Course Syllabus

Welcome to Christianity as a Worldview. This unit introduces you to worldview analysis, which is a philosophical framework for evaluating Christianity and other meta-narratives. A worldview is essentially a comprehensive ‘picture’ of the world based on certain fundamental assumptions about the nature of reality.

Worldview analysis argues that what we perceive in everyday life is always filtered through some worldview. Yet we often remain unaware of the assumptions that define our worldview. This unit will encourage critical interaction between the Christian worldview and your own worldview as you learn to examine the Christian tradition from the standpoint of worldview analysis and to identify and scrutinise the assumptions of your own worldview.

We will describe the worldview concept and its limitations, asking whether and in what sense Christianity can be usefully described as a worldview. To help you better understand what a worldview is, some influential alternatives to the Christian worldview will also be discussed. Lastly, attention

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

1. Describe the nature of a worldview.
2. Identify major criticisms of worldview analysis.
3. Define the fundamental elements of the Christian worldview.
4. Compare the leading features of the Christian worldview with those of other influential worldviews.
5. Explain how the Christian worldview applies to academic disciplines other than theology.
6. Explore the implications of their own worldview for their future professional lives.

Prescribed Reading

Sire, J. W. (2020). The universe next door: A basic worldview catalog. (6th ed.) InterVarsity Press. (pp. 1–34, 55–83, 134–155, 234–267).

Smart, S. (Ed.). (2016). A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life. 3rd ed. Blue Bottle. Chapters 7 or 10.

Assessment Schedule

1.    Weekly Reading Review

Students are required to write a review of the assigned readings from weeks 3 to 6 (i.e., four different reviews). Each review should be about 650 words. Each reading review is worth 7.5%, making a total of 30% of the final grade.
The review should 1) summarise the main point(s) of the reading and 2) evaluate whether you think the author(s) is correct in their presentation of the subject matter, outlining

2.    Reflective Essay

Students will write a reflective essay of approximately 1300–1500 words discussing two things:
1) The extent to which a Christian worldview is relevant to their professional life (e.g., education, business, science, health care, entertainment, food service, customer service, etc.).
2) Also, how encountering the Christian worldview has altered your actual worldview. (Your response may include articulating reasons to reject the application of a Christian worldview to this field of work or your life).

3.    Final Exam

A 2-hour final examination consisting of short answer questions.

Unit Reader

Consultation hours: by appointment, I am available for about one hour before or after each class.

Please email me with any questions. I will aim to reply within 24 hours (excluding weekends).