Chuck Colson & Nancy Pearcey, How Now Shall We Live?
What is a worldview?
“A worldview is the lenses, glasses, framework, or grid through which you look at the world and every issue and aspect of life...Your worldview is the foundation of your ideas and values and your ideas and values is the foundation of your conduct”
Branson S. Howse, “National Test Reveals Christian Students Lack a Christian Worldview.”
“A person’s actual worldview from which he lives and moves and has his being is the most important fact about that person.”
~ J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, p. 34.
“For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is…” Proverbs 23:7a
Why is studying worldview issues important?
What am I?
Where did I come from?
How do we know what is right from wrong?
Who am I?
Where am I going?
What’s gone wrong with the world?
Is there purpose to my life?
Why do we exist?
What is truth?
Do I have value?
God? Are you there?
Do you know what you believe and why?
How would you answer the questions?
Do you really know what you don’t believe and why?
Who is well-off? What is is the good life?
What is real?
Moreland states that there are 5 important questions we should put to any worldview::
What are the nature & limits of
knowledge?
Who is really a good person?
How does one become a good person?
The Belief of American Teens
• Soul Searching: The religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers by Christian Smith.
• Moralistic Therapeutic Deism• A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over
human life on earth.• God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught
in the Bible and by most world religions.• The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about
oneself.• God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except
when God is needed to resolve a problem.• Good people go to heaven when they die.
Two Types of Culture
• Pitirim Sorokim in his book The Crisis of Our Age divides cultures into two major types: Sensate and ideational.
• “ A sensate culture is one in which people only believe in the reality of the physical universe capable of being experienced with the five senses. A sensate culture is secular, this worldly and empirical. By contrast an ideational culture embraces the sensory world, but goes on to accept the notion that an extra-empirical immaterial reality can be known as well.” – From Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland, p. 21
Thin vs. Thick WorldsAs discussed in Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland, chapter 1
• A philosophical concept
• Thin world: there is no objective value, purpose, or meaning. It is a world that is just there; it wasn’t made for some purpose. There’s no real essence to what counts as a proper flourishing human life, and there’s no life after death
Thin vs. Thick WorldsAs discussed in Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland, chapter 1
• Thick World: there is such a thing as objective value, purpose, and meaning. In a thick world, some things really matter and other things don’t. Some things have meaning, other don’t. Some things are right and other things are wrong…you in particular, were put here for a purpose.
P. 29
Understanding the Thinking of Contemporary Culture
• Scientific Naturalism:
Strong: We can only know what can be tested scientifically. If some belief is not part of well-established scientific theory, it is not an item of knowledge.
Weak: Admits that some claims in fields outside of science (i.e. ethics) are rational and justified. But scientific knowledge, vastly superior, trumps the claims made by other disciplines.
Understanding the Thinking of Contemporary Culture
• Postmodern Relativism– Reality, value, and truth are arbitrary conventions
relative to different cultures. These are social constructions.
– Religion and ethical claims are reduced to private feelings, individual attitudes and personal perspectives. These areas have become noncognitive (knowledge not possible) and nonfactual (there is no true or false) J.P. Moreland, chapter three
– Universities have given way to plural-versities. p.70
Under the Influence of Worldview
• Everyone thinks, writes, lectures, argues, researches, interprets, behaves, etc. from a worldview.
• There is NO neutral education, neutral textbook, neutral teacher
• All education has a god at its center (Neil Postman).
• All education is based upon a “narrative” or grand story that answers life’s “big questions”
What is reality? What is the origin of all
things?
Is there truth? Can we know
it? How?
Who is man? What is his
purpose? What is his destiny?
What is of value? What is right / wrong? How can we
know?
Education Provides the Answers
The American Creed
ScienceEconomic Utility
Global Economy
Technology
The “Grand” Narratives
The Good Life: Happiness
Capitalism Socialism
The Living Word: Jesus
More Narratives
• “We are interpreting our experience in the light either of divine revelation or of some competing system of thought. Our calling as Christians is to progressively clean out all the ‘idols’.”
» Nancy Pearcy
The Choice
There Must be a Standard
• What will be the standard for your children’s worldview?
• 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He [is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. Colossians 1:16-18
• 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Worldview Questions: What are THE Answers?
• The biblical answers to life’s big questions must be learned as a integral part of a child’s education
• These answers can be the basis for a memory verse curriculum OR integrated into the curriculum / disciplines
• We must be ready to quote the reason for our belief from THE STANDARD
Worldview Answers: An ExampleReality
• How did the universe originate and develop? John 1:1-5
• Is there a God? 1 John 5:20, Ephesians 4:6
• Is basic reality found in matter (physical world) or is there a reality that is unseen (spiritual world)? Ephesians 6:12, 2 Cor. 4:18
Sources
• Refer to the handout, “Worldview Integration Questions”, as a basic introduction.
• See the handout: “Worldview Memory Verse Curriculum” for answers to worldview questions by developmental level. These examples were developed by CIU students and posted at www.lowriecenter.com
• You too can develop a curriculum based upon your current knowledge and research
Instruction
• But how does this impact my teaching? What am I to do?
• Biblical worldview is the basis for:– Biblical Integration– Critical Thinking– The Christian Mind
The how will be addressed in my second and third sessions.
For Later Viewing
• The next two slides provide glimpses into contemporary worldviews.
What Does our Culture Believe?
• Do you believe in God?• http://
www.missionaloutreachnetwork.com/video/do-you-believe-in-god-man-on-the-street-interviews-www
• Where do we come from?• http://
www.missionaloutreachnetwork.com/video/where-do-we-come-from-people-on-the-street-interview-www
• What happens when we die? • http://www.missionaloutreachnetwork.com/video/what-happens-whe
n-we-die-people-on-the-street-interview-www
What Does our Culture Believe?
• Who do you follow? • http://
www.missionaloutreachnetwork.com/video/who-do-you-follow-people-on-the-street-interviews-www
• Who is Jesus? • http://www.missionaloutreachnetwork.com/video/who-is-jesus-people-on-the
-street-interview-www-storyofredemption
• What is Grace?• http://www.missionaloutreachnetwork.com/video/what-is-grace-people-on-
the-street-interview-www
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