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Analyzing the Seven Worldview “Lenses”
In the previous post we introduced the seven “lenses” identified by historian and theologian N.T. Wright in his 2018 Gifford Lectures. They are:
- Justice
- Spirituality
- Relationships
- Beauty
- Freedom
- Truth
- Power
The top down or bottom up world views.
It seems the top down or bottom up distinction is a helpful way of looking at the two primary conflicting worldviews in our Western culture. Top down in this use refers to the idea of a creator and that all being or existence emanates from a transcendent and all powerful creator. To be a bit more specific, and following the excellent definition of God provided by Prudence Louise, we will consider the creator in the top down world view to be good and creation as good, albeit sullied. In this understanding the creator is both transcendent and immanent eliminating a deistic interpretation.
The bottom up view aligns with physicalism which includes in its more extreme or perhaps straightforward forms, the rejection of any God, gods, higher powers or spiritual realities. The universe consists exclusively of matter and forces and no external causality is possible.
