Quote of the Week: D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo

At the time, the word philosophy did not call to mind an esoteric discipline in which students are taught substantial doses of skepticism and not much constructive content. In the ancient world, philosophy meant something like what we mean by “worldview.” Various teachers taught competing worldviews, and Christians earnestly sought to evangelize men and women who held these diverse pagan worldviews.

–D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, 2nd. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 33.

Straight Thinking Highlight: D’Souza’s Film on Obama

Does everyone have a worldview? What critical factors shape a person’s worldview compass? How important is it to correctly discern the worldview held by major influencers, such as our political leaders?

With the Presidential campaign well under way, I thought it would be a good time to revisit a recent edition of my podcast, Straight Thinking. In episode #187 I discuss the provocative documentary 2016: Obama’s America by political commentator and Christian apologist Dinesh D’Souza. My intent is not to discuss the political issues, per se, or tell people who to vote for, but rather to evaluate the important questions in the film that relate to worldview thinking.

Give the program a listen—it’s sure to make you think!

• “Worldview Thinking in D’Souza’s Movie on Obama”

The Importance of Worldview Thinking

My former Christian Research Institute (CRI) colleague Robert Velarde, now working with Sonlight Curriculum, put together a well-written article on the importance of worldview thinking. He even highlights my book A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test. See what he wrote by clicking the link below.

• How Do We Know What’s True? by Robert Velarde

Quote of the Week: Albert Speer

My decision to enter Hitler’s party was no less frivolous. Why, for example, was I willing to abide by the almost hypnotic impression Hitler’s speech had made upon me? Why did I not undertake a thorough, systematic investigation of, say, the value or worthlessness of the ideologies of all the parties? Why did I not read the various party programs, or at least Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Rosenberg’s Myth of the Twentieth Century? As an intellectual I might have been expected to collect documentation with the same thoroughness and to examine various points of view with the same lack of bias that I had learned to apply to my preliminary architectural studies…. As a result, I remained uncritical…

Ronald Nash (1936–2006): A Vibrant Worldview

Dr. Ronald H. Nash died five years ago on March 10, 2006 after a long illness. A professor, author, and churchman, his impact has been wide and deep, and his legacy endures. I wrote this tribute to him in 2006.

What in the World Is a Worldview?

Everybody has one. Whether they’re educated or uneducated, liberal or conservative, rich or poor, nonbelieving or God-fearing, all people act and live according to their particular worldview. Given its prevalence, it might be helpful to explain what exactly a worldview is.

Examining Christian Disunity: Unifying Essentials, Part 1 (of 5)

I once heard a skeptic ask:

Why should I seriously consider Christian truth-claims when Christendom is so deeply divided?

There is some painful truth in this question. Christian disunity does, at times, hurt the church’s witness to a nonbelieving world (John 13:34–35). For the next several weeks I will offer five points in response to this important challenge. Here I’ll discuss the first point: unifying essentials.

Welcome to Reflections

In a profound sense we are what we think.

The Christian worldview highly values logic and rationality, which find their source in God. As the only creatures made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27), human beings possess superior intellectual faculties. Humans alone read and think. They pursue, discover, and reflect upon the truths of logic, mathematics, science, philosophy, religion, and the arts. Only human beings develop a comprehensive world-and-life view and philosophize about whether their belief systems best match reality.

Logic 101: The Value of Logic, Part 1 (of 12)

Growing up in the 1960s, one of my favorite characters on Star Trek was Mr. Spock. Half Vulcan and half human, First Officer Spock pursued the logical path to problem-solving tenaciously throughout the U.S.S. Enterprise’s travels in the vast cosmos.

Journey with me on a trek of our own: a series on critical thinking. In this first article I will briefly explain what logic is and why it is a discipline most worthy of careful study.