crhoades
Puritan Board Graduate
http://benhouseblog.blogspot.com/
Worldview Thinking--A Chat with Some Friends
Yesterday, I had a few friends gathered around to discuss the issue of having and developing a Christian worldview. I was seeking to refresh my mind on this topic in preparation for my up-coming school year.
Below are excerpts from our conversation:
Ben: "Well, where do we begin? When the kids arrive at school, they already have minds full of ideas, but even as Christians, they do not always have the right ideas."
Francis Schaeffer: "Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society the way a child catches the measles."
Ben: "Yea, I remember when I had the measles. Well, I guess that is not the point. What do you mean about presuppositions"
Francis Schaeffer: "By presuppositions we mean the basic way an individual looks at life, his basic world view, the grid through which he sees the world. Presuppositions rest upon that which a person considers to be the truth of what exists." (How Should We Then Live?)
Ben: "I suppose that for us, Scripture is that grid through which we see the world. Ralph, how should we use the Bible in teaching?"
Ralph Smith: "Scripture is the key that unlocks every treasure chest"”not just the treasures of theology, but also those of biology, history, literature, and psychology."
Ben: "That sure would save us a lot of money on textbooks."
(Laughter expected, but near total silence reigns.)
Ralph Smith: "This does not mean that the Bible teaches us all we need to know about all of these subjects, nor does it mean that research and study of sources other than the Bible is illegitimate or unimportant. It means that God´s revelation in His Word is our ultimate standard for judging all that we know and learn, while it presupposes that God is revealing Himself in everything that He created and in the process of history as well." (Trinity and Reality)
Ben: "Ralph, you are not alone. Dr. Van Til, haven't you been saying pretty much the same thing?"
Cornelius Van Til: "Yes, the Bible is thought of as authoritative on everything of which it speaks. And it speaks of everything."
Ben: "Everything? I suppose it has a recipe for pecan pie? Where does it mention..."
Dr. Van Til, interrupting my words: "We do not mean that it speaks of football games, of atoms, etc., directly, but we do mean that it speaks of everything either directly or indirectly. It tells us not only of the Christ and his work but it also tells us who God is and whence the universe has come."
Ben: "I know the Bible contains lots of history...."
Dr. Van Til: "It gives us a philosophy of history as well as history. Moreover, the information on these subjects is woven into an inextricable whole. It is only if you reject the Bible as the Word of God that you can separate its so-called religious and moral instruction from what it says, e.g., about the physical universe." (The Defense of the Faith)
Ben: "What about scientists who reject the Bible and belief in God?
Joseph Pearce: "What about those who don't reject God. On one occasion, according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the celebrated mathematician Professor Mordukhai-Boltovskoi was lecturing on Newton when one of the students sent up a note which said, "˜Marx wrote that Newton was a materialist, yet you say he was an idealist.´ To which the professor replied, "˜I can only say that Marx was wrong. Newton believed in God, like every other great scientist.´ (Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile)
Ben: "Good point about the scientist. Solzhenitsyn is a great man. He helped bring down the great Marxist idol."
C.S. Lewis: "Like Solzhenitsyn, we must attack the enemy's line of communication. What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects--with their Christianity latent."
Ben: "Why not books on Christianity? Yours are somewhat helpful, Clive or shall I call you Staples, ha, ha, ha?"
Lewis: "My friends call me Jack. You can call me Mr. Lewis. It is not the books written in direct defense of Materialism that make the modern man a materialist; it is the materialist assumptions in all the other books. In the same way, it is not books on Christianity that will really trouble him. But he would be troubled if, whenever he wanted a cheap popular introduction to some science, the best work on the market was always by a Christian." (God in the Dock)
Ben--to all: "That's pretty ambitious, but I like it. Let me change the direction a bit. How then does this idea of relating the Bible and Christianity to all types of subjects translate into what many evangelicals see as their own personal relationship to Jesus?"
Gordon Clark: "If the second person of the Triune God actually became flesh and dwelt among us, and died on the cross for men, that event would naturally overshadow every other aspect of the world, scientific or historical."
(A Christian View of Men and Things)
Ben: "Well, Jesus certainly did become Man and die on the cross for men. But what about the person who believes in Jesus, but does not go beyond that 'salvation experience'? Dr. Orr, you look like you have something to say."
Dr. James Orr: "He who with his whole heart believes in Jesus as the Son of God is committed to much else besides. He is committed to a view of God, to a view of man, to a view of sin, to a view of Redemption, to a view of human destiny, found only in Christianity."
Ben: "And what we would we call this commitment?"
Dr. Orr: "This [commitment] forms a "œWeltangschauung," or "œChristian view of the world," which stands in marked contrast with theories wrought out from a purely philosophical or scientific standpoint.
(The Christian View of God and the World)
Ben: "I have a Bachelors Degree, a Masters Degree, and post-graduate hours beyond that, but I don't know that such a 'Weltanschauung' came together in my university experiences."
Dr. Arthur Holmes: "The contemporary university tends to concentrate on the parts rather than the whole and to come away with a fragmented view of life that lacks overall meaning. Arnold Nash calls this tendency "œintellectual polytheism," to underscore that it is as much a commitment to a worldview as is Christian theism. The influence of intellectual polytheism has been calamitous. When a multitude of studies is conducted with no interrelationships the university becomes a multiversity."
Ben: "A multiversity instead of a university. Good point."
Arthur Holmes: "In theory the university rejects attempts to teach any one conception of the world but in practice it teaches a fragmented view of life. Even to take this 'neutral' position is to take a position. The worldview issues cannot be avoided." (The Idea of a Christian College)
Ben: "'Neutral position': There's one of your favorite attack words, Dr. Rushdoony. Do you want to add to that comment? Facts are neutral, aren't they? And by the way, since you are an Armenian, is that the same as being an Arminian?"
Dr. R. J. Rushdoony: "No to both questions. Concerning the first one: Facts do not exist in themselves, as though they were self-created and self-existent, but they exist because created and sustained by the will of God and have no meaning apart from Him who is the starting point of all knowledge." (Intellectual Schizophrenia)
Ben: "Maybe I should include some consideration of a Christian worldview in my Bible classes at school. Is that what is needed?"
Dr. Arthur Holmses: "The most embracing contact between Christianity and human learning is the all-encompassing world and life view. The Christian faith enables us to see all things in relationship to God as their Creator, Redeemer, and Lord, and from this central focus an integrating worldview emerges." (The Idea of a Christian College)
Ben: "But aren't Christian schools doing this...this integrating worldview. I mean, our daily devotional...." (Interrupted again.)
Dr. Roy Clouser: "Most Christian schools simply add Bible study or theology and worship to the curriculum. The various arts and sciences are then taught pretty much the same way that they would be taught anywhere else. However, what [certain] scriptural texts demand is nothing less than teaching every subject from a distinctly Biblical perspective that enables the study to avoid whatever the error is that can be avoided only by knowing God." ("Is There a Christian View of Everything?)
Ben: "Really? Some Christian schools not that much different from the local government school? But 2+2=4 at both kinds of schools. Is there something we Christians need to add to that?"
Clouser: "For most Christians, and for the average Christian school in the United States of whatever ilk"”Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, or whatever"”this application of Christianity to everything is a foreign idea. The average Christian school merely conducts education in a Christian setting. When they call themselves "œChristian," they mean that they are free to open the school year with mass or free to open a class with prayer or free to include theology or religion courses in the curriculum. But when it comes to math, physics, chemistry, biology, history, sociology, literature, they teach pretty much what is taught anywhere else." ("œIs There a Christian View of Everything?")
Ben: "Dr. Clouser, where do you get this this Christian view of physics, math, and literature?"
Dr. Clouser: "From the Bible. Beginning with Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, and 15:3, we find that 'the fear of the Lord is the foundation of all knowledge.' The fifteen or eighteen biblical texts that address the issue of whether there should be a Christian view of everything are one of the best-kept secrets in the history of theology, philosophy, and scholarly work."
Ben: "How do I put all these pieces together?"
Dr. Clouser: "I would commend to you the program for Christian theorizing proposed by Herman Dooyeweerd."
Ben: "Dr. Dooyeweerd, what led to your coming to this all-encompassing understanding? And do you want to hear the joke about the two Dutchmen and an Armenian at a bar?
Dr. Herman Dooyeweerd: "No to the joke. Concerning my coming to this understanding of philosophy: The great turning point in my thought was marked by the discovery of the religious root of thought itself, whereby a new light was shed on the failure of all attempts, including my own, to bring about an inner synthesis between the Christian faith and a philosophy which is rooted in the self-sufficiency of human reason. I came to understand the central significance of the "œheart," repeatedly proclaimed by Holy Scripture to be the religious root of human existence."
Ben: "So what happened next--in your thought--and did this keep you awake at night?"
(Room still silently devoid of laughter.)
Herman Dooyeweerd: "On the basis of this central Christian point of view I saw the need of a revolution in philosophical thought of a very radical character. Confronted with the religious root of the creation, nothing less in question than a relating of the whole temporal cosmos, in both its so-called "˜natural´ and "˜spiritual´ aspects, to this point of reference. In contrast to this basic Biblical conception, of what significance is a so-called "˜Copernican´ revolution which merely makes the "˜natural aspects´ of temporal reality relative to a theoretical abstraction such as Kant´s "˜transcendental subject´?"
Ben: "Ummm, I need a bit of time to answer that. Tell me what you think and then I will let you know whether I agree or not."
Herman Dooyeweerd: "From a Christian point of view, the whole attitude of philosophical thought which proclaims the self-sufficiency of the latter, turns out to be unacceptable, because it withdraws human thought from the divine revelation in Jesus Christ." (A New Critique of Theoretical Thought, Volume 1)
Ben: "Well, wasn't it Dostoevsky who said that if we don't believe in God, then everything is permissible? And so it must be true that if we do believe in God, if we begin with God, then things are knowable, and then it seems to me...."
(Guests begin reading books lying here and there or looking around the room.)
Doorbell rings, interrupting my futile attempts to converse with my company.
Man at door: "Pizza delivery for Ben House."
Ben: "Five large pizzas with some bread sticks. I'll get your money. Hey, aren't you Friedrich Nietzsche?"
Nietzsche: "Yes, I am just doing this pizza delivery part time. What's going on here?"
Ben: "We're discussing Christianity as a worldview, a Weltanschauung."
Nietzsche: "Well, I am certainly not a Christian, but I always said, Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. That will be $37.95 for the pizzas. Hey, is that Herman Dooyeweerd in the recliner?" (Twilight of the Gods)
Ben: Well, there you have it, guys. Even Nietzsche recognizes this. What has happened to the Christian world?"
Dorothy Sayers: "As I said in back during World War II, we have lost sight of the idea that Christianity is supposed to be an interpretation of the universe." (Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers)
Ben: "Yes, we don't love God with all our mind. How does that joke go about the purely Platonic philosopher talking with the pure materialist. After a long argument, the Plato guy said...No wait, the materialist said, 'Never mind' and the Plato guy said, 'No matter.' No, the Plato guy said it first: 'Oh well, no matter.' And then the materialist said, "Oh, never mind." [SILENCE PAUSE: In fact, a very long, awkward silent pause.] A small bit of humor always lightens up the atmosphere. We make the faith a small part of our whole being. That's why we need to think in terms of a worldview, right Dr. Naugle."
Dr. David Naugle: "Right Ben, the notion of worldview has a mysterious way of opening up the parameters of the Bible so that believers might be delivered from a fishbowl-sized Christianity into an oceanic perspective on the faith.
(Worldview: The History of a Concept)
Ben: "Yes, I got to go to the ocean this summer. I picked up some neat shells along the beach. Hey, what is red and white and green and is found at the beach?"
Worldview Thinking--A Chat with Some Friends
Yesterday, I had a few friends gathered around to discuss the issue of having and developing a Christian worldview. I was seeking to refresh my mind on this topic in preparation for my up-coming school year.
Below are excerpts from our conversation:
Ben: "Well, where do we begin? When the kids arrive at school, they already have minds full of ideas, but even as Christians, they do not always have the right ideas."
Francis Schaeffer: "Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society the way a child catches the measles."
Ben: "Yea, I remember when I had the measles. Well, I guess that is not the point. What do you mean about presuppositions"
Francis Schaeffer: "By presuppositions we mean the basic way an individual looks at life, his basic world view, the grid through which he sees the world. Presuppositions rest upon that which a person considers to be the truth of what exists." (How Should We Then Live?)
Ben: "I suppose that for us, Scripture is that grid through which we see the world. Ralph, how should we use the Bible in teaching?"
Ralph Smith: "Scripture is the key that unlocks every treasure chest"”not just the treasures of theology, but also those of biology, history, literature, and psychology."
Ben: "That sure would save us a lot of money on textbooks."
(Laughter expected, but near total silence reigns.)
Ralph Smith: "This does not mean that the Bible teaches us all we need to know about all of these subjects, nor does it mean that research and study of sources other than the Bible is illegitimate or unimportant. It means that God´s revelation in His Word is our ultimate standard for judging all that we know and learn, while it presupposes that God is revealing Himself in everything that He created and in the process of history as well." (Trinity and Reality)
Ben: "Ralph, you are not alone. Dr. Van Til, haven't you been saying pretty much the same thing?"
Cornelius Van Til: "Yes, the Bible is thought of as authoritative on everything of which it speaks. And it speaks of everything."
Ben: "Everything? I suppose it has a recipe for pecan pie? Where does it mention..."
Dr. Van Til, interrupting my words: "We do not mean that it speaks of football games, of atoms, etc., directly, but we do mean that it speaks of everything either directly or indirectly. It tells us not only of the Christ and his work but it also tells us who God is and whence the universe has come."
Ben: "I know the Bible contains lots of history...."
Dr. Van Til: "It gives us a philosophy of history as well as history. Moreover, the information on these subjects is woven into an inextricable whole. It is only if you reject the Bible as the Word of God that you can separate its so-called religious and moral instruction from what it says, e.g., about the physical universe." (The Defense of the Faith)
Ben: "What about scientists who reject the Bible and belief in God?
Joseph Pearce: "What about those who don't reject God. On one occasion, according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the celebrated mathematician Professor Mordukhai-Boltovskoi was lecturing on Newton when one of the students sent up a note which said, "˜Marx wrote that Newton was a materialist, yet you say he was an idealist.´ To which the professor replied, "˜I can only say that Marx was wrong. Newton believed in God, like every other great scientist.´ (Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile)
Ben: "Good point about the scientist. Solzhenitsyn is a great man. He helped bring down the great Marxist idol."
C.S. Lewis: "Like Solzhenitsyn, we must attack the enemy's line of communication. What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects--with their Christianity latent."
Ben: "Why not books on Christianity? Yours are somewhat helpful, Clive or shall I call you Staples, ha, ha, ha?"
Lewis: "My friends call me Jack. You can call me Mr. Lewis. It is not the books written in direct defense of Materialism that make the modern man a materialist; it is the materialist assumptions in all the other books. In the same way, it is not books on Christianity that will really trouble him. But he would be troubled if, whenever he wanted a cheap popular introduction to some science, the best work on the market was always by a Christian." (God in the Dock)
Ben--to all: "That's pretty ambitious, but I like it. Let me change the direction a bit. How then does this idea of relating the Bible and Christianity to all types of subjects translate into what many evangelicals see as their own personal relationship to Jesus?"
Gordon Clark: "If the second person of the Triune God actually became flesh and dwelt among us, and died on the cross for men, that event would naturally overshadow every other aspect of the world, scientific or historical."
(A Christian View of Men and Things)
Ben: "Well, Jesus certainly did become Man and die on the cross for men. But what about the person who believes in Jesus, but does not go beyond that 'salvation experience'? Dr. Orr, you look like you have something to say."
Dr. James Orr: "He who with his whole heart believes in Jesus as the Son of God is committed to much else besides. He is committed to a view of God, to a view of man, to a view of sin, to a view of Redemption, to a view of human destiny, found only in Christianity."
Ben: "And what we would we call this commitment?"
Dr. Orr: "This [commitment] forms a "œWeltangschauung," or "œChristian view of the world," which stands in marked contrast with theories wrought out from a purely philosophical or scientific standpoint.
(The Christian View of God and the World)
Ben: "I have a Bachelors Degree, a Masters Degree, and post-graduate hours beyond that, but I don't know that such a 'Weltanschauung' came together in my university experiences."
Dr. Arthur Holmes: "The contemporary university tends to concentrate on the parts rather than the whole and to come away with a fragmented view of life that lacks overall meaning. Arnold Nash calls this tendency "œintellectual polytheism," to underscore that it is as much a commitment to a worldview as is Christian theism. The influence of intellectual polytheism has been calamitous. When a multitude of studies is conducted with no interrelationships the university becomes a multiversity."
Ben: "A multiversity instead of a university. Good point."
Arthur Holmes: "In theory the university rejects attempts to teach any one conception of the world but in practice it teaches a fragmented view of life. Even to take this 'neutral' position is to take a position. The worldview issues cannot be avoided." (The Idea of a Christian College)
Ben: "'Neutral position': There's one of your favorite attack words, Dr. Rushdoony. Do you want to add to that comment? Facts are neutral, aren't they? And by the way, since you are an Armenian, is that the same as being an Arminian?"
Dr. R. J. Rushdoony: "No to both questions. Concerning the first one: Facts do not exist in themselves, as though they were self-created and self-existent, but they exist because created and sustained by the will of God and have no meaning apart from Him who is the starting point of all knowledge." (Intellectual Schizophrenia)
Ben: "Maybe I should include some consideration of a Christian worldview in my Bible classes at school. Is that what is needed?"
Dr. Arthur Holmses: "The most embracing contact between Christianity and human learning is the all-encompassing world and life view. The Christian faith enables us to see all things in relationship to God as their Creator, Redeemer, and Lord, and from this central focus an integrating worldview emerges." (The Idea of a Christian College)
Ben: "But aren't Christian schools doing this...this integrating worldview. I mean, our daily devotional...." (Interrupted again.)
Dr. Roy Clouser: "Most Christian schools simply add Bible study or theology and worship to the curriculum. The various arts and sciences are then taught pretty much the same way that they would be taught anywhere else. However, what [certain] scriptural texts demand is nothing less than teaching every subject from a distinctly Biblical perspective that enables the study to avoid whatever the error is that can be avoided only by knowing God." ("Is There a Christian View of Everything?)
Ben: "Really? Some Christian schools not that much different from the local government school? But 2+2=4 at both kinds of schools. Is there something we Christians need to add to that?"
Clouser: "For most Christians, and for the average Christian school in the United States of whatever ilk"”Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, or whatever"”this application of Christianity to everything is a foreign idea. The average Christian school merely conducts education in a Christian setting. When they call themselves "œChristian," they mean that they are free to open the school year with mass or free to open a class with prayer or free to include theology or religion courses in the curriculum. But when it comes to math, physics, chemistry, biology, history, sociology, literature, they teach pretty much what is taught anywhere else." ("œIs There a Christian View of Everything?")
Ben: "Dr. Clouser, where do you get this this Christian view of physics, math, and literature?"
Dr. Clouser: "From the Bible. Beginning with Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, and 15:3, we find that 'the fear of the Lord is the foundation of all knowledge.' The fifteen or eighteen biblical texts that address the issue of whether there should be a Christian view of everything are one of the best-kept secrets in the history of theology, philosophy, and scholarly work."
Ben: "How do I put all these pieces together?"
Dr. Clouser: "I would commend to you the program for Christian theorizing proposed by Herman Dooyeweerd."
Ben: "Dr. Dooyeweerd, what led to your coming to this all-encompassing understanding? And do you want to hear the joke about the two Dutchmen and an Armenian at a bar?
Dr. Herman Dooyeweerd: "No to the joke. Concerning my coming to this understanding of philosophy: The great turning point in my thought was marked by the discovery of the religious root of thought itself, whereby a new light was shed on the failure of all attempts, including my own, to bring about an inner synthesis between the Christian faith and a philosophy which is rooted in the self-sufficiency of human reason. I came to understand the central significance of the "œheart," repeatedly proclaimed by Holy Scripture to be the religious root of human existence."
Ben: "So what happened next--in your thought--and did this keep you awake at night?"
(Room still silently devoid of laughter.)
Herman Dooyeweerd: "On the basis of this central Christian point of view I saw the need of a revolution in philosophical thought of a very radical character. Confronted with the religious root of the creation, nothing less in question than a relating of the whole temporal cosmos, in both its so-called "˜natural´ and "˜spiritual´ aspects, to this point of reference. In contrast to this basic Biblical conception, of what significance is a so-called "˜Copernican´ revolution which merely makes the "˜natural aspects´ of temporal reality relative to a theoretical abstraction such as Kant´s "˜transcendental subject´?"
Ben: "Ummm, I need a bit of time to answer that. Tell me what you think and then I will let you know whether I agree or not."
Herman Dooyeweerd: "From a Christian point of view, the whole attitude of philosophical thought which proclaims the self-sufficiency of the latter, turns out to be unacceptable, because it withdraws human thought from the divine revelation in Jesus Christ." (A New Critique of Theoretical Thought, Volume 1)
Ben: "Well, wasn't it Dostoevsky who said that if we don't believe in God, then everything is permissible? And so it must be true that if we do believe in God, if we begin with God, then things are knowable, and then it seems to me...."
(Guests begin reading books lying here and there or looking around the room.)
Doorbell rings, interrupting my futile attempts to converse with my company.
Man at door: "Pizza delivery for Ben House."
Ben: "Five large pizzas with some bread sticks. I'll get your money. Hey, aren't you Friedrich Nietzsche?"
Nietzsche: "Yes, I am just doing this pizza delivery part time. What's going on here?"
Ben: "We're discussing Christianity as a worldview, a Weltanschauung."
Nietzsche: "Well, I am certainly not a Christian, but I always said, Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. That will be $37.95 for the pizzas. Hey, is that Herman Dooyeweerd in the recliner?" (Twilight of the Gods)
Ben: Well, there you have it, guys. Even Nietzsche recognizes this. What has happened to the Christian world?"
Dorothy Sayers: "As I said in back during World War II, we have lost sight of the idea that Christianity is supposed to be an interpretation of the universe." (Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers)
Ben: "Yes, we don't love God with all our mind. How does that joke go about the purely Platonic philosopher talking with the pure materialist. After a long argument, the Plato guy said...No wait, the materialist said, 'Never mind' and the Plato guy said, 'No matter.' No, the Plato guy said it first: 'Oh well, no matter.' And then the materialist said, "Oh, never mind." [SILENCE PAUSE: In fact, a very long, awkward silent pause.] A small bit of humor always lightens up the atmosphere. We make the faith a small part of our whole being. That's why we need to think in terms of a worldview, right Dr. Naugle."
Dr. David Naugle: "Right Ben, the notion of worldview has a mysterious way of opening up the parameters of the Bible so that believers might be delivered from a fishbowl-sized Christianity into an oceanic perspective on the faith.
(Worldview: The History of a Concept)
Ben: "Yes, I got to go to the ocean this summer. I picked up some neat shells along the beach. Hey, what is red and white and green and is found at the beach?"
