Christian Worldview And Transformation

"What is Christian Worldview? What are the practical applications or ethical implications of Biblical truths? How can Christians influence society? These are the questions which the authors of this volume seek to answer, along with other issues which challenge biblical faith. Through theoretical reflection and suggested practical actions; looking at the Early Church, the Reformation and historical experiences of poverty in Brazil; with a commitment to piety and an integral mission practice; Christian Worldview and Transformation raises proposals and alternatives for a spirituality which can bring changes to society and social relations."--Publisher.

What is Christian worldview? What are the practical applications and ethical implications of biblical truths? How can Christians influence society? These are the questions that the authors of this volume seek to answer, along with other issues that challenge biblical faith. Through theoretical reflection and suggested practical actions; looking at the early church, the Reformation, and historical experiences of poverty in Brazil; and with a commitment to piety and an integral mission practice, Christian Worldview and Transformation raises proposals and alternatives for a spirituality that can bring changes to society and social relations.

In the past, changes in behavior and in belief have been leading indicators for missionaries that Christian conversion had occurred. But these alone--or even together--are insufficient for a gospel understanding of conversion. For effective biblical mission, Paul G. Hiebert argues, we must add a third element: a change in worldview. Here he offers a comprehensive study of worldview--its philosophy, its history, its characteristics, and the means for understanding it. He then provides a detailed analysis of several worldviews that missionaries must engage today, addressing the impact of each on Christianity and mission. A biblical worldview is outlined for comparison. Finally, Hiebert argues for gospel ministry that seeks to transform people's worldviews and offers suggestions for how to do so.

When early Christians began to study the Bible, and to write their own history and that of the Jews whom they claimed to supersede, they used scholarly methods invented by the librarians and literary critics of Hellenistic Alexandria. But Origen and Eusebius, two scholars of late Roman Caesarea, did far more. Both produced new kinds of books, in which parallel columns made possible critical comparisons previously unenvisioned, whether between biblical texts or between national histories. Eusebius went even farther, creating new research tools, new forms of history and polemic, and a new kind of library to support both research and book production. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book combines broad-gauged synthesis and close textual analysis to reconstruct the kinds of books and the ways of organizing scholarly inquiry and collaboration among the Christians of Caesarea, on the coast of Roman Palestine. The book explores the dialectical relationship between intellectual history and the history of the book, even as it expands our understanding of early Christian scholarship. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book attends to the social, religious, intellectual, and institutional contexts within which Origen and Eusebius worked, as well as the details of their scholarly practices--practices that, the authors argue, continued to define major sectors of Christian learning for almost two millennia and are, in many ways, still with us today.,

The goal of many evangelical educators is to facilitate biblical thinking and the worldview transformation of their students. Yet, aside from upholding a set of moral behaviors or maintaining positions on issues perceived to be "Christian," the goals and aspirations of most evangelical young people differ little from their unbelieving peers. As George Barna has noted, "We have a generation coming up that . . . isn't looking at Christianity to answer spiritual concerns . . . We either change or we lose them." Worldview as Worship contends that the approach taken by most evangelical educators to the issue of worldview transformation has neglected to address two fundamental components of worldviews. First, that our initial worldviews are not philosophical systems but rather faith dispositions and that worldview transformation cannot simply present the biblical worldview as a more rational or logical system, but must address issues of the heart as well as the mind. Second, unlike philosophies that are individual, worldviews are communal and are learned and transformed within the context of community practice. Appealing to Paul's teaching in Romans 12:1-2, Worldview as Worship approaches the "renewing of your mind" as the result of the believer's presentation of themselves as a "holy sacrifice . . . which is your spiritual service of worship." The book advocates an approach to worldview transformation that focuses on believers as apprentices rather than simply as students--an approach that holds true to the biblical model of discipleship. As a result, worldview transformation works best when the application of faith to the issues of learning and life are modeled by the faith community and where students are given the opportunity to put faith into practice.

In Shaping a Christian Worldview, David Dockery and Greg Thornbury present a collection of essays that address the key issues facing the future of Christian higher education. With contributions from key players in the field, these essays address the critical issues for Christian institutions of various traditions as the new century begins to leave its indelible mark on education. Book jacket.