Worldview Questions

1. Developing a Worldview
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
APOL 6543 Issues In Apologetics

2. What is a Worldview?
A Worldview is a collection of beliefs (ideas,
images, attitudes, values) that a group of
people hold about things –universe, humankind,
God, future. A worldview may be adopted,
developed, formed, as a result of an
unconscious assimilation or conditioning
process. It is the general perspective from
which one sees and interprets the world.
Quoted from “Philosophy” by Peter Angels
The Harper Collins Dictionary

3. What is a Worldview-- cont’d.
•“The central set of concepts and
presuppositions that provide people with their
basic assumptions about reality.”
Darrell Whiteman
•A Worldview is a set of presuppositions (or
assumptions) which we hold consciously or
unconsciously, consistently or inconsistently
about the basic make-up of our world
Dr. James Sire

4. Understanding the Postmodern
Mindset
Modern
•Born during the
Enlightenment
•Rationalism
•Scientific
Revolution
•Truth was scientific
Postmodern
•Born as a result of
Modernism
•Experiential
•Moral Revolution
•Truth is
experiential

6. Worldviews Deal With Six Different Questions
• What is ultimate reality?
• What is a human being?
• What happens to a person at death?
• How do we know anything at all?
• How do we know what is right and
wrong?
• What is the meaning of history?

7. A Worldview…. Is Like A Car
•It helps us get around the Universe
•You don’t have to know everything about it for
it to be useful
•You can inherit it from the people around you
•If you are not aware of yours, you can be
coerced very easily
•Knowing more about yours can help you know
the merits of your particular worldview
•A bad one will get you no where and you will
feel frustrated

8. Characteristic of a Good Worldview
• Must be internally consistent (Doesn’t
contradict itself)
• Is able to comprehend the data of reality (It
explains the real world [reasonibly well]
without becoming inconsistent.)
• Should explain what it claims to be.
• Should be subjectively satisfying.
• (It must provide satisfaction in the worldview
holder.)