Worldview: The History of a Concept [Paperback]

David K. Naugle (Author), Arthur Frank Holmes (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

Perhaps the time is right -- for ecclesial, cultural, and global reasons -- to explore history of worldview as a concept and to reflect upon it theologically and philosophically. First of all, the last several decades have witnessed an explosion of interest in worldview in certain circles of the evangelical church. Several writers, including Carl Henry, Francis Schaeffer, James Sire, Arthur Holmes, Brian Walsh and Ricahrd Middleton, Albert Wolters, and Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey have introduced many believers to worldview thinking and its importance. This wave of interest has appeared to some extent in Catholic and Orthodox contexts as well. Christians of all kinds are discovering that overt human beliefs and behaviors, as well as sociocultural phenomena, are -- consciously or not - most often rooted in and expressions of some deeper, underlying principle and concept of life. Furthermore, worldview has served a hermeneutic purpose in the church by helping believers understand the cosmic dimensions and all-encompassing implications of biblical revelation. This book argues that a worldview is an inescapable function of the human heart and is central to identity of human beings as imago Dei.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802847617
• ISBN-13: 978-0802847614
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #560,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars dissertation on intellectual history, followed by passion, February 7, 2004

By 

R. M. Williams "just an avid reader" (tucson, arizona USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Worldview: The History of a Concept (Paperback)

I bought the book several months back, started the first few chapters, and moved on to more pressing material. I finished the book as part of my expanded reading for an adult education class at our church on the topic of Christian worldviews. We know from the introduction that the book began as his PhD dissertation, i would suspect that this is the contents of chapters 1-8, which are just a little dry, factual presentation dominated by philosophers and their writings. Probably the best available introduction to the concepts revolving around 'world and life view', certainly well done and informative.

But it is chapters 9 and 10 that really interest me. 9 is "Theological Reflections of 'Worldview' " and 10 is "Philosophical Reflections on 'Worldview'". These two chapters are worth the time to read the whole book and well worth an occasional reread in the future to keep the ideas fresh, warm and on the top of my thinking. So if you have just a few minutes to analyze if you want to buy and read this book; start with chapter 9, especially for a Christian, or chapter 10, for the more secular, and see if the book is of interest to you. If you are interested in how he presents ideas i would turn to pg 46, a section entitled "Sacramental Worldview" which is a section on the Eastern Orthodoxy worldview, especially from the pen of Alexander Schmemann, and is probably the best 9 pages in the first 8 chapters, i ordered his book immediately on reading this part.

The book is not an easy read, a certain tolerance for names and intellectual history is needed, perhaps not a common quality in today's reading public. But there is nothing that a motivated person with access to the net for more background information can't cure in a few clicks and some supplementary reading. But i am afraid most people would follow a similar trajectory as i did, a few chapters then a slow creep to the bottom of the to-be-read pile, and this is unfortunate, if it happens to you, skip to 9 and 10 and read them, then get back to the harder, less uplifting work of the details rather than the big picture. The author would be well advised to release these 2 chapters onto the (wild)net, for they are standalone, and worthy of greater broadcast then they will get following his dissertation(as packaged in the book), for they would be of great value in discussions like my class at church.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book on Different Worldviews, January 12, 2003

By 

D.P. "David Fahrenthold" (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Worldview: The History of a Concept (Paperback)

Having read this book for Dr. Naugle's Philosophy class, I got this book first hand. It was one of our textbooks for his class, and it was a hard read. It was his dissertation, and the language in it can tend to be obscure. He sets out to analyze various worldviews from various perspectives. Being distinctly Christian, Dr. Naugle has three chapters on various Christian worldviews (Chapters 1,2,9). But, his philosophical insights into it at just short of amazing. This is a tremendous book from a tremendous man (And when you get through with it you will definitely know what 'Weltanschauung' means!)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worldview in the Disciplines, March 2, 2009

By 

Orville B. Jenkins "Research Guy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Worldview: The History of a Concept (Paperback)

This book is the author's exploration of the history and meaning of the term or concept of "worldview." Naugle surveys the history of the word and its use under various meanings, as defined or used in Philosophy, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Theology and Political Theory.

Story-Form Knowledge
Naugle points out the meaning of story forms in oral cultures, and indicates that the error of modern rationalist theories of knowledge is that they ignored the concept of narrative as the primary way all human societies talk about the wholeness of life and the unseen realities.

Concepts of rationality are also investigated. He determines that the concept of worldview is an epistemological question, and finds the Enlightenment linear, objective concept of knowledge as external is based on a mistaken notion that human reason can somehow get outside itself and stand outside its own worldview assumptions.

I found many of the formulations and concepts and conclusions of the author were statements of concepts I had been propounding in my last thirty years of training people in cross-cultural communication. The concept of worldview and the uniqueness of worldview from culture/society to culture/society have been the standard reference points. Christian mission has been approaching peoples of the world this way for some decades, learning the cultural worldview and formulating communication in those forms unique to that culture.

Foundational
I agree with Dr. Naugle that the concept of worldview is foundational to understanding both the similarities and the differences between human cultures. Dynamic, symbolic (semiotic) forms of reference to the broader reality of our human existence are presented in the "mythological," story-symbol forms of human cultures and worldviews. The modern period assumed it had no myths, but in doing so promulgated and ignored its own presuppositions and myths.

Naugle sheds light on the aspects of cognitive culture we refer to by the term "worldview." The current body of knowledge of Anthropology and Sociology has clearly established the view that all people have myths, figures and supra-historical concepts that give their daily lives meaning. "Worldview" is the term we use for that.

This "worldview" is the hidden mental organizing principle or set of principles by which society is organized, decisions are made, values are developed and defended or changed and by which new ideas and technologies are evaluated.

Orality
In recent decades a whole discipline has developed investigating the concept of oral communication in not only traditional cultures in our world today, but the classical cultures. The concept of how people thought at different periods in history is given more weight in evaluating other cultures old and new. Oral cultures, even when literate think and operate differently than our modern rationalistic literate cultures.