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!
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