Worldview metaphors, and the term “worldview” itself, usually imply that the problem is one of vision. If we can just see everything properly, we will be fine. Education becomes the process of clearing the fog, cleaning the window, or selecting the correct glasses; we can fix our worldview by fixing our perspective. There is some truth to this idea, but it is deceptively simple to suggest (a) that we might grasp reality, or view the “world,” comprehensively and (b) that the problem is one of our “view” of things. These two implications of the optical imagery of worldview should be set aside.
We should instead think about worldview formation as a constructive process that is imperfect and incomplete, but nevertheless is reaching for something true. As Christians, we believe in a coherent reality that is accessible and orderly.
This orderly, accessible reality can be seen as a mosaic. It is the “world” in worldview. As learners and teachers, we have only an imperfect grasp of the larger mosaic. The mosaicist of the famous Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, built between AD 430 and 450, would have had a team of people helping him prepare the surfaces and cut and lay the tesserae. But this team of people would not necessarily have had much of an idea about the big picture of the mosaic. It was the mosaicist who held this pivotal information in his mind and on the master plan. So, while we might have some sense of the overall plan of the Christian worldview, as learners and teachers our view is limited. It is only God who possesses the entire, perfect view of reality. It is our job to try and ascertain the truth about that reality in whatever limited manner we can.
We should shift away from the common understanding of worldview and embrace one that is rooted in Christian critical realism. This entails a conviction that the overall mosaic is orderly, meaningful, and something we can find out about. The process of learning about the mosaic is inductive; that is, we learn piece by piece. We don’t start with a detailed account of reality and ascertain what we are supposed to make of all the details within this larger framework. The larger framework is skeletal in our own understanding, at best. We might see some of the master mosaicist’s etchings on the ceiling and the walls, and we might know that something beautiful is taking shape. We know there is a plan, and we can discern some limited aspects of that overall plan. But we don’t know much. And so our task as learners and educators is to build on the picture, to put together the different aspects of the mosaic, piece by piece, tile by tile. If your job is to teach chemistry, then teach chemistry as well as you can, with the best tools you can, to the glory of God. That is your job because your task fits into a bigger project.
Teachers and learners are part of a team of mosaic artists piecing together a Christian worldview. This is a wonderful thing because it means that educators don’t need to have mastered the whole mosaic. No one on earth has the job of the master artist. Educators are to grasp their own corner of reality as well as they can and then help others do the same. Students and learners obviously won’t have anywhere near a complete Christian worldview, and it is the same for educators. Teachers might have one corner or a couple of segments of the mosaic under their metaphorical control.
But at the end of the day, educators are not master artisans. No one, not even the brightest astrophysicist or the most brilliant philosopher, has the mosaic within his grasp. Rather, educators are working on their own segment and passing on their knowledge of that to others. The chemistry teacher can focus on fruitfulness in her own corner of the school curriculum, helping her students understand and love the chemical structures of God’s world through imparting the most credible scientific information she can. In doing this, she is helping students piece together their worldview through passing on wisdom, helping them discover the wisdom of the world. She doesn’t need to have a devotional element to her class, and she doesn’t need to spiritualize chemistry. Chemistry is already spiritual because the world is made by a Creator who designs and sustains all things. You don’t need to insert the worldview key into your chemistry curriculum to make it more Christian, because God is already there! And by teaching his truth you are already building the worldviews of your students.
Rather than seeing a worldview as a series of propositional statements, a formal philosophical framework, or even a mix of narratives and convictions, a worldview is built by growing in wisdom. This understanding of worldview reflects, in my view, the nature of God’s creation and our interaction with it. Rather than seeing ourselves as standing back from the world and “viewing” it, we must understand that we are embodied creatures who dwell and act in God’s world. Our thought and activity in the created order are reflective of a more or less accurate grasp of reality.
Wise people are those who have learned the ways of God, and the warp and woof of God’s world. They have also learned about themselves and how they relate to the world and God. They have become wise in the biblical sense because they can act in a way that the creation will be hospitable toward. They don’t necessarily have their worldview system worked out. Nor do they have all the answers to respond to modernist, pantheist, or new age claims about the world. What the wise person has is a well-ordered understanding of reality that shapes her actions, a view shaped by the wisdom that is held out to her in creation and the Scriptures.
Educators, be they pastors, parents, teachers, or lecturers, have the vital job of partnering with learners in the quest for wisdom. Christian educators join with students in building their Christian worldview mosaic by giving them tiles to place. Each tessera is a piece of wisdom that helps build the mosaic. Each piece of wisdom that is passed on to students helps them construct their Christian worldview. For mathematics teachers, the question isn’t “How do I teach this from a Christian perspective?” Rather, they ought to be asking “How do I make my students wise in mathematics?” Ancient history teachers should be asking “How do I help my students gain wisdom about the world and the human condition? And how can they learn from the historical examples I am presenting?” Simply teaching the facts of ancient history is a noble task, too, for history is the site and source of much wisdom.
Rather than forcing Christianity into the content, educators ought to ask how their teaching will help students think and act wisely in God’s world. How can this teaching enlighten the students’ understanding of the relationship between themselves and others? To recall Charlotte Mason’s language: what is it about this class that will help them take hold of the relations that exist in the world? Asking this kind of question can help educators align their content and their pedagogy with the aim of imparting wisdom, a wisdom that will build toward a Christian worldview.
Worldview is the goal of Christian education. For too long worldview has been seen as the means; it has been purported to be the way that students get a Christian education. Christian schools and colleges, along with apologetics and student ministries, all commonly claim to be teaching from a “Christian worldview” perspective. This implies there is a right way of viewing the world: the Christian way. The problem, according to many Christian thinkers, is that too often people are led astray into incorrect ways of thinking. They are led astray by the culture, media, and their non-believing friends or family, resulting in them having an un-Christian worldview. The proposed solution is to train people to think through everything from a Christian worldview perspective. In other words, the solution is to offer correctives to the false worldviews that are dominant around us. And one key way of doing that is to provide a Christian worldview education, an education that is filled with Christian worldview content. That is, in a nutshell, the old deductive way of thinking about Christian worldview education.
This is unhelpful and unworkable. The deductive approach to Christian worldview needs to be set aside, and instead we ought to embrace the inductive approach. Worldview is the goal. The Christian worldview ought to be the telos of Christian education. We want students to leave our institutions with worldviews that are more Christian than when they arrived. And to do that, we need to offer them wisdom instead of worldview. Worldview doesn’t work as a means, but it is a wonderful goal. Educators build the mosaic alongside the students, giving them wisdom tiles to place, and working with them toward the glorious vision of life that constitutes a Christian worldview. This is our core task as Christian educators. We are to partner with students in the construction of the mosaic of the Christian understanding of reality.
Excerpted with permission from Simon Kennedy's new book Against Worldview: Reimagining Christian Formation as Growth in Wisdom, available in December of 2024, now available for preorders.