Recommended Reading On the Biblical Worldview
There is an urgent need in the church today for Christians to think biblically – about all things. We need to form a solid and coherent biblical worldview in other words. Too often believers think just as worldings do, instead of seeking to think God’s thoughts after him. Charles Colson explains:
“Understanding Christianity as a worldview is important not only for fulfilling the great commission but also for fulfilling the cultural commission – the call to create a culture under the lordship of Christ. God cares not only about redeeming souls but also about restoring his creation. He calls us to be agents not only of his saving grace but also of his common grace. Our job is not only to build up the church but also to build a society to the glory of God. Evangelism and cultural renewal are both divinely ordained duties. God exercises his sovereignty in two ways: through saving grace and common grace. . . . As agents of God’s common grace, we are called to help sustain and renew his creation, to uphold the created institutions of family and society, to pursue science and scholarship, to create works of art and beauty, and to heal and help those suffering from the results of the Fall.”
We are involved in a war of ideas: a worldview war. As William Lane Craig stated, “Evangelicals have been living on the periphery of responsible intellectual existence. The average Christian does not realize that there is an intellectual war going on in the universities and in the professional journals and scholarly societies. Christianity is being attacked from all sides as irrational or outmoded, and millions of students, our future generation of leaders, have absorbed this viewpoint. This is a war which we cannot afford to lose.”
With that in mind I offer the following bibliography which deals with such things as truth, worldviews, and Christian analysis of religion and thought. For those wanting more specific recommendations, let me highlight a few authors who are always worthwhile in this regard: Colson, Geisler, Moreland, Noebel, Schaeffer, Sire and Zacharias. Here then are 66 titles for starters:
Anderson, J.N.D., Christianity and Comparative Religion. IVP, 1971.
Anderson, Norman, ed., The World’s Religions. Eerdmans, 1976.
Beckwith, Francis, William Craig and J.P. Moreland, To Everyone an Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview. IVP, 2004.
Bertrand, J. Mark, (Re)thinking Worldview. Crossway Books, 2007.
Breese, Dave, Seven Men Who Rule From the Grave. Scripture Press, 1990.
Brown, Colin, Christianity and Western Thought, vol. 1. Apollos, 1990.
Brown, Colin, Philosophy and the Christian Faith. Tyndale Press, 1969.
Burnett, David, Clash of Worlds. Monarch, 2002.
Carson, D.A., The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism. Zondervan, 1996.
Clendenin, Daniel, Many Gods, Many Lords: Christianity Encounters World Religions. Baker, 1995.
Colson, Charles, How Now Shall We Live? Tyndale, 1999.
Corduan, Winfried, A Tapestry of Faiths. IVP, 2002.
Cosgrove, Mark, Foundations of Christian Thought. Kregal, 2006.
Eckman, James, The Truth about Worldviews. Crossway Books, 2004.
Geisler, Norman and William Watkins, Worlds Apart: A Handbook on World Views. Baker, 1984, 1989.
Goheen, Michael and Craig Barthlomew, Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview. Baker, 2008.
Guinness, Os, The Dust of Death. Inter-Varsity Press, 1973.
Guinness, Os, Time for Truth. Baker, 2000.
Hasker, William, Metaphysics: Constructing a World View. Inter-Varsity Press, 1983.
Henderson, David, Culture Shift: Communicating God’s Truth to our Changing World. Baker, 1998.
Hicks, Peter, Evangelicals and Truth. IVP, 1998.
Hoffecker, W. Andrew, ed., Revolutions in Worldview. P&R, 2007.
Holmes, Arthur, All Truth is God’s Truth. Inter-Varsity Press, 1977.
Holmes, Arthur, Contours of a World View. Eerdmans, 1983.
Holmes, Arthur, Faith Seeks Understanding. Eerdmans, 1971.
Kostenberger, Andreas, ed., Whatever Happened to Truth? Crossway Books, 2005.
Kreeft, Peter, A Refutation of Moral Relativism. Ignatius, 1999.
Lightner, Robert, The God of the Bible and Other Gods. Kregal, 1998.
Lindsley, Art, True Truth: Defending Absolute Truth in a Relativistic World. IVP, 2004.
Long, Zeb Bradford and Douglas McMurry, The Collapse of the Brass Heaven: Rebuilding our Worldview to Embrace the Power of God. Chosen Books, 1994.
McAndrew, Stephen, Why It Doesn’t Matter What You Believe If It’s Not True. DeepRiver books, 2012.
MacArthur, John, The Truth War. Thomas Nelson, 2007.
Macarthur, John, ed., Think Biblically: Recovering a Christian Worldview. Crossway Books, 2003.
McDowell, Josh and Don Stewart, Understanding Secular Religions. Here’s Life Publishers, 1982.
Moreland, J.P. and W.L. Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. IVP, 2003.
Moseley, N. Allan, Thinking Against the Grain: Developing a Biblical Worldview in a Culture of Myths. Kregal, 2003.
Nash, Ronald, Is Jesus the Only Savior? Zondervan, 1994.
Nash, Ronald, Life’s Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. Zondervan, 1999.
Nash, Ronald, Worldviews in Conflict. Zondervan, 1992.
Naugle David K., Worldview: The History of a Concept. Eerdmans, 2002.
Netland, Harold, Dissonant Voices: Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth. Eerdmans, 1991.
Newbigin, Lesslie, The Finality of Christ. SCM Press, 1969.
Newbigin, Lesslie, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Eerdmans, 1989.
Neill, Stephen, Christian Faith and Other Faiths. Oxford University Press, 1970.
Noebel, David, The Battle for Truth. Harvest House, 2001.
Noebel, David, Understanding the Times: The Religious Worldviews of Our Day and the Search for Truth. Harvest House, 1991, 1995, 2006.
Noebel, David and Chuck Edwards, Thinking Like a Christian: Understanding and Living a Biblical Worldview. Broadman and Holman, 2002.
Palmer, Michael, Elements of a Christian Worldview. Logion, 1998.
Pearcey, Nancy, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity. Crossway Books, 2004.
Phillips, W. Gary and William Brown, Making Sense of Your World From a Biblical Viewpoint. Moody, 1991.
Samples, Kenneth Richard, A World of Difference. Baker, 2007.
Schaeffer, Francis, How Should We Then Live? Revell, 1976.
Scott, Brad, Streams of Confusion. Crossway, 1999.
Sire, James, Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept. IVP, 2004.
Sire, James, The Universe Next Door. Inter-Varsity Press, 1976.
Sire, James, Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All? Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
Sproul, R.C., Consequences of Ideas. Crossway, 2000.
Sunshine, Glenn, Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews. Zondervan, 2009.
Tennent, Timothy, Christianity at the Religious Roundtable. Baker, 2002.
Walsh, Brian and Richard Middleton, Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View. Inter-Varsity Press, 1984.
Wells, David, No Place for Truth; or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? Eerdmans, 1993.
Wilkens, Steve and Alan Padgett, Christianity and Western Thought, vol. 2. IVP, 2000.
Wilkens, Steve and Alan Padgett, Christianity and Western Thought, vol. 3. IVP, 2009.
Wilkens, Steve and Mark Sanford, Hidden Worldviews. IVP, 2009.
Wolters, Albert, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview. Eerdmans, 1985.
Wright, Chris, Thinking Clearly About the Uniqueness of Jesus. Monarch, 1997.
Zacharias, Ravi, Cries of the Heart. Word, 1998.
Zacharias, Ravi, Deliver Us From Evil. Word, 1996.
Zacharias, Ravi, Jesus Among Other Gods. Word, 2000.
Happy reading!
[1123 words]
Awesome list. Thanks. Will get onto it.
Jenna Priest
People who are interested in this might want to check out The Truth Project from Focus on the Family, a video course taught by Del Tackett which covers these very topics and includes video segments from a number of the authors you’ve listed above. We’re attending this course at our church here in Manila right now and so far it’s been very helpful.
Tim Badger
Thanks Tim
Yes see my review of it here:
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2007/07/15/a-review-of-the-truth-project-presented-by-dr-del-tackett/
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Thanks Bill for your insights and your informative articles.
Gerredina Kovac
Many thanks Gerredina
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Impressive list. Thanks Bill. MacArthur is the only author I know on that list who will defend six-day creation some 6,000 years ago. Curious blind spot in our biblical apologists. I can’t see that a consistent Christian worldview is possible with the fossil record and its millions of years of death, suffering and disease placed long before Adam and Eve.
Tas Walker
Onya Tas! Very important point.
Here is a good place to get into Biblical Worldview
http://www.newgeneva.us
Lance A Box
I really appreciate your book lists.
What are your thoughts on teaching Christian worldview to children? I felt like my family did well in that regard with my upbringing just through thorough conversation over the years, but I did (and probably still do) have some gaps.
The Westminster confession has been suggested to me in the past. Any thoughts?
Lauren Hughes
Thanks Lauren
Yes nothing wrong with starting this early on with children. And there are resources available. As just one example, Chuck Colson did a volume for young people covering worldview issues:
http://www.amazon.com/Tough-Questions-about-Faith-Life/dp/1414312970/ref=la_B001H6W7KM_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1345553813&sr=1-15
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Thanks for your recommendation for children. I have two very young ones so I will be looking for resources soon.
I would add to your list Nancy Pearcey’s latest. I thoroughly enjoyed it;
Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning
http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Leonardo-Secular-Assault-Meaning/dp/1433669277/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345603104&sr=1-2&keywords=Pearcey
Damien Spillane
I don’t mean to be glib, Bill, but what about the Bible itself?
There’s nothing like reading the Bible sympathetically (i.e. as a believer) to form a Biblical worldview. And reading all these books surely means less time actually reading the Bible, which is the most pressing need among Christians in these times. I would also suggest that, along with lectio continua (reading scripture more or less in historical sequnce), framing one’s devotional life within one of the historic Western lectionaries and orthodox Protestant liturgical traditions can go a long way in forming a Biblical worldview. For me that tradition is Lutheran, but the Anglican Book of Common Prayer would also serve Anglicans and Reformed well. I’m less familiar with Reformed resources in this area, I’m afraid. And after that there are the catholic creeds and confessional statements of your church body. Again, for me that is the Lutheran Book of Concord, but the 39 Articles of Faith, the Westminster Confession, etc would serve the same purpose for others. Finally, instructing children in the catechism of their denomination is indispensable.
Mark Henderson
Thanks Mark
It goes without saying of course that the Bible is the first and primary book to be read, and read every day. And it is not a case of either/or but both/and: we should be reading both the Bible and other good works, as time permits.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Glad to see we agree, Bill (never thought otherwise!).
I didn’t mean to imply that secondary literature should not be read, only that it is just that: secondary. As it happens I have read many of the books on your list over the years. The one I would recommend over all the others, especially for theology students or theologically aware lay people is the diachronic series of essays edited by Hoffecker, ‘Revolutions in Worldview’, precisely because of its historical approach (there is a great lack of historical consciousness in the Protestant churches today) and its clarity.
Mark Henderson
Tas
The majority of Christianity’s most able defenders don’t see the age of the earth as a critical issue the way CMI/AIG do (thank goodness).
Damien Spillane
thank God for Creation Ministries, they have not compromised the Word of God on the age of the earth and have some of the best teachers on the subject…
Liz Gee
Bill,thanks for another great article.
Stan Fishley
On the age of the earth issue, maybe the fact that (in the West at least) the church is losing the worldview war to the evolutionary (secular) humanists, may indicate that there really is a “blind spot” as Tas calls it. The secular creation story of evolution over millions and billions of years is largely going unchallenged due to this blind spot and the result is that Christianity is losing its influence on the culture.
Ewan McDonald, Victoria.
Really great list Bill. I was recently introduced to a classic that I think needs to be added to the list:
Niebuhr, H. R. (2001/1951). Christ & Culture. New York, NY: HarperSanFrancisco.
Really helped me to put the discussion in Christian circles about the various views of worldview into perspective.
Lance A Box
Thanks Lance
Yes I speak to it here, at least indirectly.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch