• Chapter 11: Worldviews In Conflict Theories
• Chapter 11: Worldviews In Conflict Theorists
• Chapter 11: Worldviews In Conflict Management

Worldviews in Conflict: Choosing Christianity in a World of Ideas. By Ronald H. Nash. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992. 176 pp. Paper, $10.99.

Christianity is only one of seven worldviews. According to Ronald Nash a worldview is “a conceptual scheme by which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality.” All people consciously or unconsciously have a worldview or a way in which they see the world and interpret things around them.

Worldviews in Conflict is an easy-to-read defense of the Christian worldview. In the first two chapters the author defines worldview and presents the Christian worldview. Chapter 3 covers three tests (reason, experience, and practice) for determining the truth of a worldview.

Nash points out that Christianity has a much better answer to evil than do naturalism or the New Age movement. In naturalism there is no God. Nothing exists outside the material, mechanical, natural order. However, if this is true then there is no ground whatsoever for saying something is evil or good. Morals must be relative. This is completely contrary to our experience and unlivable in the real world. Morals come from persons. People are relative since they are mortal. In order to have absolute morals there must be an absolute Law Maker. Most Naturalists believe that murdering innocent children, stealing, and lying are wrong, but they do not have philosophical foundations on which to rest that belief.

The New Age movement is primarily represented by the pantheist worldview: “everything is god and god is everything.” The problem with this theory is that if god is everything then He is also good and evil, thus obliterating the distinction between the two. Evil actually becomes an illusion.

• For Grade Level 9-12 As long as Christian liberal arts programs fail to engage the challenges to Christianity in the battle of ideas, they play a part in the continuing decline of the faith in the Western world. It is extremely dangerous to accept the “great” thinkers and writers uncritically, whether it be Karl Marx, Ralph Waldo Emerson, or Nathaniel Hawthorne. The great thinkers and the.
• Chapter 11 info: Create a graphic organizer (chart or web for example) that includes the seven Worldview icons. For each icon describe how that icon reflects the worldview of the Aztec, the Spanish and the Modern Mexicans. Refer to page 4 of your text for some help with what to discuss under each icon.

Nash shows that these two worldviews do not pass the test of reason, experience, or practice. The Christian worldview is one of the only worldviews that provides an answer for evil. God made the world good and allowed evil in it for a good reason of His own. For reasons of logical consistency it does not matter what that reason was. The Christian view recognizes a real evil and good. Thus they can be dealt with.

The last chapter shows that Jesus’ incarnation and resurrection are more probable than the other options.

Chapter 11: Worldviews In Conflict Theories

It would have been better had the author covered the other four worldviews (determinism, logical positivism, physicalism, and evidentialism), although they are not as popular as the three he did cover. This book is an excellent introduction into worldviews and how to defend the reasonableness of Christianity.

Chapter 11Worldviews in Conflict243 Organizers are useful tools for comparing people, things, or historical events. By using a comparison organizer, you can see how dif- ferent things relate to each other, or what their similarities and differences are. Chapter 11 Worldviews in Conflict Key Question - How does cultural contact between two societies affect their identity and worldview? Read the story on page 237 and discuss the following questions: 1.

Hypotheses were tested regarding conditions under which decision‐makers are likely to articulate a problem representation consistent with liberal or realist elements of a worldview. This was done by content analysis of statements about 36 foreign conflicts by the governments of three “bystander” nations—the United States, Canada,.

Chapter 11: Worldviews In Conflict Theorists

R. Michael Duffy
Missionary
The Hague
Netherlands

Chapter 11: Worldviews In Conflict Management