Worldview : The History Of A Concept

Perhaps the time is right — for ecclesial, cultural, and global reasons — to explore history of worldview as a concept and to reflect upon it theologically and philosophically. First of all, the last several decades have witnessed an explosion of interest in worldview in certain circles of the evangelical church. Several writers, including Carl Henry, Francis Schaeffer, James Sire, Arthur Holmes, Brian Walsh and Ricahrd Middleton, Albert Wolters, and Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey have introduced many believers to worldview thinking and its importance. This wave of interest has appeared to some extent in Catholic and Orthodox contexts as well. Christians of all kinds are discovering that overt human beliefs and behaviors, as well as sociocultural phenomena, are — consciously or not – most often rooted in and expressions of some deeper, underlying principle and concept of life. Furthermore, worldview has served a hermeneutic purpose in the church by helping believers understand the cosmic dimensions and all-encompassing implications of biblical revelation. This book argues that a worldview is an inescapable function of the human heart and is central to identity of human beings as imago Dei.