Janet Mefferd Today Interview

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.

Worldview Matters II - Experiential Accommodation

Why Does Worldview Matter? The Impact of Worldview II – Experiential Accommodation

Worldview is the conceptual lens through which we see, understand, and interpret the world and our place within it. Worldview develops in and flows through the heart, the center of the human person, and necessarily involves answers (propositional or narrative) to four questions: What is our nature? What is our world? What is our problem? What is our end? Every person possesses a worldview that provides an answer or set of answers to these core worldview questions, but these individual worldviews can be compiled under broad categories.

But why does worldview matter? How does worldview affect us? Why bother learning about it as a concept, and one’s own worldview specifically? What does it have to do with life? Simply put, worldview matters because one’s worldview affects everything that one thinks and does, through confirmation bias, experiential accommodation, the pool of live options, and life motivation. Last week, I considered confirmation bias – today I want to take a look at experiential accommodation.

Worldview and experiential accommodation.

Worldview influences us by driving us to interpret new data or arguments in a manner that affirms or fits within our existing worldview. Whenever possible, we interpret new data in a worldview-affirming manner.

An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Finalist in IVP's Reader's Choice Awards!!!

Excited.  Honored.  Pumped.  I struggle with the right words - but it's pretty neat to see that our co-authored worldview text has been nominated as a finalist for InterVarsity Press's annual "Reader's Choice Awards." 

Please support the book!  Vote via web or mobile app.  And, of course, feel free to support the book by purchasing a copy - Amazon link   Readers' Choice Awards voting is open until December 3.

Tawa J. Anderson, W. Michael Clark, and David K. Naugle, An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God's Perspective in a Pluralistic World. IVP Academic, October 2017. 384 pp. 

Worldview Matters: Confirmation Bias

Why Does Worldview Matter? The Impact of Worldview I – Confirmation Bias

Have you ever wondered what the big deal is about ‘worldview’? Why care about what your worldview is, or someone else’s worldview is? What is the big deal about worldview studies, or worldview awareness? I hope to address the importance of worldview awareness and analysis in a series of posts, drawing on insights worked out more fully in our recently-released text, An Introduction to Christian Worldview (IVP Academic).

Worldview is the conceptual lens through which we see, understand, and interpret the world and our place within it. Worldview develops in and flows through the heart, the center of the human person, and necessarily involves answers (propositional or narrative) to four questions: What is our nature? What is our world? What is our problem? What is our end? Every person possesses a worldview that provides an answer or set of answers to these core worldview questions, but these individual worldviews can be compiled under broad categories.

The Impact of Worldview

I greatly enjoy mysteries and detective stories, from Sherlock Holmes to Hercule Poirot, Law & Order to NCIS. When cops or crown attorneys have a working thesis concerning a particular crime, their approach to evidence is affected by how that evidence relates to their governing thesis. For example, if they suspect someone of committing a particular crime, tiny bits of evidence will strengthen their position.

Untying the Trinity: Understanding God's Tri-Unity

Untying The Trinity: Understanding and Worshiping our Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 

First Baptist Church, McLoud OK 

Sunday, November 12, 2017

I had the privilege of preaching at First Baptist Church in McLoud, Oklahoma this past Sunday - filling the pulpit for my good friend Pastor Matt Halsted, who had returned from the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum in New Orleans VERY late the night before (2AM).  I am grateful for the opportunity to preach.  What follows is a relatively-accurate transcript of my sermon from Sunday.  

The heart of my message was: a) Christian Trinitarian belief is unique among the world's religions; b) God's Triunity is required by the biblical evidence; c) Christians cannot willingly embrace logically incoherent (impossible) beliefs; d) the Trinity is not logically incoherent; e) while we cannot fully comprehend God's Tri-unity, we can begin to rationally grasp it.  I hope it is helpful!

Throughout human history, virtually every living human being has believed in God.  Even in our current highly skeptical and secular age, around 80% of Westerners (Europeans, Americans, Canadians) believe in some divine Being.  If you survey the world at large, and especially if you investigate human history, you find that an overwhelming majority of human beings affirm the existence of God. 

What's In A Worldview? Part III - The Universality and Diversity of Worldview

What’s In A Worldview? Part III – The Universality and Diversity of Worldview

Tawa J. Anderson, W. Michael Clark, and David K. Naugle, An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God's Perspective in a Pluralistic World. IVP Academic, October 2017. 384 pp. Amazon link

Worldview is the conceptual lens through which we see, understand, and interpret the world and our place within it. Worldview develops in and flows through the heart, the center of the human person, and necessarily involves answers (propositional or narrative) to four sets of questions: What is our nature? What is our world? What is our problem? What is our end? Furthermore, a worldview is a person-specific matrix—a perception of reality, a filter through which everything flows as we seek to make sense of external data. The answers, conscious or unconscious, consistent or inconsistent, to the four governing questions constitute one’s fundamental worldview. Each person has an answer to the four sets of questions, even if the person has never formed them into intelligible propositions or coherent narratives. Whether one looks at worldview as a set of beliefs about the structure of the world, an internal framework, or a set of glasses through which we look at reality, the bottom line is that every person possesses a worldview. We may not like it; we might deny it. We might insist that worldview is not even a rational concept. But that does not change the fact that each of us has a worldview and that one’s worldview strongly affects the way that one lives.

Because everybody has a worldview, there are literally countless worldviews held by people across the globe. Each worldview is unique to its owner. No two people have precisely identical worldviews.

An Introduction to Christian Worldview - Book Launch!

Tawa J. Anderson, W. Michael Clark, and David K. Naugle, An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God's Perspective in a Pluralistic World. IVP Academic, 2017. Amazon link

Formal Book Launch - Friday, November 3 @ Oklahoma Baptist University

Over the past few months, I have written a series of blog posts about our newly-published worldview textbook.  On Friday, OBU will host the official book launch for An Introduction to Christian Worldview.  The book launch will be hosted by Heath Thomas, Dean of the College of Theology & Ministry at OBU.  Three distinguished visiting scholars will deliver critical engagements with the book - Jim Baird (Oklahoma Christian University), Mark Coppenger (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), and Robert Stewart (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary).  After their presentations and responses, there will be a panel discussion about the book, featuring the three guests, myself, and Louima Lilite, Professor of Music at OBU and one of the co-originators of the worldview textbook.

Please check out the linked (below) article on OBU's website - I'm pumped about the conversations that we'll be able to have on Friday!   Book Launch Article