Description
“To see a world in a grain of sand.
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.”
William Blake
“Auguries of Innocence”
“My Worldview” Project includes Historical Background.
This week you will continue working on Historical Background where you will summarize and synthesize the different approaches/opinions of what a Worldview is.
This project includes writing a Historical Background/Literature Review (600-700 words).
While this is a personal paper, in your Historical Background/Literature Review, you should include four articles that you have already read in the Modules (Ken Fung, Mary Belenky, Bayard Taylor, and Brannon House). Furthermore, you should do your own research on the philosophy of worldview, using at least three more relevant articles. Your articles should contain a title, an author’s name, the name of the journal, a year of publication. Do not use websites that do not contain real articles.
Overal, synthesize seven sources (articles) in your Historical Background.
Begin your Historical Background pages with creating your own definition of a worldview and the discussion of the meaning of a worldview. Also, explain the purpose of your Historical Background to your audience. Your audience is Grossmont college students who are eager to learn, from you, about how to explore their worldview more effectivelly.
Then, summarize each article, identifying the main claim and the main concepts and explaining how the writers support their points of view in their articles.
In your conclusion, explain to your readers what they can learn from reading your Historical Background.
It is mandatory to use transitions.
You must document all articles, using MLA format
N.B! All online source must have a title and the author’s name.
Text Entry.
Editing:
Avoid using “I”, “YOU”, “WE”.
Avoid introductory phrases: I think, I believe…
Avoid using “there is/there are”, “there was/there were”.
Use action verbs instead of linking verbs: to be ( am, is, are, were, was, be being, been), become….
Avoid using Indefinite pronouns: Everybody, everyone, nobody, some many…
Avoid using all contractions: it’s, didn’t, I’ve…. and so on.
Use the Present Tenses (Simple, Progressive, or Perfect).
Avoid using the Passive Voice.
Objectives to write Historical Background/Literature review:
Writing a historical background or literature review on worldview aims:
1. to deepen understanding,
2. to foster critical thinking,
3. to contribute to the academic discourse surrounding this fundamental aspect of human thought and cultur
Another objective of writing a historical background about worldview for college students is to provide context, analyze existing knowledge, and contribute to scholarly understanding. Let’s break down the objectives:
Contextual Understanding:
Introduce the concept of worldview to readers.
Explain its significance in shaping human beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Situate worldviews within historical and cultural contexts.
Survey of Existing Literature:
Review scholarly works related to worldviews.
Summarize key ideas, theories, and debates.
Identify influential thinkers and their contributions.
Critical Analysis:
Evaluate different worldviews’ strengths and limitations.
Summarize key ideas, theories, and debates
Identify influential thinkers and their contributions. Critical Analysis:
Evaluate different worldviews’ strengths and limitations.
Compare and contrast various perspectives.
Highlight controversies and unresolved questions.Identify Gaps and Future Directions:
Point out areas where more research is needed.
Propose avenues for further exploration.
Engage critically with the topic.Compare and contrast various perspective
Supplementary materials:
1. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/6/3/27/htmLinks to an external site.
Links to an external site.
2. “6 WORLDVIEWS” by Brian Chilton
On “Redeeming Truth” at www.blogtalkradio.com/pastorbrianchilton, I recently aired a show titled the “6 Major Worldviews.” We discussed the 6 major worldviews that exist in the world today. They are the following: atheism, agnosticism, pantheism, panentheism, deism, and theism. In case you missed the show, here is a brief description of the six worldviews. You do not have to learn every religion and philosophy. If you learn these six major worldviews, you will go a long way in understanding where a person comes from in their belief system.
Atheism
Atheism comes from two Greek terms: “theos” which means “God,” and “a” which is a negation. Therefore, “a” “theos” literally means “no God.” This is the worldview held by those who claim that they absolutely deny God’s existence. Naturalists, who hold that the physical universe is all that exists, and secular humanists, who believe that man is the measure of all things, are two such groups that comprise the atheist worldview. Although atheism makes up a very low percentage of the world’s population, militant atheists (or anti-theists, those who oppose belief in God) are the loudest. Atheism can be discounted if there is any chance that God could exist. If there is only a one percent chance that God could exist, then atheism becomes futile.
Agnosticism
Agnosticism also comes from two Greek words: “a” a negation, and “gnosis” which means “knowledge.” Therefore, the agnostic is one who claims to have “no knowledge of God’s existence.” It is claimed that Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha, was an agnostic, however this is debatable. In my opinion, agnosticism is more honest than atheism. Most who claim to be atheists are actually agnostics at heart. Some agnostics come to the point that they give up searching for God, or claim that God’s existence is beyond the scope of human knowledgeably.
Pantheism
Pantheism can be difficult for many Westerners to understand because it is rooted in Eastern tradition. Buddhism in its’ purest form can be accepted as pantheistic thought. Pantheists believe that God is in the universe. Pantheists would see God as being restrained by the universal laws. Some would see the universe and God as being the one and the same. For this reason, the ultimate in Buddhist thought is that of Nirvana. Nirvana is an escape. It is when one becomes one with the universe.
Panentheism
Panentheism is a little different than pantheism. Instead of believing that the universe is God, or God is in the universe, panentheists believe that the universe and everything in it is in God. This would mean that you are God and I am God. The rocks in your backyard are God. The birds flying in the air are God. The mosquito that bites you is God. In essence, everything is God. Panentheists make God more personal than their pantheist counterparts.
Deism
Deists believe in God’s existence and believe that God is separate from the universe. However, deists do not see God as personal in any way. Deists believe that God designed the universe and all of its’ laws, but does not interact with creation. Therefore, the deist would not believe in personal revelation, miracles, and some would not believe in an afterlife. Some famous deists are: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and perhaps Albert Einstein.
Theism
This brings us to the sixth and final worldview: theism. Theism comes from the root Greek term “Theos” which means “God.” Theists believe that God exists, that God created everything, that God is separate from the universe, and that God is personal with the universe and human beings. Theists would have no problem believing in personal revelation, miracles, and an afterlife. Classical Christians, Muslims, and Jews are theists. When we show the design found in the universe and the necessity of God’s existence, we do not necessarily prove Christianity, unless we show Christ to be savior.
Conclusion:
Not every worldview can be correct. If God exists, then the atheist and agnostic can not be correct. If God is personal, the Deist could not be correct. If God is separate from the universe, then the pantheist and pantheist cannot be correct. It is not nice in popular society to claim that not all religions are true, but at the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves if it is true. Study these world views closely. This will help you understand bias in society. It will also go a long way in helping you understand why some act the way they do.
Pastor Brian Chilton
3. ” What is a world view?” by F. Heylighen
One of the biggest problems of present society is the effect of overall change and accelerationLinks to an external site. on human psychology. Neither individual minds nor collective culture seem able to cope with the unpredictable change and growing complexity. Stress, uncertainty and frustration increaseLinks to an external site., minds are overloaded with information, knowledge fragments, values erode, negative developments are consistently overemphasized, while positive ones are ignored. The resulting climate is one of nihilism, anxiety and despair. While the wisdom gathered in the past has lost much of its validity, we don’t have a clear vision of the future either. As a result, there does not seem to be anything left to guide our actions.
What we need is a framework that ties everything together, that allows us to understand society, the world, and our place in it, and that could help us to make the critical decisions which will shape our future. It would synthesize the wisdom gathered in the different scientific disciplines, philosophies and religions. Rather than focusing on small sections of reality, it would provide us with a picture of the whole. In particular, it would help us to understand, and therefore cope with, complexity and change. Such a conceptual framework may be called a “world view”.
The Belgian philosopher Leo Apostel has devoted his life to the development of such an integrating world view. As he quickly understood, the complexity of this task is too great for one man. Therefore, a major part of Apostel’s efforts were directed at gathering other people, with different scientific and cultural backgrounds, to collaborate on this task. Only in the last years of his life, after several failed attempts, did he managed to create such an organization: the “Worldviews” group, which includes people from disciplines as diverse as engineering, psychiatry, theology, theoretical physics, sociology and biology.
Their first major product was a short book entitled “World views, from fragmentation to integrationLinks to an external site.”. This booklet is a call to arms, a program listing objectives rather than achievements. Its main contribution is a clear definition of what a world view is, and which are its necessary components. The “Worldviews” group has continued to work on different components and aspects of this general objective. Many of its members are also involved in a new interdisciplinary research center at the Free University of Brussels, which is named after Leo Apostel: the “Center Leo ApostelLinks to an external site.”.
The book lists seven fundamental components of a world view. I will discuss them one by one, using a formulation which is slightly different from the one in the book, but which captures the main ideas.
A model of the world
It should allow us to understand how the world functions and how it is structured. “World” here means the totality, everything that exists around us, including the physical universe, the Earth, life, mind, society and culture. We ourselves are an important part of that world. Therefore, a world view should also answer the basic question: “Who are we?”.
Explanation
The second component is supposed to explain the first one. It should answer the questions: “Why is the world the way it is? Where does it all come from? Where do we come from?”. This is perhaps the most important part of a world view. If we can explain how and why a particular phenomenon (say life or mind) has arisen, we will be able to better understand how that phenomenon functions. It will also help us to understand how that phenomenon will continue to evolve.
Futurology
This extrapolation of past evolution into the future defines a third component of a world view: futurologyLinks to an external site.. It should answer the question “Where are we going to?” It should give us a list of possibilities, of more or less probable future developments. But this will confront us with a choice: which of the different alternatives should we promote and which should we avoid?
Values
This is the more fundamental issue of value: “What is good and what is evil?” The theory of values defines the fourth component of a world view. It includes morality or ethicsLinks to an external site., the system of rules which tells us how we should or should not behave. It also gives us a sense of purpose, a direction or set of goals to guide our actions. Together with the answer to the question “why?”, the answer to the question “what for?”, may help us to understand the real meaning of life.
Action
Knowing what to strive for does not yet mean knowing how to get there, though. The next component must be a theory of action (praxiology). It would answer the question “How should we act?” It would help us to solve practical problems and to implement plans of action.
Knowledge
Plans are based on knowledge and information, on theories and models describing the phenomena we encounter. Therefore, we need to understand how we can construct reliable models. This is the component of knowledge acquisition. It is equivalent to what in philosophy is called “epistemologyLinks to an external site.” or “the theory of knowledge”. It should allow us to distinguish better theories from worse theories. It should answer the traditional philosophical question “What is true and what is false?”
Building Blocks
The final point on the agenda of a world view builder is not meant to answer any fundamental question. It just reminds us that world views cannot be developed from scratch. You need building blocks to start with. These building blocks can be found in existing theories, models, concepts, guidelines and values, scattered over the different disciplines and ideologies. This defines the seventh component: fragments of world views as a starting point.
As an example of how a world view can be achieved, the Principia Cybernetica ProjectLinks to an external site. has started to build an evolutionary-systemic world viewLinks to an external site., which starts from the different concepts and principles developed in cybernetics, systems theory and the theory of evolution. Its world view can be summarized in the form of answers to a list of eternal philosophical questionsLinks to an external site..
A Cybernetic Model of a World View
The apparently disconnected components of a world view can in fact be understood as part of an encompassing scheme describing the interaction between a system or self and the world or environment. In cybernetics an autonomous system or agent is conceptualized as a control systemLinks to an external site., which tries to achieve its goals or values by initiating the right actions that compensate for the disturbances produced by the environment. For that, it needs to perceive or get information about the effects of its actions and the effects of the events happening in the world. More specifically, it needs to understand how particular events (past) cause other events (future), that is to say it needs to have a model that allows it to explain and anticipate events. The first six components of a world view cover all the fundamental aspects of this control scheme, as illustrated in the following figure. World view components (in bold) are written above the corresponding control scheme components
2000 Principia CyberneticaLinks to an external site. – Referencing this pageLinks to an external site.
5. What is your worldview?” by Clyde F. Autio.4. ”
Cycle F. Autio is Major General, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), who spoke to the AiG–USA staff in Petersburg, Kentucky. May 2, 2005
Within the past few years, “worldview” has become a mainstream topic for discussion and application inside the evangelical Christian movement in the United States. The driving force is the growing concern about the rapidly changing post-Christian cultural scene (e.g., the removal of Ten Commandment tablets from courthouses, schools, etc., is but one symptom of this cultural shift away from the Christian influence that was once prevalent in society).
The concern about the changing worldview has led to numerous para-church movements as well as training seminars for the purpose of either reinforcing, rebuilding or establishing a biblical worldview in the lives of professing Christians (and the culture). While the term “biblical worldview” connotes something new to many Christians, it is really just a new name for an old subject.
I recognize that worldviews are divided into numerous categories, based upon variations of belief, and each category is divided into many subcategories. The subcategorization process continues until ultimately no two people have an identically same worldview. However, through generalizations it is possible to “lump” many individual worldviews into one group by restricting the amount of detail used in defining that group.
For this article it will be sufficient to summarize the definition of worldview as it follows from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.
world·view -noun: 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.
A person’s worldview, whether it be Christian, humanist or whatever is a personal insight about meaning and reality. It is how a person interprets, through his or her own eyes, a personal belief about the world. A person’s worldview tries to give reasons for how the facts of reality relate and tie together. The summation of these facts provides the big picture into which the daily events of a person’s life should fit.
It is from this worldview that an individual derives an understanding, interpretation and response to the world in which he or she lives. To each individual, their own worldview should provide a coherent, but not necessarily authoritative, manner in thinking about their world. An individual’s worldview will be shaped by far more than the surrounding physical world. Religion, philosophy, ethics, morality, science, politics and all other belief systems that impact on that individual will play a role in shaping a worldview.
An individual’s worldview is his or her basis for answering such questions as:
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Where am I going?
What is true and what is false?
How should I conduct my life, or act?
Does God exist and if so, what is my response to Him/Her?
The model for the perfect worldview
The most simplistic definition for a biblical worldview is to have the mind of Christ. That would mean that one would think like Christ; love like Christ; act like Christ; walk like Christ: have the humility, patience, longsuffering and all of the other Galatians 5:22–26Links to an external site. fruits of the Spirit. Christ would not only be the model but the individual’s worldview would be an exact copy. That is the final target of the committed Christian’s process of sanctification.
Prior to reaching that glorious point, Christians will have more or less of every aspect of Christ’s worldview reflected in their biblical worldview. Even within the context of biblical worldview there will be subdivisions and further categorization. (e.g., there will be Baptist worldviews vs. Catholic worldviews)—the same dividing occurs within the realm of humanistic, materialistic and other nonbiblical worldviews.
Of greatest immediate concern is the worldview clash between two major camps: the biblical worldview and the nonbiblical worldview.
The opening verse of the Bible sets forth the first and most important facts as the foundation for the development of a worldview; in this case it is the basis for a biblical worldview. Genesis 1:1Links to an external site. says: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Within this short verse are several profound statements that must be at the core of every biblical worldview.
First, it states that since God created the heaven and the earth, He existed prior to that creation (and the verse only speaks of one God). Second, the universe had a beginning, and that beginning was the creation of God. Third, that since God created the heaven and the earth, He must be either, or both, superior to and sovereign over His creation. With more study of the original language, additional truths might be gleaned, but for now it does place God at the center of the preferred belief system. Today, these are the very points that are at the center of the worldview conflict.
In fact, presenting the “correct” worldview has been at the heart of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. The books of Genesis (e.g., its presentation of the doctrine of marriage), Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are full of godly wisdom to be used by Bible readers in the construct and development of a biblical worldview. They are given an accurate understanding and interpretation of their world, their being, their morality, their value system and who they are. God saw fit to provide all of this information in His Word to give His people a more perfect worldview.
Not only do Paul’s epistles give direction to the various churches about their need to have a mind-of-Christ worldview, he also prepared Timothy as a co-worker by inculcating into him those beliefs and practices necessary to be a devoted follower of Christ. Paul would not have been satisfied if his readers only followed his teaching to the point of owning the Spirit of Christ without also proceeding on to cultivating and claiming the mind of Christ. He not only wanted them to know and acknowledge Christ, but he demanded that they claim Christ’s point of view, own His values and desires and gloriously suffer for His kingdom.
Results from a mind-of-Christ, Biblical worldview
Throughout our post-biblical age in America, those who have held a biblical worldview have been at the forefront of advancing the Christian religion with its attendant virtues of scientific and artistic cultural advances, human liberty, development of medical sciences and the building of educational institutions. These same people are honored in history for having made remarkable scientific discoveries, for standing against despotic governments and resisting the abuses of religious movements that kept common people in slavery and the elite in power.
The United States, for example, grew and became a great nation because of a nationally embraced worldview that accepted God as the center of the universe. The earliest writings of the founding fathers clearly expressed not only a belief in the power and authority of God, but also a belief in the goodness of His teachings as found in the Bible (even for some of those men who might be called “Deists”).
There was a time, which probably lasted for the first 125 years after American independence, that a biblical worldview was prominent. Americans are now in a period where the secular worldview has become dominant.
One of the most distinguished students of America’s religious trends is George Barna, founder and president of the Barna Group. He conducted several polls in 2003 that reveal the current state of the American evangelical church, and that it lacks a clear understanding of a biblical worldview.1Links to an external site.
Only 4% of all American adults have a biblical worldview as the basis of their decision-making.
Only 9% of born-again US Christians have such a perspective on life.
Only half of the America’s Protestant pastors—51%—have a biblical worldview.
Does worldview matter?
As alluded to above, a biblical worldview has been at the center of many of the world’s greatest contributions to science, human rights, literature, education, medicine and freedom.
For example (and many more could be cited), Johannes Kepler was a profoundly religious individual. He studied both Greek and Hebrew so he could read the Scriptures in their original languages. Among his many noteworthy contributions in astronomy, he discovered three laws of planetary motion, proved how logarithms work and contributed to the development of calculus.
In addition, by all cultural measurements a worldview is important as society tackles controversial topics like abortion, so-called “gay marriage,” (and so on) and tries to resolve them.
As a Christian, your worldview is important to your own Christian sanctification, to the well-being of your family, to the betterment of your community and workplace, and essential to the improvement of your nation’s culture and morality. One can do no less than strive to love the Lord thy God with all of one’s heart.
Unfortunately, there has been a falling away from biblical, moral standards within the church itself. If the church is to regain a recognized standing for moral authority in the arena of public opinion and national dialogue, then it must take a public stand on such things as:
divorce, gambling, use of pornography, excessive consumption of alcohol, child and sexual abuse, and denying the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture (which, unfortunately, are occurring at almost the same rate in the Body as they do in the at-large culture)
or societal ills will continue.
The church and each member of the Body must become prepared to meet the world head-on and gain the victory promised by Christ (Matthew 16:18Links to an external site.). But first, each believer needs to put on the mind of Christ and embrace the biblical worldview as presented from Genesis to Revelation.
Reference
“A Biblical Worldview Has a Radical Effect on a Person’s Life,” dated December 1, 2003 and “Only Half Of Protestant Pastors Have A Biblical Worldview,” dated January 12, 2004.
