Worldviews

So what is a worldview?
A couple of simple definitions first ...
* A lens through which we view the world.
* The framework through which we analyse the major questions of life. It is the basis on which we evaluate situations and make decisions.

Everyone has a worldview. Well, in reality sometimes people have a MIX of varying worldviews. They may not have thought through exactly what they believe in every area.

However there are several major worldviews. Each of these has a position on a range of topics. Different authors approach the question of worldview differently. In the tabs at left I'll mention some of these, give links, books to read and so on.

It is vitally necessary for Christians to know understand a proper Christian worldview and to have a basic knowledge of the other major world views such as humanism/new age/Islam/Buddhism so they can recognise ideas and know what other worldviews they come from.

Each Christian writer on worldviews may have a different number of topic area or identify a varying number of 'worldviews', but essentially all are identifying the key notion of worldview. In essence the Biblical Christian worldview answers the key questions 'Where did I come from?', 'Why am I here?' and 'Where am I going?'
It has an answer for every area of life - including theology, ethics, philosophy, biology, law, politics and economics.

Similarly the other worldviews must address these questions and areas as well.

Other worldviews include Secular Humanism, Marxism, New Age (Cosmic Humanism), Postmodernism and Islam.

I'll also give a summary (added to as time permits) of each of the major worldviews).

Over the past seven or so years we have worked closely with Dr Darrell Ferguson who lived in Australia for many years before returning to Canada.

Over the past 5 years we've worked with Summit Ministries in the USA, led by David Noebel.
We have two great books written by David - 'Battle for Truth' ($20 plus p&p) which analyses four worldviews, and 'Understanding the Times' ($35 plus p & p)) which has all six worldviews listed above.

Asking questions is the best way of determining a person's worldview. To get help on how to ask questions you should go to Greg Koukl's web site, Stand to Reason.

Salt Shakers runs one day "Introductory Worldview Schools"

In January 2008, we organised a week-long worldview school last January with Summit. We're planning to run another one in January 2010.

We have an MP3 disc, containing all but a few of the 30+ sessions from the 2008 school. It is available from us at a cost of $90.