the New Pantagruel

Scrutinizing a Scandal: A Christian Worldview Analysis of a Christian College Professor Who Flunks Christian Worldview Tests and Doesn’t Teach from a Christian Worldview

by David Naugle

ack Heller’s articles in the last two editions of The New Pantagruel — “Christian College Professor Flunks Christian Worldview Tests” and “Further Scandal: Christian College Professor Doesn’t Teach from a Christian Worldview” — offer formidable challenges to the “worldview tradition” in evangelical Christianity. As a Christian and a professor of philosophy at Dallas Baptist University, I have had a long-term interest in all things “worldview,” and have recently written a book on the history of the concept.¹ My interest in this discussion grows out of this background and will form the basis of my remarks. In short, while I agree with Prof. Heller’s critiques of the so-called “worldview tests” administered by the Nehemiah Institute and by the Worldview Weekend para-church ministry (these groups do, in fact, make positive contributions otherwise), I have serious concerns about his arguments in the second essay on teaching from a Christian worldview. In this response, I will comment rather briefly about the former issue, and offer more extensive remarks on this latter concern, in an attempt to speak the truth, as I see it, in love.

I first learned about the “free online worldview test” administered by Worldview Weekend through a Yahoo discussion group comprised of past and present students of mine who were/are members of the Pew/Paideia College Society, an academic organization for intellectually gifted students at Dallas Baptist.² I logged on in anticipation of finding a helpful method for worldview analysis. But after reading and answering just a few questions, I became frustrated with their content and orientation, and never finished the exam. Several of my students, and even a faculty member or two who completed the test, failed it, just as Prof. Heller did. The rather jocular follow-up discussion about our experiences with this assessment tool resembled Prof. Heller’s own summary of its shortcomings: “limited subject matter, limited test result possibilities, problematic historical statements, and questionable theology and biblical interpretation.” All of us were less than impressed with this approach to measuring worldview commitment, and we were concerned about its impact. However, none of us went away from it eschewing the value of the precious concept of a biblical worldview and its significant role in the Church, in Christian life and mission, and in institutions of Christian education. None of us concluded that the abuse of the concept barred its proper use, anymore than, say, occasional medical malpractice undermines the generally good work of hospitals. If anything, this experience prompted internal resolve, at least on my part, to develop and apply a Christian Weltanschauung with a greater degree of Spirit-bred humility, prudence, and maturity. If Prof. Heller is inclined otherwise, I hope he will reconsider.

In my attempt to read Prof. Heller’s second article carefully, I perceive that he is concerned about six important issues related to the matter of Christian worldview: (1) the lack of specificity about “what it means to teach from a Christian worldview”; (2) the lack of specificity regarding the content of “a distinctively Christian worldview”; (3) the diversity of definitions of the very concept of “worldview” itself; (4) the lack of reflection regarding the various forces that shape a person’s worldview, especially a Christian one; (5) the imposition of a reductive “‘Mere Christianity’ worldviewism” on writers as culturally diverse as the Beowulf poet and Flannery O’Connor; and (6) the proposal of Debora Shuger’s notion of “habits of thought” as an alternative to worldview. These items contain some valid points, and also call for pertinent criticisms.

The lack of specificity about “what it means to teach from a Christian worldview.”

Because of his institutional address at Huntington College, students, parents and administrators rightly assume that Prof. Heller teaches from a Christian worldview. After all, Huntington is “an evangelical Christian college of the liberal arts,”³ and is also a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities which promotes Christian worldview development as a chief goal of its allied institutions.

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