Worldview Definitions

There are some scholars who define worldview in relation to commitment

of the heart and mind. And these worldview definitions divide into four scholars
are Secular, Christian, Evangelical and also Islamic scholar.

For example define is James W. Sire, he was define a worldview as a

commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, ……. about the basic
constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and
move and have our being.1 And form Secular definition, Wilhelm Dilthey said that
there is common reality and human nature. So, he define worldview as a set of
mental categories arising from deeply lived experience which essentially
determines how a person understands, feels, and responds in actions to what he
perceives of the surrounding world and the riddle it presents.2 According to
Friedrich Nietzsche worldview as a product of its time, place and culture.3 And
other secular definition, Ludwig Wittgenstein said that worldview is a way of
thinking about reality.4 Michel Foucault define worldview are merely the
linguistic constructions of power elite. They are facades (mask) of an absentee
reality, and functions as effective means of social oppression.5

These definitions from Christian thinkers perspective, such as James Orr,

he define worldview as view of things in general which is attacked, and it is by an
exposition and vindication of the Christian view of things as a whole that the
attack can be met.6 Abraham Kuyper has present that worldview as a

1
James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door, Fifth Edition , (USA: InterVarsity Press,
2009), p.20
2
James W. Sire, Naming the Elephant Worldview As A Concept, (USA: InterVarsity
Press), p.26-27
3
Ibid, p.28
4
Ibid, p.30
5
Ibid, p.31, see also David Naugle, Worldview: The History of a Concept,(Grand Rapids,
Mich: Eerdmans, 2002), p.184
6
Ibid, p.32, see James Orr, The Christian Views of God and The World, (Grand Rapids.
Mich: Eerdmans, 1945), p. 4
comprehensive worldview, an all-embracing life system.7 Also Christian
worldview thinkers as Herman Dooyeweerd define worldview as not philosophic
systems, rather they are pretheoretical commitments and are in direct contact not
so much with the mind, but with the heart.8

And from Evangelical definitions, we found Canadian philosopher as

James Olthuis he define worldview as a framework or sets of fundamental beliefs
through which we view the world and our calling and future in it. This vision is a
channel for the ultimate beliefs which give direction and meaning to life.9 In
Canadian theologian Albert M.Wolters similarly defines worldview more simply
as a matter of the shared everyday experience of humankind or since scientific
knowing is always dependent on the intuitive knowing of human everyday
experience.10 And the worldview concept of Ronald Nash, he defines as a set of
beliefs about the most important issues of life. It is a conceptual scheme by which
we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which
we interpret and judge reality.11 A Philosopher John H. Kok’s worldview
definition is one comprehensive framework of basic beliefs about things, it is one
ready to live and die for, it is also more than a collection of concepts, a since – of
God, the world, life, human nature, neighbor, oneself – that has become second
nature.12

7
Ibid, p.33
8
Ibid, p.35
9
Ibid, p.36
10
Ibid, p.37, see Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a
Reformational Worldview, (Grand Rapids. Mich: Eerdmans, 1985), p.29
11
Ibid, p.37-38
12
Ibid, p. 38, see John H.Kok, Learning to Teach from Within a Christian Prespectiv,(Pro
Rege, June 2003), p.12-14