Summary Of Worldview By Naugle

Naugle begins by looking at the development of worldview throughout the history of protestant evangelicalism. He believes that Christians seem to have always had an understanding of how the world worked, but defining this in terms of a worldview has been a recent development in their history. Naugle looks at the writings of James Orr, who first arrived at the idea of viewing Christianity as a proper worldview. He believed that Christianity was not something to be sectioned, but taught and defended as a whole, centered on solid doctrine. Likewise, Abraham Kuyper understood Christianity as a worldview, specifically focusing on viewing Calvinism as a one. Orr focused more on a proper view having Christ as the center of everything, while Kuyper directed his attention at establishing Calvinism as a worldview.

Naugle then discusses Herman Dooyeweerd, who was a follower of Kuyper, but later questioned his approach. He believed that the condition of the human heart is the starting point for philosophy, as it will determine how he or she views the world. Dooyeweerd believed that religion and philosophy differ in several ways, and that one’s religious convictions are not his worldview.
He believes that people cannot escape their worldviews, and a person’s worldview will impact everything they do and think. He then turns to the importance of the Christian worldview, discussing James Sire’s The Universe Next Door. He states that because the idea of worldview is not native to the Christian thought, we as Christians must change the ideas contained within it. They should work towards an understanding of how the Christian worldview seeks to answer the big questions of life. Naugle believes that the church must rewrite the understanding of worldview with a biblical foundation, providing answers to the big life questions these views carry. In this redeeming, Christians can rightly use worldview to further kingdom