65 pages • 2 hours read
James SireThe Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog
Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 1976A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary: “Building a Christian Worldview for the Twenty-First Century: A Work in Progress”
In the final chapter, Sire provides an update from the vantage point of 2020 of what has happened in society to shape worldviews since 1978, when the book was first published. He discusses four major issues in contemporary culture.
- The rise of the LGBTQ movement has challenged traditional notions of “what it means to be a full and proper human being” as regards issues of sexuality and gender identity (278), while the rise of transhumanism has challenged ideas about the relationship between human beings in technology. Christian theists must meet these challenges with understanding, taking into account both theological and practical concerns.
- Atheistic naturalism has had a resurgence, as seen in the writings of a number of “evangelistic apologists for atheism” (281). Christian theists need to take the lead in clarifying “the definition of science and its relationship to Christian faith” (279). They must emphasize that science is a method, not a worldview, and is compatible with Christian theism. Christians, however, should be prepared to be met with hostility by many in the scientific community who assume a naturalist worldview. Sire provides capsule summaries of the views of three atheistic naturalist writers: Paul Churchland, Merlin Donald, and Bryan Magee.
- Television and popular media have led to negative “shifts in moral and social norms” (284), especially among young people, of which Christian theists need to be aware: “How will you build a worldview if you are consumed by the spirit of the age?” (284).
- Although we are now threatened with nuclear war, we must not give in to “fear of the future” but instead maintain hope in God and Christ (284).
To conclude, Sire recommends sources of reading to help Christian believers refine their worldview and keep current with major issues, keeping in mind that there will be “tough spots” in our thinking that may take time to resolve. Ultimately, says Sire, prayer, scripture reading, worship, and a faithful hope are more important than all “worldview thinking.”
Chapter 12 Analysis
The final chapter is an exhortation to Christian students and evangelists in confronting a contemporary culture that is often opposed to Christian theism. The opposing views are most often naturalist and postmodernist in character. Contemporary society also poses unique moral and spiritual problems touching the core of what it means to be human, which require both moral clarity and human understanding in responding to them. Sire emphasizes that intellectual subtlety and human sympathy—reflecting the Christian belief in love and respect for all as well as Sire’s belief in The Need to Live the Examined Life—must both be part of Christians’ response to these challenges.
In this chapter, Sire is writing as a Christian to fellow Christians, and in particular as someone familiar with the academic world and the challenges it poses to traditional beliefs. These challenges include a new body of popular literature aggressively pushing an atheistic or naturalistic viewpoint, the hostility of many professors, and a popular culture that gleefully flies in the face of cherished norms. However, Sire expresses his confidence that works of “Christian philosophy” can provide sophisticated defenses of belief for believers to use. Sire implies that many opponents to Christian theism do not understand why they are opposed to it, and this provides an opening for making a persuasive argument. Sire’s book is a contribution in this direction.
At the book’s conclusion, Sire emphasizes the need for readers to cultivate a rich spiritual life, from which their evangelistic efforts will grow; such spiritual resources are even more essential than an intensive study of worldviews. This echoes Sire’s revised definition of worldview as encompassing an “orientation of the heart” instead of merely a set of intellectual commitments (xii). Ultimately, the evangelist’s work must be rooted in faith and hope because this expresses the core theistic conviction.
Although the book has been filled with closely argued reasoning about truth, in the closing pages Sire admits—without making any qualifications about Christian Theism as the Most Coherent and Viable Worldview—that many questions are open and we must continue to search for truth and find solutions to problems to the best of our abilities. This ends the book on a note of openness and humility, qualities Sire had earlier stressed as fundamental to the worldview quest.
