Lesson 1

Learning goals: (a) To understand what “worldview” is and what it is not, (b) to recognize the importance of an education in worldview analysis (including dichotomy grids)

Lecture Outline:

1. What is Worldview?
2. Why Worldview Matters

• Why Worldview Training Matters
  1. Survival in the public arena: Recognizing and critiquing other worldviews
     1. For Christians “to survive in modern or postmodern American culture without being overwhelmed by its concealed prejudices, everyone needs to know how to recognize those prejudices, to understand what kind of thinking brought them into existence, and to be able to explain to ourselves and to others what is wrong with the pervasive assumptions that often come labeled only as ‘the way all rational people think,’ and that will swamp our faith if we are not alert to them”. Thus, being educated in worldview analysis is a basic element of “a modern Christian’s defense system”, just like “a shield was in the days when a prudent traveler needed to be prepared to repel an attack by sword-wielding robbers”.
  2. To effect lasting change: Politics isn’t enough. Politics tends to reflect culture, not the other way around
  3. We can train our children in worldview analysis to critique other worldviews

1. Introducing the Dichotomies (the Upper and Lower Stories)
2. Why These Dichotomy Grids Matter
3. Christianity is Total Truth

• Developing a Christian Worldview is Spiritual Growth