Business Worldview
BUSINESS & WORLDVIEW
Kahlib J. Fischer, PhD © 2011
INTRODUCTION
We understand that not all of our students are practicing Christians and who therefore may be uncomfortable providing a Biblical perspective in their assignments. On the other hand, most of our students are in fact practicing Christians, who may not have a fully developed Biblical worldview when it comes to understanding business concepts. We therefore hope that this document will achieve two goals:
1) Help students better understand the relevance and indeed the preeminence of Scripture and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in the realm of business; and
2) Provide useful and understandable points of application for leadership and business behavior, including the primary and secondary functions of business.
CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORLDVIEW TEST
A worldview is the intellectual, emotional, and perhaps even spiritual framework by which we apprehend reality and assign meaning to life. Everyone has a worldview; it may not be very developed, but nevertheless, everyone is approaching life based upon one. We believe that a worldview based upon
Biblical truth is the most logically sound and meaningful approach to understanding and living life.
There are certain intellectual and philosophical criteria that can be used to test any worldview, and we want our students to understand how and why the Christian worldview uniquely meets those criterion and therefore passes the worldview “test” in the following ways:
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•
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Epistemology (the study of what is true): God revealed through nature, his Word, and
Christ, the Living Word of God; a worldview that starts with random chance or an impersonal, cosmic force does not have any place for a logical understanding of what is real or meaningful. There is no “meaning” behind anything; it is just random chance.
Incidentally, if there is a God who reveals absolute truth, then we must reject the postmodern belief that all truth is relative
Kahlib J. Fischer, PhD © 2011
INTRODUCTION
We understand that not all of our students are practicing Christians and who therefore may be uncomfortable providing a Biblical perspective in their assignments. On the other hand, most of our students are in fact practicing Christians, who may not have a fully developed Biblical worldview when it comes to understanding business concepts. We therefore hope that this document will achieve two goals:
1) Help students better understand the relevance and indeed the preeminence of Scripture and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in the realm of business; and
2) Provide useful and understandable points of application for leadership and business behavior, including the primary and secondary functions of business.
CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORLDVIEW TEST
A worldview is the intellectual, emotional, and perhaps even spiritual framework by which we apprehend reality and assign meaning to life. Everyone has a worldview; it may not be very developed, but nevertheless, everyone is approaching life based upon one. We believe that a worldview based upon
Biblical truth is the most logically sound and meaningful approach to understanding and living life.
There are certain intellectual and philosophical criteria that can be used to test any worldview, and we want our students to understand how and why the Christian worldview uniquely meets those criterion and therefore passes the worldview “test” in the following ways:
•
•
•
Epistemology (the study of what is true): God revealed through nature, his Word, and
Christ, the Living Word of God; a worldview that starts with random chance or an impersonal, cosmic force does not have any place for a logical understanding of what is real or meaningful. There is no “meaning” behind anything; it is just random chance.
Incidentally, if there is a God who reveals absolute truth, then we must reject the postmodern belief that all truth is relative