On this page you will find information pertaining to worldviews, religions, philisophical belief systems and cults - all those beliefs and ideas that have shaped the world and those living in it. Enjoy searching around!
What Is A Worldview? And What Does It Include?
The word “worldview” comes from the German word weltanschauung which means a “perspective or outlook on the world.”[1] In short, a worldview is how you view and make sense of the world. Put into an illustrative sense, a worldview is like a pair of yellow tinted glasses. When you put the yellow tinted glasses on, everything that you look at and perceive is tinted yellow. Likewise, if Joe-Smoe has a pair of red tinted glasses, then everything Joe Smoe looks at will be red tinted – even those objects that you look at with your yellow tint.
Your worldview encompasses the very breadth and depth of your being – it is the all-encompassing canopy by which you filter and organize every event, experience, and idea you had, have and will have and learn. It is inescapable and everyone has such a worldview. In short, worldview is not just part of you – it IS YOU!
For organization and simplification, we can say that every worldview addresses the following major points of life: God, Humanity, Salvation, Authority, and Time. Whether you think so or not, what you think about each of these major points of life is part of your worldview, and as a result you will act according to what you think about each of these points in every aspect of life. Furthermore, for Christian apologists (which this website concentrates in) it is important to add another major point of life that will also impact our worldview – and that is Jesus Christ. What people believe about Jesus greatly impacts their worldview perspective.
Before moving on, let me explain a little more about each of the six major points of life:[2]
God: This is perhaps the most fundamental point of life every worldview addresses – Is there or is there not a God? Our answer to this question will impact how we think about issues, how we act, how we function relationally with other people. In short, every worldview believes something about God – either He exists or does not exist.
Humanity: This major point deals with how you view people – the whole of the human race. Did humans evolve? Were they created? Do humans have moral duties to themselves and to others? What is a person’s purpose and place in the world? Are humans naturally good or naturally evil? Your response to these questions will give you insight into your worldview and as a result insight into yourself.
Salvation: Does humanity need saved from something? Or is there nothing to be saved from – we make our own destiny? Is there evil in the world that humans need redeemed from? These questions are inextricably linked to our views on God and Humanity and must be addressed.
Authority: Every worldview addresses some form of authority. The question is, to whom do we as humans stand accountable to? On what authority do we base and frame our worldview? Do we base it upon a divine book, human reasoning, human emotion, scientific laws, or something else? Every person has some anchor (either themselves, someone else, something else or a transcendent cause) on which they ground their worldview.
Time: To where are we going? Essentially the major point on time is actually a concern about Destiny. To where are we headed in this long journey we call life? Furthermore, we can ask whether time is cyclical (continually repeats over for eternity) or is it linear (are we reaching some end goal of time)? These are essential questions to be addressed by every worldview.
Jesus Christ: For Christian apologists, it is essential to pose the question, “What does each worldview think about Jesus Christ?” Is Jesus a mythological being? Was He just an ordinary man who lived in 1st Century Judea? Or was and is He the Messiah and Savior of all humanity? How we answer these questions will determine how we conduct ourselves in this world and greatly impacts the other areas of our worldview.
As you can see, each of the major points are interrelated and build on each other. Our view on God impacts our view on humanity, salvation, authority, and time. Likewise, our perception on Jesus Christ impacts our view on time, authority, especially salvation, and humanity. They are all connected and as a whole create a holistic perspective of reality.
Where Did My Worldview Come From?
Now you may be wondering, where exactly your worldview came from? Well, your worldview came from a variety of places and over an extended amount of time. It is not some academic term that you just now came to acquire. On the contrary, a worldview is an outlook that you have been structuring over the course of your entire life – in short, it has been a life-long process. A life-long perspective that has been shaped by a plethora (overabundance) of sources: your family, your friends, your state, your nation, your religion (or lack thereof), your education (or lack thereof), the media, politics, and everything else that you have made contact with over the course of your life.[3] All of these sources have directly or indirectly impacted your personhood, making you who you are (whether you think so or not).
Vast Differences of Worldviews
It almost goes without saying that all those sources impacting us directly or indirectly makes us who we are over the course of our entire lives. Likewise, it can be noted that as a result of all those different sources, each person can develop different worldviews – different perspectives on the world. More specifically, as has been mentioned above, people can have different views on the major points of life (God, Humanity, Salvation, Authority, Time and Jesus Christ). With that, the question can be raised, “With all the differences of worldviews in the world, how can any one view be correct?” This is a very important question to be addressed.
The fact is that every worldview can not be equally correct – one worldview that espouses that there is no God and another that says there is a God are diametrically opposed. They can not both be true! Therefore, to determine the correctness of a worldview, one needs to gather evidence, facts and truth tests and apply them to each worldview to see if it correlates to reality. In short, if you want to test if a worldview is correct, then you need to put it through the fires of truth and ask such questions as: Does this worldview have beliefs that correspond to reality? Does this worldview have evidence (scientific, historical, philosophical evidences) to confirm its position? Does this worldview provide a satisfactory and comprehensive basis for living? In short: Does this worldview give an accurate picture of the way things really are in the world and is it livable? If a worldview can not affirm these question then it is not a perspective worth having or living for!
The Worldviews Breakdown
Now that you have a better understand of what a worldview is, how it works and how you can test it, you can now move on to learn more about each specific world view. In this section you will see the breakdown of worldviews into two broad overarching categories: Worldviews Centered on God (or gods) or Theistic Worldviews - these are worldviews that believe that either a God or gods exist in the world. The other overarching category is Worldviews Without God (or gods) or Atheistic worldviews, that is worldviews in which there is no God or gods in the world. Under each of these broad categories you will see more specific worldviews (which include major religions of the world) you can explore. Specifically under the Theistic Worldviews you will see that I have broken down theism into two major sub-categories: Monotheism and Polytheism. In short, EVERY theistic view (a view that there is a God or gods) is either monotheistic (belief in one God) or polytheistic (belief in many gods). Under each of these major sub-categories you will find worldviews and religions that are part of that category.
Note: the worlds major religions are in a major sense worldviews that address the fundamental questions of life, thus they are included here. Likewise major philosophical belief-systems are also worldviews and will likewise be addressed here.
Worldviews Centered on God (or gods) (Theistic Worldviews)
[1] Yeats, John and John Blase. Worldviews: Think For Yourself About How We See God. (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006) pg 15 [2] Information listed on God, Humanity, Salvation, Authority, Time and Jesus comes from: Ibid pgs 11-12 [3] Ibid 16-17
On this page you will find information pertaining to worldviews, religions, philisophical belief systems and cults - all those beliefs and ideas that have shaped the world and those living in it. Enjoy searching around!
What Is A Worldview? And What Does It Include?
The word “worldview” comes from the German word weltanschauung which means a “perspective or outlook on the world.”[1] In short, a worldview is how you view and make sense of the world. Put into an illustrative sense, a worldview is like a pair of yellow tinted glasses. When you put the yellow tinted glasses on, everything that you look at and perceive is tinted yellow. Likewise, if Joe-Smoe has a pair of red tinted glasses, then everything Joe Smoe looks at will be red tinted – even those objects that you look at with your yellow tint.
Your worldview encompasses the very breadth and depth of your being – it is the all-encompassing canopy by which you filter and organize every event, experience, and idea you had, have and will have and learn. It is inescapable and everyone has such a worldview. In short, worldview is not just part of you – it IS YOU!
For organization and simplification, we can say that every worldview addresses the following major points of life: God, Humanity, Salvation, Authority, and Time. Whether you think so or not, what you think about each of these major points of life is part of your worldview, and as a result you will act according to what you think about each of these points in every aspect of life. Furthermore, for Christian apologists (which this website concentrates in) it is important to add another major point of life that will also impact our worldview – and that is Jesus Christ. What people believe about Jesus greatly impacts their worldview perspective.
Before moving on, let me explain a little more about each of the six major points of life:[2]
As you can see, each of the major points are interrelated and build on each other. Our view on God impacts our view on humanity, salvation, authority, and time. Likewise, our perception on Jesus Christ impacts our view on time, authority, especially salvation, and humanity. They are all connected and as a whole create a holistic perspective of reality.
Where Did My Worldview Come From?
Now you may be wondering, where exactly your worldview came from? Well, your worldview came from a variety of places and over an extended amount of time. It is not some academic term that you just now came to acquire. On the contrary, a worldview is an outlook that you have been structuring over the course of your entire life – in short, it has been a life-long process. A life-long perspective that has been shaped by a plethora (overabundance) of sources: your family, your friends, your state, your nation, your religion (or lack thereof), your education (or lack thereof), the media, politics, and everything else that you have made contact with over the course of your life.[3] All of these sources have directly or indirectly impacted your personhood, making you who you are (whether you think so or not).Vast Differences of Worldviews
It almost goes without saying that all those sources impacting us directly or indirectly makes us who we are over the course of our entire lives. Likewise, it can be noted that as a result of all those different sources, each person can develop different worldviews – different perspectives on the world. More specifically, as has been mentioned above, people can have different views on the major points of life (God, Humanity, Salvation, Authority, Time and Jesus Christ). With that, the question can be raised, “With all the differences of worldviews in the world, how can any one view be correct?” This is a very important question to be addressed.The fact is that every worldview can not be equally correct – one worldview that espouses that there is no God and another that says there is a God are diametrically opposed. They can not both be true! Therefore, to determine the correctness of a worldview, one needs to gather evidence, facts and truth tests and apply them to each worldview to see if it correlates to reality. In short, if you want to test if a worldview is correct, then you need to put it through the fires of truth and ask such questions as: Does this worldview have beliefs that correspond to reality? Does this worldview have evidence (scientific, historical, philosophical evidences) to confirm its position? Does this worldview provide a satisfactory and comprehensive basis for living? In short: Does this worldview give an accurate picture of the way things really are in the world and is it livable? If a worldview can not affirm these question then it is not a perspective worth having or living for!
The Worldviews Breakdown
Now that you have a better understand of what a worldview is, how it works and how you can test it, you can now move on to learn more about each specific world view. In this section you will see the breakdown of worldviews into two broad overarching categories: Worldviews Centered on God (or gods) or Theistic Worldviews - these are worldviews that believe that either a God or gods exist in the world. The other overarching category is Worldviews Without God (or gods) or Atheistic worldviews, that is worldviews in which there is no God or gods in the world. Under each of these broad categories you will see more specific worldviews (which include major religions of the world) you can explore. Specifically under the Theistic Worldviews you will see that I have broken down theism into two major sub-categories: Monotheism and Polytheism. In short, EVERY theistic view (a view that there is a God or gods) is either monotheistic (belief in one God) or polytheistic (belief in many gods). Under each of these major sub-categories you will find worldviews and religions that are part of that category.Note: the worlds major religions are in a major sense worldviews that address the fundamental questions of life, thus they are included here. Likewise major philosophical belief-systems are also worldviews and will likewise be addressed here.
Worldviews Centered on God (or gods) (Theistic Worldviews)
Worldviews Without God (or gods) (Atheistic Worldviews)
Worldviews In Between
[1] Yeats, John and John Blase. Worldviews: Think For Yourself About How We See God. (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006) pg 15
[2] Information listed on God, Humanity, Salvation, Authority, Time and Jesus comes from: Ibid pgs 11-12
[3] Ibid 16-17