Focusing Worldview Inside a Falling World: Between the Beginning and the Ending

Seminary Commons

This poster proposes, first, that while a worldview involves a set of beliefs and assumptions that are used to interpret the world, every worldview is situated within the world so that the viewer is also part of the view. No worldview is based on a completely objective perspective. We are subjectively involved in our attempt to be objective about the world. A biblical Christian worldview does not escape this subjective-objective continuum since divine-human revelation is adapted to the human situation. Second, when data about the world increases, a worldview tends to refocus to accommodate new data without changing into a different worldview. However, if a worldview is static and cannot refocus adequately, new data will be ignored or a new worldview will be chosen. Third, the Christian worldview is more able to refocus in response to new data when the biblical revelation concerning the fall of the world is understood as dynamic and as cosmic in scope. The cosmic scope indicates that the fall of angels and humans affects the entire cosmos. Even the Creator of the cosmos is affected. The dynamism indicates that, while the world continues to fall, this is not irreversible. The fall is being counteracted by the Creator’s acts of salvation. A Christian worldview should take seriously its situation between the beginning and the ending of the fall of the world. This has significant implications for how the Christian worldview can refocus in its interpretation of new data about the world without compromising its biblical framework.