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.
Naugle discusses Francis A. Schaeffer, whose main contribution was an understanding that everyone had to have a worldview to function in the world. Schaffer believed that the Christian worldview was the only one that could truly answer the questions people had in life.
Naugle then traces the development of Christianity as a proper worldview within Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. A Catholic worldview, explained by Lawrence Cunningham, revolves around 4 themes, relating to the purpose of the created world, original sin, and God’s purposeful actions throughout history and the present. History seems to be moving towards something. Naugle then discusses the worldview of the Eastern Orthodox church. Mankind is represented as a human with hunger, with the world being set before him to provide. The Eastern Orthodox Church sees eating itself as communion with God, and man may reobtain their holiness under Christ by partaking in the Lord’s Supper.
Naugle traces the history of the word Welt Anschauung, (worldview), first used by Immanuel Kant in his work Critique of Judgment. Kant saw it as the how of one’s perception of the world, and the word found itself being used by other European thinkers, like Fichte and Schelling, who broadened its meaning. The word itself also became common among German philosophers, as well as other great thinkers of the English-speaking world. , and more development grew among the social-sciences. This chapter provides a brief, but helpful summary of how the word developed throughout Europe and then moved into the rest of the world.
Naugle discusses the philosophical history of worldview, focusing on the development of weltanschauung in nineteenth-century Europe by discussing the writings of G. W. F. Hegel, Soren Kierkegaard, Wilhelm Dilthey, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Hegel believed that each individual and all nations seem to have some understanding of the nature of the universe and how people exist and function within this understanding.
Soren Kierkegaard used the word weltanschauung but he also spoke of one’s life-view, one that would enable him to become a total human self. Wilhelm Dilthey believed that a worldview served to answer the question of life, challenging others to try and understand life and their roles in it. Friedrich Nietzsche spoke on the breakdown of Christianity and what he believed was the death of God and turned to naturalism for answers. He believed that people are not only products of, but also dependent upon and subordinate to the their culture’s worldview.
Naugle discusses the history of a worldview and its development in the twentieth-century by examining the thoughts and ideas of Edmund Husserl, Karl Jaspers, and Martin Heidegger. Husserl saw worldviews as relativistic, and placed science as the benchmark. He saw philosophy to be an objective truth, and did not accept the concept of weltanschauung, setting philosophical science as the standard, (which is a worldview). Jaspers believed that a person encounters the real world through their own personal ideas and attitude, and then form their own perception about the world. Heidegger focused more on question of the nature of being. Naugle also examines the second half of the twentieth-century, discussing Ludwig Wittgenstein, Donald Davidson, and other postmodern thinkers. Wittgenstein began to see that one’s worldview as determined by the grammar and language one uses, describing this thought as a world picture, and sought to distance himself from the concept of weltanschauung. Davidson had similar thoughts, wanting to understand how languages and cultures can develop different ways in which one views the world. Davidson seemed to land on a very relativistic approach, stating that something may be true in one instance and not true in another. The postmodern movement rejected the idea of a worldview, relaying on the argument of language and its cultural meaning, some even attempting to deconstruct language and emphasize its true lack of meaning. Naugle also discusses postmodern thinker Michel Foucault, who saw all interactions among humans as one person trying to leverage advantage over the other, ultimately believing that nothing exists, nor do humans have the ability to know it. They are merely subjugated by the people above them, who as all humans, use knowledge and truth to get what they want.
Naugle turns to the impact of worldview on the natural, discussing Michael Polanyi, who argued that one’s personal knowledge could not be removed from their perspective. Naugle also looks at Thomas Kuhn, who turned from the traditional approach to science and believed that scientific investigation was not possible outside of a worldview. Polanyi and Kuhn had large impacts on the philosophy of science, and their assertions made scientists rethink how they went about their work.
Naugle then turns to the topic of worldview and the social sciences, making the argument that as the natural sciences are governed by worldviews so are the social sciences. Naugle looks at how the notion of worldview has impacted psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology. He distinguishes a difference between natural and social, stating that natural merely has to acknowledge a worldview, while social has worldview as its main focus.
Naugle presents Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung while addressing psychology. Freud stands in naturalism and refutes worldviews, saying he does not believe that there are any forces driving his decisions or actions. Jung admits the reality of worldview, and says that it effects both the counselor and the counselee. While looking at Karl Mannheim, Naugle states that he seeks to find the proper place of worldview in the social sciences, and wants to understand how a worldview can be analyzed thoroughly. Naugle also discusses the work of Peter Berger and Luckmann.
Ending his review of sociology, Naugle discusses Karl Marx. Marx saw the working class as being subjugated by a false view and understanding, and sought to free them, producing an ideology that explained this cultural domination and oppression. Naugle then moves to the relationship between worldview and cultural anthropology, addressing the views of Michael Kearney. Kearney feels there are biases in ideology that need to be addressed, and wishes that there was more understanding of how the rest of the world lives among those who discuss worldview, believing many of them have never experienced hunger or poverty like most in the world.
Naugle moves to some theological reflections on 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
work.
Next, Naugle turns to subjective issues in the Christian worldview, contending that the idea of the heart lies at the center of biblical narrative, and ultimately the beliefs of a person’s heart will direct their actions and thoughts. Naugle addresses issues of sin and spiritual warfare and to help the reader understand the effects of sin on the human heart Naugle discusses Romans 1:18-32. Here Paul exposes the drastic impact sin has had on the heart of man. Even though we are made in His image, we have still turned away to sin. Naugle than deals with topics of grace and redemption within a Christian worldview. Naugle states that the encompassing story of the Bible is about God redeeming a fallen world through Christ, and a biblical worldview understands there are two kingdoms at work in the world, that of God and that of Satan. The Christian worldview is formed by understanding how scripture speaks to these two kingdoms, and understanding how this manifests in this world. He believes this understanding will help in establishing a strong Christian worldview.
Naugle then looks at philosophical reflections on worldview and its basic make up. He believes a worldview to be made up of a group of signs which in turn make up a narrative framework that an individual sees their world through. These narratives attempt to provide answers to all of life’s big questions, and the Christian has found these answers in the Bible, and scripture alone can provide sufficient answers to all the questions posed. Naugle finishes his book by warning against the dangers of worldviews. Although he does believe the concept of a worldview can be used by Christians, he wants Christians to beware of the possible problems that may come with viewing the world in this way. He challenges Christians to take back the metanarrative and use it as a sure foundation. In doing so, the believer will begin to view all of life through the filter of Scripture and see how it is applicable to the ins and out of all man’s decisions.
Naugle gives us a thorough examination of the historical rise of the understanding of a worldview, and how it stretches through the natural and social sciences, as well as in the realm of philosophy. There is great value in his presentation of the inescapability of holding a worldview, despite the pleas of many postmodernists. The logical conclusion he comes to is that stating that one’s worldview is merely shaped by your language and culture without any truth outside of it is a worldview in itself. He does a sound job at showing how a healthy Christian worldview helps to keep believers from dividing the world into areas of holy and secular. Instead, the believer learns to see all of life as part of God’s creation and possessing purpose, and a sacred nature. Modern culture seeks separate facts and values, claiming that only science creates facts that are to be universally acknowledged and moral values are personal and subjective. A Christian worldview recognizes that biblical values are in fact universal, and speaks to the heart of every human and their need for answers, and ultimately, reconciliation with the Maker.