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Beginning in the mid-1970s, the term “worldview” gradually became popular among evangelical and fundamentalist Christians as a result of the work of Francis A Schaeffer. He popularized the term through his best-selling books and films. This paper argues that in developing his thoughts about worldviews, Schaeffer appropriated earlier, and far more sophisticated, theories from Abraham Kuyper and Herman Dooyeweerd. The ideas of these men are explored to enable readers to understand the way evangelicals developed Schaeffer’s ideas. It is argued that they moved away from the way both Schaeffer and his mentors used the term. As a result, they lost sight of the fact that understanding worldviews was intended by Kuyper, Dooyeweerd, and Schaeffer to facilitate discussion between people holding very different views. Instead, worldview was turned into a propaganda device that enable people to avoid engagement with people and ideas they dislike. The paper concludes by suggesting that instead of dismissing Christians who employ worldview thinking for political purposes they ought to be challenged to develop a fuller understanding of worldview and confronted with the insights of Kuyper and Dooyeweerd upon which Schaeffer built his ideas. https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.88.1.2523

The need for apologetic equipment already in preschool catechesis. From a young age, children are busy making sense of the world around them. Their worldview is formed by influences and/or guidance and their own intrinsic participation. With the availability of information provided by the media in the 21st century, Christian children are exposed to not only a Christian worldview, but also to other dominating worldviews. This exposure can have a negative effect on the formation of a Christian worldview if not treated correctly. When leading Christian researchers assume the prerequisite that pre-school children do not have the ability to grasp aspects of faith due to their so-called inability for Abstrak thoughts, the results will be the underemphasis, neglect and even disapproval of equipment in terms of a Christian biblical worldview. The result of this view is that non-biblical worldviews will dominate and shape Christian children’s thoughts from an early age, while there is little to no equipment guiding them. This occurs notwithstanding that the Word of God demands believers to educate their children and to equip them from an early age with the necessary foundational tools and resources. Apologetical equipment in the understanding of God, man and the world ought to be part of this education in faith that leads to a biblical and Christian worldview from a young age. Contribution: In their first six years, children form important concepts and presuppositions that could influence and affect the rest of their lives. Especially also through the stories they watch and listen to, they are confronted with conflicting ideas and concepts from which they must make sense. Sufficient apologetic and catechetical resources on the cognitive level of pre-school children should be provided to parents and educators of these children. These materials of which worldviews should be an integral part of, can and should guide these young believers in the consideration of conflicting ideas and even the defence of what they believe.

This study aimed to provide an in-depth description and interpretation of African Roman Catholic Church priests’ experiences integrating African and Western worldviews into their lives and works as Roman Catholic Church priests through the lens of Jungian constructs. Fifteen African priests were purposely selected and interviewed in depth. Additional sources of data were reflexive notes and observation notes. Data were subjected to various iterative cycles of analysis. Most participants (80%) indicated that, in one way or another, they were experiencing conflict in terms of the cultural values of manhood and Roman Catholic Church prescription. Findings suggest that a more concerted and serious effort should be undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church to support and guide its priests on a path of healing, which includes the priests risking cultural openness and being true to themselves and God.

This article starts from the realisation that a few different approaches to science and scholarship are implemented within different Christian traditions. In an attempt at identifying the reasons behind such differences, it is argued that the approach to science and scholarship adopted in each Christian tradition corresponds to a considerable extent to the worldview accepted in that tradition. In this article, several versions of the main Christian worldviews are identified and related to the work of authors (e.g. Murphy, the Theonomic movement, Barbour, Van Huyssteen, Wolterstorff) who were not discussed in previous works on this topic. The possibility of ‘mixing’ the worldviews (thus adopting an eclectic approach) is also discussed. The proposed taxonomy may be used to understand at a deeper level both individual authors and trends, and also to sketch a ‘map’ of the different movements, contributors and available options. It is argued that the different worldviews are not equally valuable and that the reformational worldview should be regarded as more integrally and originally biblical. The article ends with a call to consistency for the sake of sound Christian scholarship.

This article investigated the traditional typology of Christian worldviews from the perspective of the Christian philosopher, D.H.Th. Vollenhoven (1892−1978). The usual categorisation started by Niebuhr (in 1951), and adopted by some Reformational scholars afterwards, is questioned as too simplistic, forcing Christian thinkers and schools of thought into five pigeonholes. Worldviews − including the Christian ones − are complex phenomena. They should not be considered, for example, as merely logical systems or aesthetic ’stories’. Vollenhoven’s systematic philosophy and historiography of philosophy (his thetical-critical approach) can provide some clues for a new way to describe different Christian worldviews, as well as to arrive at the outlines of a more radical and comprehensive Christian worldview based on God's threefold creational, inscripturated and incarnated revelation.