Dr. Shirley's Web Courses
REL 107 - Introduction to Religion
Worldview
These notes are adapted from the Presentation given by the Rev. Canon Scott A. Ruthven at "Streams in the Desert", Socorro, New Mexico, 2005.
With grateful thanks, Shirley Rollinson
Definition and Description
- James Sire's definition of a WorldView from "The Universe Next Door" is
"A set of presuppostions (or assumptions) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously) about the basic make-up of the world."
- It is our map of the reality or world in which we live, the framework from which we see the world, and from which we operate
- There is a multitude of Worldviews all around us - Everyone has a Worldview, but we are often unaware that we have one and how our Worldview affests and impacts our lives. It includes factors of which we are aware, and factors of which we are not aware.
- Our Worldview
- Makes sense out of the world because it is our picture of God, the Universe, the nature of man
- Guides our actions and thoughts, giving unity to our life
- Is active in every choice, decision, and action - helping us choose goals and plan our future according to what we believe
- Worldview is an analytical tool to discover, on a gut level, "What do I really believe", and to view the practicing Worldviews of other religions and philosophies
- A Worldview must be consistent or it will be as if we were trying to ride two horses going different directions at once
Five Basic Questions
Any Worldview which human beings construct will address at least the following five questions
- Who (What) is Ultimate Reality ?
- Is it unknowable / knowable ?
- Personal or impersonal ?
- One God, two gods, many gods ?
- Spirit, Idea, Force ? The electrons ?
- What is the nature of God/gods - is He/he/she/it/they good, bad, amoral? Capricious?
- Is God/gods transcendent, immanent, both ?
- Is God/gods Omnipotent? Omniscient? Omnipresent?
- Is God/gods created / uncreated ?
- What's the Universe like ?
- Centric / Acentric ?
- Hierarchical / Democratic ?
- Orderly / Disorderly ?
- Purposeful / Purposeless ?
- Containing only matter?, only spirit?, both?, or something else?
- Hostile / Friendly ?
- Uninterested / Interested ?
- Is there a right or a wrong ?
- Is there only good?, or only evil? or both good and evil?
- Does it go on for ever? or does it end ?
- What is its relationship to Ultimate Reality ?
- How do we know what we know ?
- Empirically, through the five senses ?
- Empirically plus rational reflection ?
- Empirically plus rational reflection plus faith ?
- Revelation from God Himself ?
- Information from God ?
- Who are we, and what are we doing here ?
- Made in the image of God ?
- Produced by natural selection ?
- Without purpose ?
- Are we good, bad, a mixture of good and bad ?
- Are we autonomous / determined ?
- Does morality transcend culture ?
- Does physical death end the existance of the person ?
- Is there conscious personal survival after death ?
- If it ends - where does it end ?
- Linear upward human progress leading to the Perfect Society ?
- Cyclical repetition of everything that has happened before ?
- Downward spiral until the "end"?
- What's the Problem, and what's the solution ?
- Human ignorance ? Solution = Education
- Death, disintegration, Increase of Entropy ? Solution = New life, drastic measures to prevent death
- Sin and Human guilt caused by rebellion ? Solution = Repentance
- Must we solve the problem alone ? with help ?
- Is the problem solved for us ?
Follow Link to Part 2 - How various Worldviews answer the questions
Copyright © 2005 Scott A. Ruthven, all Rights Reserved
Dr. Rollinson
Department of Religion
ENMU
Portales, NM 88130
Last Updated: August 20, 2007
