Worldview: The History of a Concept, by Naugle

Conceiving of Christianity as a "worldview" has been one of the most significant events in the church in the last 150 years. In this new book David Naugle provides the best discussion yet of the history and contemporary use of worldview as a totalizing approach to faith and life. This informative volume first locates the origin of worldview in the writings of Immanuel Kant and surveys the rapid proliferation of its use throughout the English-speaking world. Naugle then provides the first study ever undertaken of the insights of major Western philosophers on the subject of worldview and offers an original examination of the role this concept has played in the natural and social sciences. Finally, Naugle gives the concept biblical and theological grounding, exploring the unique ways that worldview has been used in the Evangelical, Orthodox, and Catholic traditions. This clear presentation of the concept of worldview will be valuable to a wide range of readers.

Customer Reviews:

dissertation on intellectual history, followed by passion

By R. M. Williams "just an avid reader" - February 7, 2004

I bought the book several months back, started the first few chapters, and moved on to more pressing material. I finished the book as part of my expanded reading for an adult education class at our church on the topic of Christian worldviews. We know from the introduction that the book began as his PhD dissertation, i would suspect that this is the contents of chapters 1-8, which are just a little dry, factual presentation dominated by philosophers and their writings. Probably the best available introduction to the concepts revolving around 'world and life view', certainly well done and informative.But it is chapters 9 and 10 that really interest me. 9 is "Theological Reflections of 'Worldview' " and 10 is "Philosophical Reflections on 'Worldview'". These two chapters are worth the time to read the whole book and well worth an occasional reread in the future to keep the ideas fresh, warm and on the top of my thinking. So if you have just a few minutes to analyze... read more

Excellent Book on Different Worldviews

By D.P. "David Fahrenthold" - January 12, 2003

Having read this book for Dr. Naugle's Philosophy class, I got this book first hand. It was one of our textbooks for his class, and it was a hard read. It was his dissertation, and the language in it can tend to be obscure. He sets out to analyze various worldviews from various perspectives. Being distinctly Christian, Dr. Naugle has three chapters on various Christian worldviews (Chapters 1,2,9). But, his philosophical insights into it at just short of amazing. This is a tremendous book from a tremendous man (And when you get through with it you will definitely know what 'Weltanschauung' means!)

Worldview in the Disciplines

By Orville B. Jenkins "Research Guy" - March 2, 2009

This book is the author's exploration of the history and meaning of the term or concept of "worldview." Naugle surveys the history of the word and its use under various meanings, as defined or used in Philosophy, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Theology and Political Theory.

Story-Form Knowledge
Naugle points out the meaning of story forms in oral cultures, and indicates that the error of modern rationalist theories of knowledge is that they ignored the concept of narrative as the primary way all human societies talk about the wholeness of life and the unseen realities.

Concepts of rationality are also investigated. He determines that the concept of worldview is an epistemological question, and finds the Enlightenment linear, objective concept of knowledge as external is based on a mistaken notion that human reason can somehow get outside itself and stand outside its own worldview assumptions.

I found many of the formulations and concepts and... read more