This first definition is from Wikipedia. And it's a very broad definition. And this talks about society very broadly a comprehensive worldview or worldview, and I include both spellings there because both spellings are corrected, there is not a one way or another way of spelling. So but a comprehensive worldview is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point of view. And in this case, the society is the broad definition of society, the community, that you belong to the community groups, the country that you live in the associations that you might belong to. So for example, for myself, I'm in Australia So it is my Australian community.

I belong to a church or it's my church community. And I belong to a number of other institutions. I work at a university. So all of these impact on and have an influence on and are influenced by my worldview. According to Crampton and bacon, who, right at this come at this from a Presbyterian perspective, they state that a worldview is a set of beliefs, a system of thoughts about the most important issues of life, it deals with the following four most basic elements were tenets, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and politics. Let's unpack those words a little bit because you're going to come across those words.

Time and again over the next three sessions. epistemology question here is, how does epistemology actually influence our worldview? Well, epistemology is about the theory of knowledge. How do we know what we know? What is the standard of truth? is truth?

In fact, a relative? is knowledge about God even possible? Can God reveal things to human beings? And if so, how? responding to these questions, and how we respond to these questions will already give us an insight into what our worldview is. The next question is around metaphysics, metaphysics is the theory of reality.

And it would look at questions such as Why are we here? Why are things what they are? Why is there something rather than nothing? How can there be unity amidst diversity in this universe is the world A creation or is it just a brute fact? Are we just here because of a big bang? And is there a fact of purpose in the universe?

How you answer these questions and how you respond to these questions will already start to give you some insights about how you view reality and creation. The next question is around ethics. And ethics concerns itself with one how one should live. It is the study of right and wrong thoughts or words and deeds. And we ask ourselves the question, what is the standard of ethics? How should I live?

Are there in fact right and wrong thoughts, words or deeds? Is there an absolute law by which every man must conform or to which every man must conform? Is there a logical reason for us to ask why someone ought to do this or that is more relative relative to individuals and cultures or historical periods? Does morality actually transcend these boundaries? These are repeat questions in today's world, and how you respond to them will actually govern your behavior in some of these areas in the area of morality in your culture. The final question of the four, Crampton and bacon questions is around politics.

And we know that politics is that branch of philosophy, which has to do with a theory of government, from the Greek word political, it has to do with the process of making decisions apply to all the members of each group. And we might ask ourselves, sort of the type of questions What kind of government is the right sort? And this could be government in terms of our countries, our nations, our cultures, but even in terms of our education, for example, is it right to Have a private education or should we have a public education? What kind of government is the correct one? Should government be limited? What are the rights of the citizens within that government?

And where does the family unit fit into this notion of government? What is the role of the church? How you answer these questions will reflect your worldview, in your areas of how you view government, but also how you view the role of the family and how you view the role of the church. These are important ideas to think about in terms of our current culture, and the questions that are being raised in the media on a day to day basis. Why should Middleton give a very broad definition of a worldview? Thanks back that a worldview is in fact a vision of life.

But more than that, a vision for life. I will view determines our values and it helps us to interpret The world around us, in a sense, a model of the world which guides us to the world. And it is not just individual, according to Washington Delta, in their book, the transforming vision. In fact, they say, very likely other definitions that we've seen already, is that our worldview is impacted by much that goes on around us, our societies, our communities, our faith. All of these things impact our worldview. And we may see that in something like the following diagram, this diagram shows the interrelationships of the worldview with culture.

Everything that we do arises out of and is directed by our worldview. This is what makes all our differences hang together, informs us and how we raise our children what kind of health care we receive how Engage in economic transactions. All of these are one piece precisely because they're all guided by our one worldview, how we view our politics, as we said, our religious institutions, how we deal with the arts, or are impacted by our worldview, whether we are aware of this or not. And the arrows on our diagram go both ways, because these are not only rooted in our worldview, but we also orient our life in terms of that broad view. So our environmental concerns impact our worldview, and our worldview impacts how we deal with our environmental concerns. But what forms the basis of our worldview according to option Milton, in their text, the transforming vision, and I have included the readings for this are linked to the readings for this in the notes that go along with this session.

They say that it is our ultimate faith commitment which sets the contours of our worldview. Now, in case you think this is only for Christians, a reminder that all humans are, in fact, faith in gender and beings. And faith is an essential part of human life, whether we acknowledge that or not. And where we place our faith, whether it's a Christian faith or a different faith determines the worldview, which we will adopt. So, in fact, it shapes our vision of life, for our way of life. So what is a faith commitment?

How do we know what this is? Again, from Wolf and Middleton, our face commitment can be determined by the way that we answer the next four questions that I'm going to show you. Now this is a set of four questions that everyone faces at some point, regardless of their religious or non religious background. Answering These questions will help you to begin to understand your reality, make sense of who you are, and where you belong. As you go through the next few slides, write the questions down, because our very first activity will be to actually create a response to these questions. The first question is, who am I?

What is the nature, task and purpose of human beings? Next question is, where am I? What is the nature of the world and the universe I live in? The third question is, what's wrong? How do I understand evil A final question is, what is the remedy? How do I find salvation?

Now it is your turn, have a go at drafting your worldview. I ask that you begin by reflecting on how you would ask the thick of four questions on the previous slide. And I have deliberately not enlarged on the information of those questions, because I really want you to just have a go at responding them for yourself.