Is the Christian Worldview defendable? If one listens to those in academia, the thought of such defense is preposterous. Richard Dawkins, Bill Moyers and the like would lead everyone to believe that a theistic worldview, which is held by a vast majority of humanity, is delusional. And while Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others are rarely criticized for their beliefs, Christians are verbally and “intellectually” attacked at will, with little rebuttal. To add to the dilemma, many Christian universities have adopted the same liberal and critical views of secular universities, reducing Christianity to an “option” in a plethora of religious faiths. Further, some in the evangelical community have an anti-intellectual mindset, citing that philosophical arguments are fruitless. But for the most part, little is known about the “battle” that rages. As Craig and Moreland have said, “the average Christian does not realize that there is an intellectual struggle going on in the universities and scholarly journals and professional societies.”1 What can be done to combat the anti-Christian, pro-humanist sentiment brewing in this age? The Christian community must logically present a case for what it believes. The “philosophy” of the Christian worldview must first be clearly understood by believers before they can transform their community with the Gospel. When Paul wrote, “Study to show thyself approved … rightly dividing the word of truth,” he understood the necessity for a “good argument” in communicating the truth of the Word (2 Tim 2:15).
In the following weeks and months, I will be sharing with you highlights from the book Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, covering those topics which I feel are most important for Christians to know. This textbook was originally designed for college/grad students, but any serious student of the bible or theology can learn from the material in this book. It is my prayer that you and I will grow in knowledge, able to defend the Christian worldview with dynamism and renewed enthusiasm.
As an introduction, the book quotes David Wells who was concerned with the majority of Christians being spiritually and intellectually “immature.” As a result, the Christian community has had little impact on society in recent years. He says, “a powerful and alternative worldview should have been unleashed … from one end of the country to the other … the results should by now be unmistakable. But as it turns out, all of this swelling of the evangelical ranks has passed unnoticed in the culture … the presence of evangelicals in American culture has barely caused a ripple.”2 It is not just evangelicals, but all Christians in general, who are charged with this inability to change the current culture. This comment from Wells caught me off guard at first, but as I thought it through, I felt he was right. Don’t get me wrong, the church has a “presence” here in America, yet in the last fifty years or so we have seen prayer removed from schools, abortion made legal, sexually explicit themes on television made commonplace, “alternative lifestyles” promoted and celebrated, and the internet flooded with pornography! This should not be. It is time to engage our culture with a new purpose! “Christian faith is not an apathetic faith, a brain-dead faith, but a living, inquiring faith.”3
1 J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2003), 1.
2 Ibid., 6.
3 Ibid., 7.
