Customer Reviews

Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home

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Having been enthralled by Dr. Sunshine as a speaker, I rushed to buy this book when it became available and was not disappointed. His wit and incisive scholarship are just as evident in print as in person. The book is an accessible summary of a mountain of historical and philosophical material, peppered with engaging anecdotes and illustrations. The tone is balanced and never triumphalist or strident--Sunshine does not caricature other worldviews nor shy away from critiques of the Christian one (his own), but he also doesn't hesitate to point out straw men erected by others and deliver a body blow or two (with consistent grace and humor even in doing so). An excellent and information-packed resource to introduce anyone to the origins and consequences of a variety of contemporary worldview assumptions--unlike the fish, we can learn about the "water we swim in" and are well-advised to do so. It could be a particularly great gift for high school seniors or incoming college freshmen, giving them a headstart on topics they'll cover in humanities, world history or philosophy survey courses, but written in a style that is much more fun to read than any textbook!

The most unusual thing about this book is that, while it is written by a professor, about an academic topic, it is presented in a "popular" format. From the look and feel of the book, to its lack of bibliography and minimal footnotes, and most importantly to its easier prose and explanations, it's not what I expected at all!

On the other hand, it does do something which very little contemporary thought does -- connect the dots from the beginning of the Western story to now. Sunshine explains what the Roman culture was like, how it was changed by Christian ideals, and finally how it is "changing back" as Christian influence wanes. The last chapter of the book ties this together very well. Put all together it is a compelling story -- the great achievements of our civilization (most importantly the discovery of modern science, and human freedom) were because of Christian ideas and we are losing the foundation upon which they were built. This breaks not only the spell of Marxist anti-Western views of history, it also breaks the spell of pro-Western but anti-Christian versions of the story.

Midway through the book, I was encouraged in realizing that thinkers like Sunshine and Rodney Stark who he draws on, are bringing our view of the past out of the captivity it was held in by the anti-Christian stream of the Enlightenment. This is actually what makes the best part of the book -- he casually explodes myth after myth by presenting facts that are not widely broadcast such as the fact that no scholar of the Middle Ages believed in the flat earth! The net it is present a different view of the past. The breadth of areas where Sunshine does this must have required a lot of work and insight -- it's too bad he doesn't document it and bring this up to a more academic level. He interleaves philosophy, history and political science well to tell his story.

The final chapter was however personally discouraging. It was a realistic look at the kind of ideologies currently being advanced in our society. It was hard to read through this list without a sense of being overwhelmed or hopeless understanding that these ideas will have dire consequences in the future.

WYTTWYD is written with Dr. Sunshine's typical wit and in his usual concise style, a uniquely spare phrasing that carries the intent of the statement clearly and without resorting to academic jargon. He has produced a volume that is both refreshing in providing a clear understanding of the development of worldviews that carried Western civilization from Rome to home, and back again, I might add; and simultaneously a volume that is very disturbing in its implications because of the clarity of the arguments presented.

After an introductory chapter defining worldview and the importance of the concept to an understanding of a culture, he begins with a through examination of the religions of the Roman Empire, and how they formed the worldviews of Rome. The resultant picture is haunting familiar as a precursor to the 21st Century. Subsequent chapters examine the gradual change in worldviews as a result of the Christianization of the Empire, the emergence of the Medieval period, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, Modernity and finally the collapse of Modernity into Post-Modernity.

The final chapter, Trajectories, clearly lays out the steps necessary for Christianity to repeat the transformation of a society in the 21st and following centuries as it did in the 1st three. A valuable guide as a overview of the problems of our society and the needed solutions. However, Dr. Sunshine does not address the one significant difference between the 1st Century church and the 21st Century. The early church was counter-cultural from the very beginning with a powerful drive to proclaim the availability of the Kingdom of God and to live day by day in that Kingdom; the 12st Century church has assimilated with the culture, has lost its first love and seeks to maintain the status quo. Does a faithful remnant exist to once again bring the Gospel to the Roman Empire?

This volume is an excellent and enjoyable read plus a valuable resource for the student who is seeking a source to help put the progression of Western worldviews in perspective.

I picked this book up off the New Books display at the library because the subtitle caught my attention: The story of western worldviews from Rome to home. Thumbing through the table of contents and some of the chapters, I was intrigued by Sunshine's layout. He was discussing how worldview had shifted and evolved during major periods of world history: first the Romans, then medieval times, then the Renaissance and Enlightenment, and finally through modernity and postmodernity.

I'll tell you now - Glenn's perspective and my perspective could not be further removed from one another.

This does not make this a bad book. In fact, I enjoyed being challenged by some of the perspective in WYTTWYD. But I walked away from the book shaking my head.

Sunshine's view of the evolution of culture in a nutshell is this: Roman culture was evil, Christianity saved it, slowly through the centuries Christian influence has waned, and in postmodernity we see a return to the evilness of Roman culture once again. The book is essentially a call for the Church to save culture once again, like it did back in Roman times.

The author even goes so far as to say - twice! - that everything good in western culture was the result of Christianity. Literally no good part of western worldview came from outside the Church. That assertion is so laughable, the claim so bold, it amazes me Sunshine simply drops them into his paragraphs with no defense whatsoever. He simply believes it and expects his readers to do the same.

Greek philosophy as well as Islamic thought from their golden age is discounted. The abuses of the Church during the medieval period are explained away. The scientific progress of the Enlightenment is co-opted as being inherently Christian wherever remotely possible, and where that is not possible it is attacked as heretical and untrue (as in the case of Darwin).

Eventually, you begin to see the book as nothing more than a giant apologetic which attempts to over-glorify the Church's role throughout history. Quite a disappointment, and a dishonest one at that.

Of course, to see the Church as the ultimate savior of western society you have to have a demon to fight against - and Sunshine caricatures postmodernity as exactly that. Completely ignoring the beautiful parts of postmodernity as well as the complexities of postmodern thought, Sunshine effectively sets up postmodernity as something that is somehow attacking and threatening to destroy the Church - something that needs to be fought against and defeated. And just as we showed those godless pagan Romans the right way to live, by God, we will do the same for these heathen postmoderns.

Sunshine does make some very good suggestions at the end of the last chapter, which somewhat redeems the book for me - in suggesting how the Church can move forward from here and make a difference he completely drops the confrontational and revisionist tone from the rest of the book and recommends the Church get more involved in things such as social justice causes and causes which protect the environment. I can endorse those ideas, and the final chapter of the book, which does not seem like it fits on the end of everything that preceded it.

All in all, it is good to read things you don't agree with as a challenge to your own views and understanding. It makes you re-examine what you believe and why you believe it. From that standpoint, I'm glad I read WYTTWYD. From any other standpoint, however, I'm just glad the book was only 220 pages long.

Here's an amazing book for anyone wondering where the world's headed. For those who have studied the history of western philosophies, it's a concise review. For those with gaps in their knowledge or no knowledge at all, it's an understandable, readable introduction to the points of view that have driven and are driving western societies. For everyone there's a surprise ending--a well-reasoned surprise. By Henry von Wodtke

[...]

Sadly, Americans these days are notorious for their ignorance of world history. Ask the average American who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, or what happened in 1066, or where the Battle of the Bulge took place, and you will probably get a look of, "I don't know."
Even worse, this lack of historical knowledge goes beyond mere dates, people, and places. It extends to our understanding of the various worldviews which have shaped culture, especially Western culture, for the past 2,000 years.
That's why I'm glad to report that a new book by my good friend, history professor Glenn Sunshine, addresses this problem in a highly readable survey of Western worldviews "from Rome to home." The book, entitled Why You Think the Way You Do, is built on the premise that as a society's dominant worldview changes, so too does its culture--for good or ill.
The book begins by outlining the dominant worldview of Rome, paganism, which resulted in a "glittering empire" with a "rotten core." We rightly applaud the positive hallmarks of Roman civilization: prosperity, vigorous trade, education, efficient government, and the rule of law. But we also remember the Romans for their widespread use of slave labor; their brutal exercise of authority to suppress revolts; their violent entertainment; the widespread practice of abortion and infanticide; and their decadence, gluttony, and sexual perversions. (Sounds oddly familiar, doesn't it?)

Into that dark, violent world came the light of Christianity, which began to change the hearts and minds of diverse groups of people throughout the empire.

Instead of devaluing life, Christians promoted a worldview in which every individual is important because he or she is created in God's image. This led Christians in the Roman Empire to oppose the gladiatorial games, to elevate the status of women and girls, to reduce the number of abortions and end the practice of infanticide, and to oppose slavery.
While Rome eventually collapsed in the fifth century, Christianity and the Church have survived through the ages. Glenn's book shows us Christianity's impact throughout history, from the Irish Christians who saved Western civilization, to the medieval age, to the attempts of Enlightenment philosophers to undermine faith, to modernity and then postmodernity.
Glenn shows how we can see the clash between biblical and anti-biblical worldviews in every age--and then learn something about how we can counter lies with God's truth in our own time and place.
It may not matter so much if Christians can't answer questions about Napoleon or the Battle of the Bulge, but we cannot afford to be ignorant about the various worldviews that oppose God's truth.
If we are, then we will find it difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill the commands to be "salt" and "light" for our generation as the ancient Christians were for theirs.
As we hope, pray, and work for revival, we can find in the book Why You Think the Way You Do a valuable tool in helping us "destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."

Probably the best thing about this book is how easy it is to read and understand. It is a history of Western ideas, and how those ideas work out in life. Ideas about human nature, for example, work out in views on not only ethics but economics, politics and the like. This is a history, and reads like it, rather than heavy philosophy, and does an amazingly good job at accurately and simply summarizing often complex and lengthy arguments.

The book treats competing worldviews fairly, while being written from a Christian perspective. The unhappy reader that thought it a "wolf in sheeps clothes" (sic) would be advised to read the website page or first sentence of the back cover which says, "How have we come by our worldviews, and what influence did Christianity have on those...." Apparently, there are a number of naked wolves in the information about the book. Reader beware. So, if you hate Christianity, don't even buy the book. If you are new to worldview analysis, and/or like history and are interested in the impact of Christianity on worldviews, buy and read this book. There are also pithy final chapters about today and beyond, which are worth the price of admission. We may be going back to Rome.

I used this book in a humanities class (covering the Western world from late antiquity to the Renaissance) that I taught last fall term and got a very good reaction to it from most of the students who were largely college freshmen. They generally seemed to find it illuminating, interesting and readable. Many liked the way it challenged them to look at things from a differenet perspective than the typical liberal/left steriotype of the past that they usually received in the classroom. The discussions it generated were stimulating and thoughtful. I balenced it however with other readings that took different points of view on some the topics discussed by Sunshine in WYTTWYD. All in all a very informative and useful book with a clear but legitimate point of view shedding light on the entire course of western civilization and culture that is well written and forcefully argued. Nothing wrong with that!

I highly recommend this book. Reading it has challenged the way that I think about not only western or Christian worldviews, but worldviews and history in general! I constantly found myself telling family and friends about something I had learned or reading sections of the book to them. Some found it interesting; some did not - but that didn't stop me. :)

This book gives a very basic overview of historical events with the development of the western worldview, specifically the hand that Christianity had in shaping it. It is not, however, a comprehensive study of every point that the author makes. I found this refreshing in that it never was bogged down by dense or unrelated information. It is an excellent introduction to the topic and can be viewed as a jumping off point for further study.

I had probably only one complaint about this book, though I still give it 5 stars because it does not diminish the worth of reading it. There were differing "Christian" influences throughout history by various communities, churches, and beliefs - not all of them actual Christian beliefs. The author tends to lump these all together so that some of the influences that he cites as Christian influences really were non-Christian or Pagan in origin. He does redeem himself by explaining some of the instances of the church borrowing from the Pagan religions and vice versa, but I felt that he could have been more clear in differentiating between the two.

Still, as I said and while this is a worthwhile point to keep in mind as you read, it does not diminish the overall worth of this book. Definitely worth the read!

Some concepts at the beginning were difficult to grasp, but forcing myself to continue on, the book became so interesting that I could not stop until it was finished. The book explains a lot about why people think and act the way we do. I would recommend this book for anybody, but especially for pastors and leaders. Being a Christian myself I found the viewpoints compatible, but unbiased. The book tells it like it is, the good, the bad and the ugly, it is an eye opener.