INT-460 Worldviews in Western Civlization

INT-460 Christianity & Culture Wed. Oct 13, 2021
The Worldview Families
The Evolution of Worldviews in the West

The Worldview Families
Evolution of Worldviews in the West
1. Premodern - Catholic, Traditional Judaism, Islam, animist

2. Modern - Rationalism, Naturalism, Deist, Empericist

3. Postmodern - Relativist, Spiritualit, Constructivist

4. Critical Social Theory - newest emerging worldview

Pre-Modern Modernism
Postmodern
Critical Social
Theory

Physical World
Spiritual World
Angels
Ancestors
God(s)
Demons
Animistic Worldviews

Real intersection between
spiritual and physical world

Phenomena Have Spiritual Causes
•Accidents

•Sickness

•Natural disasters

•Mental illness

•Crop failuresFamines

Hamsa
Hand turning away the evil eye

“I Got Friends on the Other Side”, The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Native American Belief
s

Carol Locust, University of Arizona
1. Wellness is harmony in spirit, mind, and body

2. Unwellness is spiritual disharmony

3. Unwellness can be caused by violating taboo

4. Unwellness can be caused by witchcraft

5. We are responsible for our own wellness

6. Inattentive student maybe “traveling”
(Locust, 1988, p. 317)

Pre-Modern Worldviews
1. Revelation is the source of all knowledge

2. Revelation is NOT subject to critique

3. Revelation is mediated

4. Human authority has divine source

5. Human law has divine source

6. No di
ff
erence between Secular & Sacred

7. Super Natural is taken for granted

1. Revelation is the source of knowledge -

a) special revelation — Scripture

b) Natural revelation — science & philosophy

Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642) imprisoned 1633

1. Revelation is the source of knowledge


Torah read in Hebrew
on Shabbat

Latin Vulgate read in
Latin on Sundays



3. Revelation is mediated — through priest, rabbi, imam;
through an oral tradition and chain of authority

Model of Bible Interpretation
Text Reader
Writer Language Translation
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu

God
Inspiration
Bible Interpretation

Meaning is Mediated
Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Historical
Events
Writer
Describes
Audience
Exegete
is
Addressing
Premodern Bible Interpretation
Religiou
s

Authority
Meaning
God
Rabbinic authority Oral Tradition Papal Authority

• Judaism: Chain of authority from Moses to rabbis

• Catholicism: Chain of authority Peter to Pope to priests

• Islam: Chain of authority Muhammad to imams




4. Human authority has divine source — ex. Divine right of
kings. Papal authority approving monarchy, Caliphs





5. Human law has divine source — Ex. Comes from Scripture or
Divine decree, but can be relative to its community.






6. No di
ff

Implicatoin: Law is Relative
• Jewish law: each community governed by their own rabbi

• Christian law: Roman Catholic, Byzantine. Kings right to establish
their own laws

• Sharia Law: upholds right of Christians & Jews to establish their own
religious courts






6. No di
ff

7. Supernatural taken for granted — explains the inexplicable

Where does premodernism
persist today?

Examples
• Orthodox Judaism

• Roman Catholicism

• Traditional Islam

Examples
• Jehovah’s Witness: Watchtower interprets Scripture

• Latter-Day Saints: Chain of authority from Joseph Smith

• Seventh-Day Adventist: Chain of Authority Ellen G. White

What prompted the Englightenment?
• Emergence of “Reason”

• Renaissance, and interest in Greek & Roman writings

• Scienti
fi
c
fi
ndings reconciling with Faith

Modern Worldview
1. Reason becomes source of knowledge

2. Human authority originates in society (not God)

3. Human & Natural Laws are absolute and universal

4. Di
ff
erentiation between the secular and sacred

5. Inexplicable phenomena have rational explanations

6. Scripture is accessible and subject to inquiry

Implications
1. Reason: all inexplicable phenomena have natural explanations

2. Authority: society determine laws (ex. Democracy, Marxism)

3. Absolute truth: Laws are same in all frames of reference

4. Separation between the sacred & sacred

5. Emergence of higher criticism of the Bible

Implications
1. Reason: All inexplicable phenomena have natural explanations

Recurring Theme in all Scooby Do Episodes

Scooby Do and the Gourmet Ghost

Implications
1. Reason: All inexplicable phenomena have natural explanations

2. Authority: Society determines laws (ex. Democracy, Marxism)

2. Society determines laws
Democracy:
“We the people” (Preamble to US Constitution)

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people” (Abraham Lincoln)

Communism:
Property held in common by the People (State) (Manifest)

Laws determined by State

Elimination of all social classes, and equalization of members of the State

Implications
1. Reason: Inexplicable phenomena have natural explanations

2. Authority: Society determine laws (ex. Democracy, Marxism)

3. Absolute truth: Laws are same in every frames of reference

3. Laws: Laws are universal and absolute
• Isaac Newton (Laws of Motion)

• Adam Smith (Wealth of the Nations)

• Charles Darwin (Law of Natural Selection)

• John Locke (Law if Nature)

The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it,

which obliges everyone (Treatises II.2.6)

• Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence)

We hold these truths to be self-evident

3. Laws: Laws are universal and absolute
• All phenomena are governed by laws
• These laws may be described & understood
• These laws are universally true in every frame of reference

Implications


3. Law: Laws are same in all frames of reference

4. Separation: Between the sacred & secular

In the nineteenth century, there came into being a
divorce between scientists and philosophers. The
scienists looked with a certain suspicion upon
philosophic speculations which appeared to them
too frequently to lack precise formulation and to
attack vain, insoluble problems.

Louis DeBroglie, Quantum Physicist
Cited in: Frank, P. (May 1952). The Origin of the Separation between Science and Philosophy. American
Academy of Arts and Sciences 80 (2). 115-139.

Immanuel Kant
1724 - 1824

Critique of Pure Reason

Limits of metaphysical inquiry

Kant stated bluntly that the observable facts of
the physical world are completely described by
"science proper"; [but] “philosophy" can never
tell us anything about them.
Frank, P. (May 1952). The Origin of the Separation between Science and Philosophy. American Academy of
Arts and Sciences 80 (2). 115-139.

4. Separation between Sacred & Secular
Theology & Philosophy versus Sciences
Fine Arts & Music versus Technology
Sacred History versus Knowable History
Heils Geschichte versus Historisch

4. Separation between Sacred & Secular
• Search for the “Historical Jesus”

• Emergence of Higher Biblical criticism

• Questions historicity and authorship of Bible

Authorship of Pentateuch
• Evangelical Scholarship: Mosaic authorship 1400 BC

Authorship of Pentateuch
• Evangelical Scholarship: Mosaic authorship 1400 BC

• Critical Scholarship: Multiple sources (1400-400 BC)
J - Jehovah
P - Prophets
E - Elohim
D - Deuteronomic

Authorship of Isaiah
• Evangelical Scholarship: One author who lived 750 BC

Authorship of Isaiah
• Evangelical Scholarship: One author who lived 750 BC
• Critical Scholarship: Two authors (2nd lived during Cyrus)
I am the LORD…who says of Cyrus, “He is my
shepherd…saying of Jerusalem she shall be rebuilt.”

(Isaiah 44:24-28, ESV)

Evangelical Scholars
Embrace historicity of Gospels

And miraculous Bible accounts

Rudolph Bultmann
1884-1976

Demythologizing the New Testament

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Evangelical Bible Interpretation
Meaning
God

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Historical
Events
Writer
Describes
Critical Bible Interpretation
Meaning
Meaning

Implications



4. Separation: Between the sacred & sacred

5. Emergence of Liberal Christianity

Liberal Christianity
• Embraces religion’s moral principles

• Embraces religion’s traditions and rituals

• Embraces religion’s importance in society

• Rejects supernatural & miraculous

• Rejects historicity of the Bible

Max Weber
1864 - 1920

Alas, religion has become
“disenchanted”

The fate of our times is characterized by
rationalization and intellectualization and, above
all, by the 'disenchantment of the world’!

Max Weber, “Science as Vocation” , 1919

Implications



4. Separation: Between the sacred & sacred

5. Emergence of Liberal Christianity

6. Humanity has become the master of his world

Dr. Dolittle (1920) Disney (1967)

Postmodernity
The unraveling of the Enllightenment

How did Modernity Unravel?
1. Friedrich Nietsche

Parable of the Madman (Nietsche, 1882)


2. Emergence of Modern Science

Albert Einstein
1879 - 1955

Time & space are not constant



3. World Wars I and 2



3. World Wars I and 2

4. Birth of the Nuclear Age

Postmodernism
1. Humanity is not the master of his universe

2. Truth is relative

3. Individuals determine “meaning”

4. Government is a social construct

5. Reason cannot explain everything

Postmodernism

Final Scene, Planet of the Apes (1967)

Technology will lead to our own
downfall

“I’m afraid I cannot do that Dave” 2001 A Space Odyssey

Postmodernism


Postmodernism


3. Meaning is found in the person

4. Government is a social construct — is Democracy right for everyone?
Questioning that western culture is superior

2019
1994 2017
1949
2018 2021
1949
2014
1978
1987
1958
1918 1970
1917
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

Text Reader
Translation
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Audience
Exegete
is
Addressing
Postmodern Bible Interpretation: Reader Gives Meaning
Meaning

Give her a Hoover

and you give her the Best!
(Hoover Magazine Ad, 1937)

Critical Theory
De
fi
ned
A “critical” theory is a method of inquiry that seeks human
emancipation from slavery, liberation from oppression, and
works to create a world which satis
fi
es the needs and self-
determination of individuals. This approach has been applied
to many disciplines such as social science, literary theory,
legal theory, theories of education, and most recently race
relations.
“Critical Theory”. 2005. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/

“The history of all…society is the
history of class struggles”
Karl Marx (1818–1883)
(Marx, Karl.1848/1913. Manifesto. p. 5)

• Theory of Psychoanalysis

• All text emerges from subconscious

• All text contains implicit bias

• We can deconstruct the text to
explode the bias
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
Whitebook, Joel. 2006. “The Marriage of Marx and Freud” Cambridge Companions.

Max Horkheimer
• Brought together: Freud, Marx,
literary theory, and philosophy
of education.

• Traditional & Critical Theory

(Horkheimer,1937)
1895—1973

Traditional Theory vs. Critical Theory
Traditional Inquiry
:

“is content to describe existing social institutions more or less
as they are”

Critical Inquiry
:

Seeks to expose the social institutions’ false claims to
legitimacy, reveal their methods of oppression, and promote
truth and justice for those who are oppressed.
Max Horkheimer (1895—1973)
(Horkheimer, 1937/1972, p. 188)

Expose the social institutions’ false claims to
legitimacy, reveal their methods of oppression

Another Brick in the Wall

(Pink Floyd, 1979)

• Response to WWI

• Marriage of Marx, Hegel, and Freud

• German Marxism 1920s

• Shut down in 1933

• Continued at Columbia University
Frankfurt School (1918 - 1933)

Critical Theory
Premises
1. Oppressed v. Oppressor

2. Oppressors oppress through power

3. Oppressed conditioned to accept their status

4. First goal: Expose the structures of oppression

5. Second goal: Gain knowledge about the oppressed

6. Third goal: Dismantle the structures of oppression
Shenvi, Neil. 2019. “Critical Theory”. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Examples of Critical Theory in
Contemporary Culture

Critical Theory
Types
1. Critical Literary Theory

2. Critical Gender Theory

3. Critical Race Theory

4. Critical Queer Theory

5. Decolonization Theory
Shenvi, Neil. 2019. “Critical Theory”. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Indigenous People’s
Day
Formerly Columbus Day

Concerns over
Little House on the Prairie

Removal of Civil War
Statutes
Statue of Robert E. Lee removed

Critical Theory affects all our culture:
It has influenced both sides of the political spectrum

Antivaccine Meme
What is the meme saying?

How is this Critical Social Theory?

Derrick Bell
1930 - 2011

Founder of Critical Race Theory

1990s Post-Civil Rights

Principles of Critical Race Theory
1. Race is a social construct

2. Race is socially signi
fi
cant

3. Racism is a normal feature of society and embedded in systems

4. Racism is codi
fi
ed in law and embedded in public policy

5. Importance of the lived experiences of minorities
George, Jannel. (2021) A Lesson on Critical Race Theory. American Bar Association

Types of Racism
1. Institutional racism

2. Personal racism (intentional and unintentional)

3. Internalized racism (acceptance of negative messages)
George, Jannel. (2021) A Lesson on Critical Race Theory. American Bar Association

Institutionalized Racism
Brown v Board of Education

May 17, 1954

Internalized Racism
The Color Purple (1985)

Pervasive e
ff
ects of internalized
Racism on Black culture

Critical Theory in Bible Interpretation

Critical Bible Hermeneutics
Critical Interpretation
The Bible needs to be liberated from its captivity to one-sided white,
middle-class, male interpretation. It needs liberation from privatized
and spiritualized interpretations that avoid God’s concern for justice,
human wholeness, and ecological responsibility; It needs liberation
from abstract, doctrinal interpretations that remove the biblical
narrative from its concrete social and political context in order to
change it into timeless truths
Russell, Letty. 1974. “Introduction”. Feminist Interpretation of the Bible. Westminster Press, p. 12.

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Evangelical Hermeneutics: Meaning is in the Text
Meaning
God

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Modern
Audience
Audience
Exegete
is
Addressing
Critical Literary Theory: Expose Oppresser
Find the oppressed
Meaning
Women, homosexuals, slaves, racial minorities, immigrants, impoverished
Oppressor

Queer hermeneutics
Then Jonathan made a covenant with David,
because he loved him as his own soul. And
Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on
him and gave it to David, (1 Samuel 18:3–4 ESV)

Example
When two men come from a society that for 200 years had lived
in the shadow of Philistine culture which accepted
homosexuality…and one of them is the social superior of the
other, [and] the two meet secretly and kiss each other…we have
reason to believe that a homosexual relationship existed.
Horner, Tom. 1978. Jonathan Loved David. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. 27-28.

Example
• Oppressor: Ancient Israel’s society

• Oppressed: Jonathan, David, and the Philistines

• Oppressive structure: Biblical editor

• Goal: Expose oppression of homosexuals in the Bible
Horner, Tom. 1978. Jonathan Loved David. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. 27-28.

What can we affirm with Critical theory?

What do we disagree with?

Critical Worldview vs. Christian Worldview
• Critical Narrative

• Identities: Oppressed/Oppressor

• Objective: expose oppression

• Goal: Human self-determination

• End: There will always be
oppressors and oppressed
• Biblical Narrative

• Imago Dei, Sinful, Redeemed

• Objective: Reconciliation with God

• Goal: Glorify God & Enjoy Him forever

• End: Reign of God

INT-460 Worldviews in Western Civlization

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