The Impact of Worldview on Psychology and Christianity: A Discussion

This assignment delves into the multifaceted concept of worldview, exploring its definition and significant implications across various domains. It examines different worldviews, including Naturalism, Animism, Far Eastern views, Theism, and Relational Revelation, highlighting their core beliefs and the impact on individual actions and cultural values. The paper further analyzes how worldview shapes one's understanding of God, the Bible, and related concepts such as creation, sin, and redemption. Part 2 of the assignment investigates the interaction between worldview and one's perspective on psychology and Christianity, supported by citations from relevant texts and scripture. The analysis emphasizes how worldview influences attitudes, thinking processes, emotions, and belief systems, particularly within the context of Christianity. The paper concludes by reinforcing the importance of worldview as a fundamental framework that shapes individual beliefs, behaviors, and interpretations of the world.

DB1-THREAD PROMPT

PART 1
What is a worldview and what are implications of a worldview?
The term worldview is somewhat self-evident. It can be regarded as an intellectual
perspective about the universe or the world known as Weltanschauung in German, one
worldwide lies at one's heart of knowledge (Cho, Malahlela & Ramoelo, 2015). A worldview
is a compilation of beliefs regarding the fundamental parts of reality that take forms a base
for an individual's actions.
According to DeWitt (2018), Naturalism is the worldview of believing that, the only
thing existing is enteral and evolving and that thing is matter. While forming a group, this
assumption implies that the members decide the values and behaviour to be followed by them
keeping their personal need in mind. With changes in the situation, the worldview believes
that there is no reason to not change the cultural elements. The only focus is placed on
morality.
Animism is another worldview that assumes that the universe is made up of material
and immaterial parts, believing in the existence of spirits. Individuals with such a world view
believe in leading a simple life one day at a time while accepting things as they are.
Far Eastern view believes in the composition of the universe to be impersonal
substance and all other things existing is formed from that substance (Spangenberg, 2016).
They have a strong belief in God and his presence in everything. The implication of this view
can be related to the cultures promoting passivism.
Theism believes in God to be Creator along with Sustainer who is transcendent and
infinite (Van der Walt, 2015). The individuals with such a type of worldview tend to follow
the moral order in a rigid way and are of the opinion that things should be as they have been
prescribed.
The last type is relational revelation who believe in the presence of an infinite,
transcendent and personal God who is the Creator (Cho, Malahlela & Ramoelo, 2015). This
view leads to people prioritizing a personal relation with God and is motivated in their
actions by that.

How might one’s worldview interact with one’s understanding of God, the Bible (inerrancy
of scripture), discussion on creation, the fall, sin, redemption, consummation, etc.?
Worldview remains latent within individuals it controls that Lifestyle social system
and thought of those individuals. Worldview gives rise to one's understanding of religion and
everything related to it. Because every worldview includes the answers to the basic questions
about reality God, the Cosmos, man's place in it and the basis of one's morality (Entwistle,
2015). Answers to these kinds of questions provide the base for every religion. One's
worldview provides the structures of his ideas regarding God, morality, sins and other
concepts related to religious beliefs.
PART 2
How might one’s worldview shape one’s view of Psychology and Christianity? Explain
using citations from text and scripture.
One's view of psychology or psychological perspective is an approach involving some
assumptions or beliefs regarding human behaviour that is, the way they act and function.
Seybold (2016) opined the worldview of an individual is formed through his beliefs and
views about the world, life and everything else around it. Psychology is what compromises of
one's attitudes, thinking process, emotions and belief system (Seybold, 2016). All of these are
influenced by and conditioned to one's world view.
In Christianity, the followers have a unique belief. According to Van der Walt (2015),
his belief comes from revelation. God has revealed himself to the people of Israel as the
saviour, the almighty and the king. Most of the world view categories view God to be the
almighty creator and saviour which corresponds to the Christian religion. It can also be seen
as a reason why more and more individuals have turned to Christianity, a religion where a
vast number of individuals with similar worldview connects.

References
Cho, M. A., Malahlela, O., & Ramoelo, A. (2015). Assessing the utility WorldView-2
imagery for tree species mapping in South African subtropical humid forest and the
conservation implications: Dukuduku forest patch as case study. International Journal of
Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 38, 349-357.
DeWitt, R. (2018). Worldviews: An introduction to the history and philosophy of science.
John Wiley & Sons.
Entwistle, D. N. (2015). Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity: An
introduction to worldview issues, philosophical foundations, and models of integration. Wipf
and Stock Publishers.
Olson, R. C. (2017). Training Church Members in Christian Apologetics at First Baptist
Church in Watertown, Wisconsin.
Seybold, K. S. (2016). Explorations in neuroscience, psychology and religion. Routledge.
Spangenberg, J. H. (2016). The world we see shapes the world we create: how the underlying
worldviews lead to different recommendations from environmental and ecological
economics-the green economy example. International Journal of Sustainable
Development, 19(2), 127-146.
Van der Walt, B. J. (2015). Culture, worldview and religion: towards a biblical-reformational
perspective on development. African Journal for Transformational Scholarship, 1(1), 1-15.