The Christian will come away with a perhaps newfound appreciation for the strength, beauty, and rigor of the Christian worldview. Certainly, as I mentioned earlier, this is a book every church, college ministry, youth ministry, or camp should have in abundance and give away freely and regularly. What’s Your Worldview? is winsome and well informed, direct but engaging, and stands out as an industry standard in perhaps the most overcrowded industry in evangelicalism. 
James N. Anderson. What’s Your Worldview? An Interactive Approach to Life’s Big Questions. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 112pp. $10.99

To say that books on worldviews are something of a cottage industry in evangelical circles would immediately stand me in good stead for the “Understatement of the Year” award. Moreover, we have moved beyond books on worldview and are now treated to worldview churches, worldview conferences, and worldview schools. Now, this is not at all a bad thing; Christians, particularly those of us who believe that presuppositional apologetics (with its emphasis on worldviews) is the best way to defend the faith, should rejoice that so many people are interested in comparing worldviews. But there is also the danger that the term worldview will be used so often and applied so broadly that it will be emptied of any meaning.

With this caution in mind, we can surely sympathize with the perplexed churchgoer who logs on to Amazon and searches for books on worldview. “Where do I start?” he mutters in disbelief at the thousands of pages his search returns. He quickly learns that the literature is vast. Somewhat incredulously, he rolls his eyes as James Anderson’s latest book, What’s Your Worldview? comes across the search page. “Do we really need another book on worldview?” he wonders.

In answer to both the fictional perplexed churchgoer and the few others who will read this review, the answer is very simply an emphatic yes. In fact, Anderson’s work might be the best brief worldview book to date. That’s quite a claim, so let me attempt to make good on it by way of a concise review of this book.

What’s Your Worldview? represents a unique offering in the crowded marketplace of worldview books. While other titles are more in-depth, others aimed at a more scholarly audience, and still others more popularly written, none of them employ the same presentation as Anderson’s work. Dusting off (for those of us under 60) the old “choose your own ending” mystery novel format, Anderson walks the reader through different “endings” based on one’s answers to various worldview-ish questions. Accordingly, the book is divided into three parts: questions, categories, and worldviews. At the outset, Anderson makes clear that all of us–including him–have a worldview and that his (Christianity) will not be difficult to discern throughout the book (pp.15-16). But Anderson also points out that this fact does not make his work “biased” in the pejorative sense of that word, but simply illustrates the main thrust of the book; namely, the inescapability of worldviews and the necessity of holding to one self-consciously.

As an example of this format, Anderson invites the reader to ask “The Knowledge Question” on p.22. Simply put, the reader is asked whether or not it is possible to know the truth. If she answers negatively, Anderson shows how she has selected for a worldview called “Skepticism.” He then explains, in a page or two, what this worldview entails, as well as some of the problems that result from adopting a skeptical stance. If the problems with a chosen worldview prove too much for the reader to bear, she can turn back to the page 22 and reconsider her answer to the knowledge question.

Read More

[Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]