My interview with Janet Mefferd was broadcast today on "Janet Mefferd Today." I've done a handful of radio and video interviews on our recently-released An Introduction to Christian Worldview (IVP Academic) - Janet's was (thus far) the best-informed and most productive. I encourage you to check it out - link is here, the November 20 listing (you should see my name). My sincere thanks to Janet for a very stimulating and rewarding conversation!
Also, please check out (i.e., purchase!) An Introduction to Christian Worldview, co-authored by myself (Tawa J. Anderson), David K. Naugle, and W. Michael Clark - Amazon link.
Showing posts with label David Naugle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Naugle. Show all posts
Friday, November 24, 2017
Friday, October 20, 2017
What Is Worldview? Part III - Engaging James Sire
What Is Worldview: James Sire, Dean of Worldview Thought
James Sire is arguably the most influential evangelical worldview proponent over the past two generations. Given my interest in worldview studies (as exemplified in our recently-published An Introduction to Christian Worldview, with IVP Academic), I think it is healthy and important to understand what Sire has written on worldview over the past 40 years, and to build upon his wisdom. His classic text, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog, first published in 1976, is currently in its fifth edition. The first three editions focused on worldview as primarily a set of basic concepts or intellectual presuppositions. After rethinking his approach, Sire thoroughly revised his understanding and explanation of worldview. Sire no longer understands or explains worldview in terms of philosophical propositions alone. Instead, he provides a comprehensive and holistic definition:
A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being. [James W. Sire, Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015), 13.]
Sire’s definition is helpful on several levels and deserves to be unpacked.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Today's the Day!!!
Anderson, Tawa J., W. Michael Clark, and David K. Naugle, An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God's Perspective in a Pluralistic World. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2017.
After five long years of collaboration, writing, revising, re-writing, editing, and indexing, our co-authored Worldview textbook is officially released today (October 10) by IVP Academic. A hearty shout out to Dan Reid, our chief editor at InterVarsity Press, along with the editing and artistic team, for a truly beautiful product (inside and out!). The book is casebound, hard-cover, 384 pages, with beautiful cover art; some charts, figures, and illustrations in the main text; well laid-out (and interesting) sidebars and scenic byways engaging worldview in pop culture; with a helpful (and painstakingly-produced) index. I'm biased, of course, but it's a fantastic product both in its content and its presentation.
The promotional blurb from IVP (also on Amazon): Everyone has a worldview. A worldview is the lens through which we interpret the cosmos and our lives in it. A worldview answers the big questions of life: What is our nature? What is our world? What is our problem? What is our End? As Anderson, Clark, and Naugle point out, our worldview cannot simply be reduced to a series of rational beliefs. We are creatures of story, and the kinds of stories we tell reveal important things about our worldview. Part of being a thoughtful Christian means being able to understand and express the Christian worldview as well as developing an awareness of the variety of worldviews. An Introduction to Christian Worldview takes you further into answering questions such as
How can you get a copy? ...
After five long years of collaboration, writing, revising, re-writing, editing, and indexing, our co-authored Worldview textbook is officially released today (October 10) by IVP Academic. A hearty shout out to Dan Reid, our chief editor at InterVarsity Press, along with the editing and artistic team, for a truly beautiful product (inside and out!). The book is casebound, hard-cover, 384 pages, with beautiful cover art; some charts, figures, and illustrations in the main text; well laid-out (and interesting) sidebars and scenic byways engaging worldview in pop culture; with a helpful (and painstakingly-produced) index. I'm biased, of course, but it's a fantastic product both in its content and its presentation.
The promotional blurb from IVP (also on Amazon): Everyone has a worldview. A worldview is the lens through which we interpret the cosmos and our lives in it. A worldview answers the big questions of life: What is our nature? What is our world? What is our problem? What is our End? As Anderson, Clark, and Naugle point out, our worldview cannot simply be reduced to a series of rational beliefs. We are creatures of story, and the kinds of stories we tell reveal important things about our worldview. Part of being a thoughtful Christian means being able to understand and express the Christian worldview as well as developing an awareness of the variety of worldviews. An Introduction to Christian Worldview takes you further into answering questions such as
- Why do worldviews matter?
- What characterizes a Christian worldview?
- How can we analyze and describe a worldview?
- What are the most common secular and religious worldviews?
How can you get a copy? ...
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
What Is a Worldview? Part 1
What Is a Worldview? Stories & A Definition
Excerpted from Anderson, Clark, and Naugle, An Introduction to Christian Worldview (IVP Academic, 2017), 8-9. (To be released October 12, 2017.)
Three friends once went to a nature preserve in the
African Serengeti and experienced the majestic beauty and diversity of native
African wildlife—zebra, elephant, gazelle, lion, and rhinoceros. Each was
awestruck by the diversity of creatures observed.
The first friend, John Luther, commented boldly: “The
Lord God has definitely created an amazing array of creatures that sing his
praises and declare his glory to the ends of the earth, has he not?”
The second friend, Charles Dawkins, immediately responded:
“An amazing array of creatures, to be sure. But you err, my good man, in ascribing
their existence to a Creator. No, these incredible animals are the result of
the unguided, purposeless combination of random mutation and natural selection.
We too are the product of a natural evolutionary process. Indeed, we are no
different from the creatures that we see.”
The third friend, Shirley Chopra, serenely replied: “I
pray you both would be enlightened to the full reality disclosed by our
brothers and sisters on the nature preserve. For they too bear the same spark
of divinity that lies within you and me. Do you not sense them calling to you, seeking
to communicate with your spirit? We are all potential gods and goddesses; we
just need to awaken to our heightened state and take hold of the possibilities
that lie before us.”
The three friends see the same animals within the same
nature preserve. Thus, they experience the same objective truth. Nevertheless,
due to their vastly different perspectives, the three friends see different
things.
Friday, September 22, 2017
It's Almost Here!!!
"It's time! It's time! Did he just say it's time?!"
Over five years ago, Michael Clark, Louima Lilite, and I conceived of a textbook project. We had just finished co-teaching a J-Term (three weeks at the start of January, between fall semester and spring semester) class at Oklahoma Baptist University entitled "Christian Worldview," and geared for first-time freshmen. The goals of the 1-credit-hour course were to introduce students to the concept of worldview, the importance of worldview thought, the contours of a Christian worldview, and some elementary worldview comparison and analysis.
We used James Sire's excellent text, The Universe Next Door (5th edition) as our only textbook for Christian Worldview. Sire does a phenomenal job of laying out worldview questions, and how 8 different worldviews compare with one another on those questions. His text is rightly a classic in the field. But we wanted, in our course, to do more in two areas: (1) consideration of what worldview is and how it affects us; and (2) outlining and analyzing the contours of a robust Christian worldview. There are, of course, other books that accomplish those tasks admirably. For (1), David Naugle's Worldview: The History of a Concept is outstanding; James Sire's somewhat-shorter Naming the Elephant (recently released in a 2nd edition) is also very helpful. For (2), Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew's Living at the Crossroads and Brian Walsh and Richard Middleton's The Transforming Vision also do a competent job. (Both also do a bit of work on the first aspect, too.)
But no matter how we searched, we could not find a one-stop text that accomplished the three purposes that we had articulated for our J-Term Christian Worldview course: (1) Worldview as a concept; (2) Contours of Christian worldview; (3) Comparison and analysis of other worldviews. Given that we had three weeks to work with in J-Term, we naturally wanted to allocate one week to each of our three purposes, and desired to have course materials that reflected those goals and the desired balance.
We came up empty on our book search. And so the three of us thought it might be a good idea to write our own materials. In 2012, we spent the calendar year sketching, outlining, and then writing the book, which we used in January 2013 with our freshman worldview course. The first go-around was a bit rough around the edges, but the material was helpful and solid. At that point, it seemed like the project was worthwhile, not just for our use internally, but for a broader public as well.
So in Spring 2013 we pitched the course text as a book project to InterVarsity Press, in my estimation the top publisher in academic Christian philosophy and apologetics. Andy LePeau, a senior editor with IVP Academic, adopted the project, and we began working with IVP to revise our materials. Over the subsequent three years, various events intervened: Michael left OBU to pursue a second doctoral degree (in law); Louima withdrew from the textbook project (but graciously left his outline, wisdom, and plans with the project) and was replaced by our good friend David Naugle (from Dallas Baptist University); Andy LePeau retired from IVP and was replaced by Dan Reid as editor for the project.
It has been a roller-coaster of a project, seeing this Worldview textbook along the way. But now, finally, after thousands of hours of research, collaboration, writing, revising, editing, footnoting, indexing, and proof-reading, the book is coming out in 18 days (not that I'm counting)!
Over five years ago, Michael Clark, Louima Lilite, and I conceived of a textbook project. We had just finished co-teaching a J-Term (three weeks at the start of January, between fall semester and spring semester) class at Oklahoma Baptist University entitled "Christian Worldview," and geared for first-time freshmen. The goals of the 1-credit-hour course were to introduce students to the concept of worldview, the importance of worldview thought, the contours of a Christian worldview, and some elementary worldview comparison and analysis.
We used James Sire's excellent text, The Universe Next Door (5th edition) as our only textbook for Christian Worldview. Sire does a phenomenal job of laying out worldview questions, and how 8 different worldviews compare with one another on those questions. His text is rightly a classic in the field. But we wanted, in our course, to do more in two areas: (1) consideration of what worldview is and how it affects us; and (2) outlining and analyzing the contours of a robust Christian worldview. There are, of course, other books that accomplish those tasks admirably. For (1), David Naugle's Worldview: The History of a Concept is outstanding; James Sire's somewhat-shorter Naming the Elephant (recently released in a 2nd edition) is also very helpful. For (2), Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew's Living at the Crossroads and Brian Walsh and Richard Middleton's The Transforming Vision also do a competent job. (Both also do a bit of work on the first aspect, too.)
But no matter how we searched, we could not find a one-stop text that accomplished the three purposes that we had articulated for our J-Term Christian Worldview course: (1) Worldview as a concept; (2) Contours of Christian worldview; (3) Comparison and analysis of other worldviews. Given that we had three weeks to work with in J-Term, we naturally wanted to allocate one week to each of our three purposes, and desired to have course materials that reflected those goals and the desired balance.
We came up empty on our book search. And so the three of us thought it might be a good idea to write our own materials. In 2012, we spent the calendar year sketching, outlining, and then writing the book, which we used in January 2013 with our freshman worldview course. The first go-around was a bit rough around the edges, but the material was helpful and solid. At that point, it seemed like the project was worthwhile, not just for our use internally, but for a broader public as well.
So in Spring 2013 we pitched the course text as a book project to InterVarsity Press, in my estimation the top publisher in academic Christian philosophy and apologetics. Andy LePeau, a senior editor with IVP Academic, adopted the project, and we began working with IVP to revise our materials. Over the subsequent three years, various events intervened: Michael left OBU to pursue a second doctoral degree (in law); Louima withdrew from the textbook project (but graciously left his outline, wisdom, and plans with the project) and was replaced by our good friend David Naugle (from Dallas Baptist University); Andy LePeau retired from IVP and was replaced by Dan Reid as editor for the project.
It has been a roller-coaster of a project, seeing this Worldview textbook along the way. But now, finally, after thousands of hours of research, collaboration, writing, revising, editing, footnoting, indexing, and proof-reading, the book is coming out in 18 days (not that I'm counting)!
Friday, September 8, 2017
An Introduction to "An Introduction to Christian Worldview"
Worldview Matters: An Introduction to Christian Worldview
Tawa J. Anderson, David K. Naugle, and W. Michael Clark, An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God's Perspective in a Pluralistic World. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2017. ISBN: 978-0830851232
Christianity
is a world and life view and not simply a series of unrelated doctrines.
Christianity includes all of life. Every realm of knowledge, every aspect of
life and every facet of the universe find their place and their answer within
Christianity. It is a system of truth enveloping the entire world in its grasp.
(Edwin
Rian)
Worldview
is a contentious term. Some philosophers complain that
it has become an abused and misused term. Others complain that worldview is
regretfully neglected and overlooked in philosophical and theological conversations.
Others still insist that its use is on the rise, that it has not yet hit its
heyday. Still others do not even know what the concept is all about. Finally,
some assert that worldview is simply an unhelpful term that can be
dispensed with altogether without any profound loss. I am convinced that “worldview
matters” matter: thinking
worldview-ishly is essential for responsible, intentional Christian
discipleship.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Worldview Matters!
Why Worldview Study Matters!
In the past few years, I have had the privilege of co-authoring a textbook on Christian worldview with Michael Clark and David Naugle. As I shared recently, we are excited to announce that the book is now available for pre-order via Amazon, and will be released by IVP Academic on October 28, 2017. Worldview Textbook - Amazon link
Last week we finished the "copy-editing" process, the last major round of revisions and additions. All that remains now is type-setting, indexing, and proof-reading. In honor of completing the next major portion of the project, I wanted to share a few thoughts regarding the importance of the project - so over the next few weeks we will look at why Worldview is important, and why you ought to engage in some intentional worldview examination and consideration.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Our Christian Worldview Textbook is Coming!!!!
Very exciting to see this come up on Amazon for the first time. My co-authored textbook, with Michael Clark and David Naugle, An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God's Perspective in a Pluralistic World, is now listed on Amazon and available for pre-order, with a release date of October 28, 2017 (just in time for my birthday!).
Amazon Worldview book page!
There's still lots of work to do to shepherd the book to the finish line, but it's pretty cool to know that our book, nearly 5 years in the making, is just about complete and published. I'll be sharing more on An Introduction to Christian Worldview as the months move along.
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