Sire readily admits that his catalogue is in no way exhaustive, but simply his selection of the most influential on current western thought. He frequently includes poetry and excerpts by authors writing from the perspective of the world view he is examining, which provides a good change of pace and illustrates how the world view plays out in practice. In this manner, he outlines the beliefs, history, and problems or inconsistencies of Christian theism, deism, naturalism, nihilism, existentialism, eastern pantheistic monism (including Hinduism and Buddhism), the New Age, postmodernism and Islamic theism (not all of which he credits as being fully-fledged world views). Sire devotes a chapter to each of his chosen world views, and asks the same set of questions of each, providing contrast through his answers. The assumptions that help construct this world view may not be true, and they may be unconscious or inconsistent, but they help construct this framework that we hang our values and choices upon.
Our world view provides us with perspective, and enables us to choose our directions and actions. What is a world view? Defining the concept could take another entire book, but Sire’s explanation in the first chapter is comprehensive and succinct: 1Ī worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions… that we hold… about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being. Despite its place as the classic work on world views since it was first published in 1976, James W Sire is addressing a heavy subject with this book, and it requires mental lifting to keep up. It’s quite possible that, because I was focused on my task rather than my topic, I never really grasped what I was reading in the first place. Then, in true student style, I ejected every piece of information out of my brain and moved on to my next assignment. I pored over it for a week, reading and re-reading, and got the pamphlets done in the nick of time.
It was my job to write these handouts, and the Christian survey of various world views, The Universe Next Door, was my main source (in combination with Wikipedia, of course).
We would then give them a pamphlet that explained their likely world view, along with any weaknesses it had and relevant Christian viewpoints they ought to consider. We were running an evangelistic event where students lined up to take a quiz to discover what world view would suit them best. I first read The Universe Next Door while I was at university.
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