Take Your Compass #6 - What are the Worldviews?
Recap: In Compass #1, we looked at the definition of a Worldview, and what the minimal requirements are. In Compass #2, we looked at the most basic questions of life that a Worldview should ask. In Compass #3, we looked at the meaning of truth. In Compass #4, we began to look at the issue of morality, and finished up on morality in Compass #5.
Today we are going to name the major Worldviews with a focus on the ones you are most likely to run into in the United States. Some of the Worldviews will be covered in more detail later. For now, this is just a general breakdown. Here are the ten you need to know:
Deism (Deism is not a Worldview in the same way as the others. I will explain that below.)
Naturalism (Includes Materialism/Physicalism, and Secularism/Human Secularism.)
Marxism (Marxism is a form of Naturalism, but it deserves to be singled out.)
Nihilism
Existentialism
Pantheistic Monism
New Age (New Spirituality or New Age Spirituality)
Postmodernism
Islam
The Biblical Christian Worldview chronologically precedes all the views above*, but I will cover it last. (*To be accurate, Pantheistic Monism has its roots in Pantheist religions, such as Hinduism, that go back before Christ, but the version we are dealing with here is a modern development on ideas imported from the East into the West beginning in the 19th century.)
I highly recommend the book, The Universe Next Door, by James W Sire. It is an accessible, excellent, basic introduction to Worldviews. This is a must read book in my opinion. Here is what Douglas Groothuis wrote about it:
“Through my career, I’ve written and taught on all these worldviews, and Sire’s work has been foundational. His descriptions of these worldviews are unfailingly fair, nuanced, historically rich, well-written, sometimes humorous, always genial, and often illustrated from works of literature as well as from philosophy and science. It’s anything but dull philosophy.”
I am going to cover some of the bare basics of these Worldviews. If you want a deeper and better understanding, read Sire’s book. Get the most recent edition if you can, 6th Edition published in 2020, but any version will work. You can get it here:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Abe Books
Thrift Books
As I covered previously in Compass #1 and #2, every Worldview has answers to the basic questions of life. The Worldviews listed above may be distinguished by their answers. They all make claims about theology, reality, morality, biology, psychology, sociology, law, government, economics, history, and they all have a source or origin point.
First up, Deism. Deism developed in the 17th and 18th centuries. People in the Western world moved away from scripture and towards ‘reason.’ Over time this view led to ‘reason’ as being both necessary and sufficient in how humans come to know and understand the world. I put ‘reason’ in scare quotes because using reason, as we should, does not mean, and should never mean abandoning the scriptures. At the point of claiming ‘reason’ entirely sufficient, is where Deism kicked in. It never became a clear Worldview or school of thought. It was more of a stepping stone to the Worldviews that followed.
While there was no consistent framework for Deism, the basic notion was that everything was brought about by a creator, but then the universe was left to its own. The universe is a clockwork made by a clockmaker. Beyond that the Deist thinkers were all over the place. Many Deists, such as Benjamin Franklin, were close to Christian Theism. Franklin wrote:
I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without [H]is notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without [H]is aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." - Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention Address on Prayer, delivered Thursday, June 28, 1787, Philadelphia, PA
Is that the mind of a Deist or a Christian Theist? For all its effort to separate itself from a personal and active God, Deism is dependent on Theism particularly Christian Theism.***
You will encounter modern Deists. The more vague the notion of God, or the clockmaker, the more likely you will find a Deist. Millions of people could be lumped into this category. I refer you to Sire’s book mentioned above for a more complete look at Deism.
***Do not let anyone tell you the Founding Fathers were Deists. The vast majority of the Founding Fathers were Christian Theists. The few who could be called Deists remained students of the Bible, and were well educated in the Christian Worldview. If you read their writings, you might think they were fundamentalist Christians.
Next week, What is Naturalism?
Thank you for reading!
JW
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” - C.S. Lewis