It was an optional assignment, but I realized I needed to read it since the words "biblical worldview" never come up in my daily life as a public school teacher.
So I hope you find it helpful. Michael In this essay Christian TheismNaturalism and Humanism will be described, compared and contrasted. In this essay however I will briefly define these worldviews and then consider how these worldviews answer the question about human origins and identity, the purpose of life, and some of the ways they impact both individuals and the professional world of teaching.
Naturalists, by contrast, believe that human rationality and empirical methods are the only reliable ways to know things. The beliefs of humanists on epistemology vary, as there are different kinds of humanists.
Humanism also makes human happiness, art, culture, thought and development the central goal or purpose of life. Some streams of postmodernist thought are also essentially humanist Bartholomew and Goheen,p.
Naturalism as a philosophical system denies the existence of a Creator and the world of spirits. Matter exists eternally and is all there is.
God does not exist. So the Naturalists are free to choose whatever ethical system appeals to their own minds. Both these branches of Naturalism seek to exclude the Bible as an authority in the public sphere of life. This means that man is a spirit with godlike characteristics of consciousness, rationality, emotion and volition.
Naturalism has no room for such concepts. For Schaeffer, this validates the exploration of human culture as developed by sinful people. The Bible teaches that God intervenes in human affairs at times to work justice and salvation, so prayer has value Romans Christians and Christian educators will therefore give time for prayer and communicating the biblical story.
The Naturalist and thus the Secular Humanist believe that man came about through unguided naturalistic processes, probably some form of Darwinian evolution.
Though I was taught this at school and university I find this implausible and some of my reasons - such as the mathematical unlikelihood of it - are given elsewhere Fackerell, M. The naturalist sees no point in praying because for him there is no God to answer or intervene. They are not usually impressed by the multitudes of Christian testimonies to answered prayer, because following David Hume their minds are shut on the issue, being committed to the assumptions of philosophical materialism which a priori rule out the spiritual dimension of mankind or the universe.
Some humanists might see prayer as having limited value based on some kind of placebo effect or personal reflection opportunity, but most would not think there is Someone Important listening to prayer.
The person who is principally a humanist is always thinking about human concerns, pleasures, culture and values. Humanists are concerned with making the world a better place - by human efforts.
The presence of the former but absence of the latter in the Australian Curriculum website also supports this Australiancurriculum. Convinced naturalists, believing that God does not exist, generally see Christianity as a harmful superstition which has no place in an enlightened education system, and in the west there is an often unspoken social pressure to leave God out of the discussion.
Christian Theists, Naturalists and Humanists may all engage in cultural, educational and philanthropic enterprises but for different reasons. Humanism is where mainstream consensus is in Western Society. It overlaps with both Naturalism and Christian Theism.However, I do appreciate the book “Steppingstones to Curriculum” by Harro van Brummelen.
In this book he touches on many key concepts. True Christian education should begin with an understanding that the Lordship of Jesus Christ applies to every area of life.
Gospel and Globalization – Table of Contents. Table of Contents. Preface. Introduction – Michael W. Goheen and Erin G. Glanville Globalization, Economics, and the Modern Worldview – Bob Goudzwaard. Globalization and the Logic of Capitalism – Paul Spencer Williams and Discipleship – Harro Van Brummelen.
The World is Your. A Curriculum Orientation for Christian Educators Harro Van Brummelen, discipleship, curriculum orientation Introduction In his Steppingstones to Curriculum: A Biblical Path, Harro Van Brummelen () grounded in a secular worldview framework (pp. 26–36); (c) when Christian edu -.
Note: Citations are based on reference standards. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study.
The specific requirements or preferences of your reviewing publisher, classroom teacher, institution or organization should be applied. About the Author. Harro Van Brummelen is the Dean of Education at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
He has lectured on and taught Christian approaches to learning, teaching, and curriculum planning throughout the English-speaking world and Europe. Get this from a library! Steppingstones to curriculum: a biblical path. [Harro W Van Brummelen] -- Throughout this book, the author links curriculum foundations with many actual school and .