Simon Kennedy
The Christian worldview is a crucial—but also flawed—concept.
It appears frequently in Christian apologetics and discussions of Christian ethics. It holds a central place in how many Christians approach education. The idea of a “Christian worldview” impacts Christian educators, school leaders, administrators, college professors, parents, and pastors as they consider Christian formation and education.
Because the idea of a Christian worldview is a flawed concept, as I will argue, we need to rethink it.
Table of contents
Problems with Christian worldview
The concept of Christian worldview is flawed for several reasons, including the following:
1. It is vague
Few can adequately define the concept, despite the fact that it makes intuitive sense to most people.
2. It is a “wax nose”
It can be shaped differently for different purposes by different people. In this way, it can be misused, sometimes in insidious ways.
3. It is a “combat concept”
Rather than being a positive, proactive, assertive concept, it has been used as a negative thing in the face of false ideas and unbelief in a hostile culture. In contrast, education is a culture-building exercise, and cannot be founded on a negation.
4. It is a deductive concept
Whereas education is an inductive activity.
When you begin to examine the idea of worldview, it can look like a difficult thing to redeem. Key figures in Reformed and evangelical Christianity—such as Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, Cornelius Van Til, and Francis Schaeffer—have used the term. Though it has an illustrious origin and has been widely used by Christian leaders and thinkers since the late-nineteenth century, the concept remains problematic. Flawed ideas remain flawed, even when used by great thinkers.
It’s time to reevaluate the concept of worldview.
Rethinking Christian worldview
Despite its problems, I don’t think we should discard the concept of a Christian worldview altogether. Instead, we should work toward a better definition.
Here is mine: A Christian worldview is a true apprehension of reality that is attained through the process of learning about God, the self, and the world. In other words, someone holds a Christian worldview when they apprehend reality in a way that provides them holistic insight into right thinking and living.
Reality, in this definition, consists of three elements:
- God
- The self
- The rest of creation
People possess a Christian worldview when they rightly apprehend who God is and who they are, as well as the world around them. This definition of worldview affirms both the possibility of knowing these three elements and the existence and accessibility of reality itself.
That final idea—reality—is crucial. Christians can and should affirm that reality exists—that there is in fact a reality out there—that God created it, that it belongs to him, and that it is ours to explore.
The Neo-Calvinist theologian Herman Bavinck frames worldview as a form of wisdom, writing, “Christianity … reveals to us a wisdom that reconciles the human being with God and, through this, with itself, with the world and with life.”1 This is a profound insight: Faith places us on a path toward wisdom—a wisdom that reconciles the person with the Creator and with creation. Bavinck’s idea helps us understand what it means to hold a Christian worldview.
Notice also that I said “a” Christian worldview. I don’t believe there is a single, authoritative Christian worldview. God has the authoritative worldview, but it’s not one that mere humans can comprehensively access. We can only grope our way towards it by growing in our wisdom about our relationship with God and his world.
Explore concepts like worldview using Logos’s Factbook.
Reframing Christian worldview
Imagine a Christian worldview as a completed artwork. The image I like to use is a mosaic. Until now, Christians have approached worldview education as if working from a finished piece of art—like a mosaic with every tile already in place.
Or perhaps a better comparison is paint-by-numbers. The concept of a Christian worldview often functions like a set of “correct answers.” All we have to do is get the picture, consult the color guide, and apply its code to the picture. In time, if we follow the instructions carefully, the result is a complete and accurate painting. Likewise, we treat Christian worldview education as an exercise in applying predetermined solutions using a fixed “worldview code.”
But this paint-by-numbers approach is inadequate. We need to reform our understanding of worldview.
In light of this and the definition I’ve offered above, I propose that Christian worldview education should instead be viewed as the construction—or crafting—of a work of art. A Christian worldview is the aim of the educational process, just as a completed mosaic is the goal of that artist’s labor. Education, then, is like crafting a mosaic. It is the process of forming a worldview, where each tile represents wisdom.
The wisdom I have in view here is a mix of both practical and spiritual. Practical wisdom includes the wisdom of kings, military leaders, craftsmen, farmers, businesspeople, and even ants (Gen 41:37–40; Exod 31:1–8; Deut 34:9; 1:13; 1 Kgs 3:28; Eccl 7:19; Jas 3:13; Col 4:5). Spiritual wisdom is the wisdom granted to those who know the living God, the Creator of the reality in which the practically wise operate (1 Cor 1:24; Dan 2:21; Matt 7:24; 2 Tim 3:15).
7 ways educators should rework worldview
This reworking of the worldview concept carries important implications for Christian educators—whether in the classroom, the home, or the church.
There is more than can be covered here in this brief article, but the following seven reworkings are key:
1. A Christian worldview is the goal, not the means, of Christian education
A Christian worldview is the goal rather than the means and method of Christian education. We should move away from thinking in terms of “teaching from a Christian worldview perspective” and toward viewing education as the cultivation of wisdom.
A Christian worldview is the goal rather than the means and method of Christian education.
2. A Christian education is one that builds wisdom
The means and method of Christian education should be focused on growing in wisdom, not getting the “right” worldview answers. While providing correct answers and critiquing false worldviews have value, a Christian worldview should be the goal of the educational process—not its predetermined framework. The mosaic of a Christian world is built from tiles of wisdom gradually gained.
3. Worldview frameworks should play a smaller role in shaping curriculum
Christian worldview principles and frameworks should become less important when thinking about the normative boundaries for our education institutions and curriculum. When we stop beginning with abstract worldview principles and deducing educational content from them, we free ourselves to rethink many of our assumptions of what makes a curriculum truly Christian.
4. Christian education draws from 3 sources: scriptural, Christian, and general
It seems obvious, but we have to remember that the Bible doesn’t give us everything we need to shape an educational program. The main way that the Bible should be deployed in Christian education settings is in classes about Christianity.
Christian education should also draw on non-biblical Christian sources and texts (e.g., church history, Christian poetry) when teaching a range of different disciplines.
Finally, we need not fear the excellent ideas of unbelievers, as Christians do not have a monopoly on truth. All truth about all things is God’s, whoever discovers it.
5. Christian institutions should prioritize catechesis
Under the old worldview framework, Christianity is understood to be everywhere and in everything. This often results in a dilution of the faith as it is presented in Christian education institutions. Instead, a Christian education should be marked by a focus on excellent teaching on doctrine and Bible.
6. Christian institutions should cultivate the Christian mind and imagination by teaching the great books
The cultivation of wisdom through a Christian imagination is a vital way to prepare students to face an uncertain world. This means equipping students with breadth of mind, sentiments of sympathy, and depth of understanding of human nature and the human condition.
The best way into this is reading the great works of literature, poetry, philosophy, theology, and history. Christians should give their students the best, and that usually means the great books.
7. Christian institutions should abandon bureaucratic “worldview” talk
Courses shouldn’t be judged by how many “Christian worldview” elements they include (or exclude). We don’t need “Christian worldview” learning outcomes, for instance, because there is no monolithic Christian worldview from which to deduce such benchmarks of “worldview faithfulness.” We shouldn’t measure teaching performance on the number of Bible verses included in the lesson plan, or on whether they did a devotion at the beginning of class that was linked to the content of the class.
Conclusion
A Christian education faithful in its pursuit of imparting wisdom is the best kind of worldview education. Students will receive the wisdom of the Scriptures, the wisdom of the Christian tradition, and the wisdom of the ages. In doing so, they will be equipped to reach for reality in a way that will point them to the maker of that reality. In pursuing wisdom, they will encounter the Wisdom of God; and in pursuing truth, they will meet the Truth.
This is Christian education—not prepackaged answers or rigid theological frameworks. It is the seeking of wisdom in the world, in the Scriptures, and in the Christian tradition. The pursuit of a Christian worldview, in this sense, is the pursuit of a vision of reality that prompts doxology and worship.
Simon Kennedy’s recommended resources
- Martin Dowson, Educating for Wisdom (Melos Education, 2023)
Every Good Path: Wisdom and Practical Reason in Christian Ethics and the Book of Proverbs
Regular price: $38.65
Walking in God’s Wisdom: The Book of Proverbs (Transformative Word)
Regular price: $9.99
Against Worldview: Reimagining Christian Formation as Growth in Wisdom
Regular price: $12.99
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- Herman Bavinck, Christian Worldview, ed. and trans. Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, James Eglinton, and Cory C. Brock (Crossway, 2019), 29.
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