Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home
Written by Glenn S. Sunshine and Charles Colson
Narrated by Patrick Lawlor
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
How do we come by our worldviews and philosophies? What impact did Christianity have on the worldviews that are common to Western civilization?
Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.
The two-pronged assault in our time on the biblically based worldview by postmodern philosophy and the writings of neo-atheists has made it even more crucial that we acknowledge and defend its historical roots.
This authoritative, accessible survey discusses Western worldviews as a continuous narrative rather than as simply a catalogue of ideas. Why You Think the Way You Do:
- Traces the effects that changes in worldview had on society.
- Helps you understand your own worldview and those of other people.
- Helps you recognize the ways that your worldview, philosophies, beliefs, and presuppositions affect the way you think about everything.
Glenn S. Sunshine
Glenn S. Sunshine (PhD University of Wisconsin, Madison) is professor of history at the Central Connecticut State University and a faculty member of the Centurions Program at Breakpoint, the worldview training ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries. Previously, he taught at Calvin College and was a visiting professor at the Universität der Bundeswehr-Hamburg (now Helmut Schmidt University) in Germany. He is author of The Reformation for Armchair Theologians, and Reforming French Protestantism, and contributor to the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, and the Encyclopedia of Protestantism.
Related to Why You Think the Way You Do
Related audiobooks
A Student's Guide to Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Now Shall We Live Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Quest: Invitation to an Examined Life and a Sure Path to Meaning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prelude to Philosophy: An Introduction for Christians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalogue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Telling a Better Story: How to Talk About God in a Skeptical Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Knowledge of God in the World and the Word: An Introduction to Classical Apologetics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Soul: How We Know It's Real and Why It Matters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Carpe Diem Redeemed: Seizing the Day, Discerning the Times Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today's World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Restoring All Things: God's Audacious Plan to Change the World through Everyday People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don't Follow Your Heart: Boldly Breaking the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Post Christian: A Guide To Contemporary Thought and Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Escape From Reason Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Last Call for Liberty: How America's Genius for Freedom Has Become Its Greatest Threat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Be an Atheist: Why Many Skeptics Aren't Skeptical Enough Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult: A Beginner's Guide to Life's Big Questions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Universe Next Door, Sixth Edition: A Basic Worldview Catalog Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fire in the Streets: How You Can Confidently Respond to Incendiary Cultural Topics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSlaying Leviathan: Limited Government and Resistance in the Christian Tradition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impossible People: Christian Courage and the Struggle for the Soul of Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Christianity For You
Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crazy Love, Revised and Updated: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries: When To Say Yes, How to Say No Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Return of the Gods Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership 25th Anniversary: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Christianity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: Third Edition with Bonus Content, New Reflections Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 5 Love Languages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Than a Carpenter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Magdalene: Women, the Church, and the Great Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cost of Discipleship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weight of Glory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries in Marriage: Understanding the Choices That Make or Break Loving Relationships Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Garden Within: Where the War with Your Emotions Ends and Your Most Powerful Life Begins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Why You Think the Way You Do
34 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow never thought of it this way! I’m amazed, sheesh that was insane
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is an extraordinary book but also difficult to hear. We are a hot mess as human beings and we are headed in a very dangerous direction unless we are prepared to recognize and implement Christian values. Before anyone stones me, listen to the book. (Certainly atrocities have been committed in the name of Christianity, but then that is not true Christianity.) This book is based on historical fact and the results of our choices cannot be denied.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Cherry-picked information presents an unfair impression of views the author disagrees with. Example: saying the new atheists are hypocrites for wanting to maintain Christian values. A Christian value is something you have because Christ tells you to have it. Someone deciding on their own to be a good person does not mean they have Christian values. I wish this book had given an unbiased overview of the promised history and comparisons.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I was gonna give it five stars. Up till the last 4 minutes of this audiobook I've been completely mesmerised by it and was thinking that everyone should read/listen to this book. The author even made me proud to be Christian (I consider it more my culture than my religion, though). The author presents his arguments as neutral and suggests in the beginning that the book is not about Christianity but about how the history of how Western civilisation developed. Given the role Christianity played in it, though, it was bound to take centre stage in the book.
This book has been a fascinating and engrossing journey through our history and it has made me think a lot about many things, about where my worldviews fall within the range of worldviews he presents. In that respect, I find the book very successful. But the author has managed to ruin this whole experience in the last chapter, where he goes on an evangelical rant about how we need to go back to the old ways of Christianity, with the Bible as our core, at which stage I've gone WTF?! Clearly, his intention was not to be impartial but to sell his view on Christianity and the Bible and God being the creator of the world. This has cast into doubt the integrity of the book since he's clearly biased in favour of Christianity and seems to have an "agenda". Most disturbing is the comment he makes that we're falling on the same sword that brought the Roman Empire to its demise: immigration. He warns that the West, at this rate, is gonna be 20% Muslim by 2050, so we Christians must wake up and take up the Bible once more to stop that from happening. I'm surprised that someone as knowledgeable doesn't understand the true meaning of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. We can't go back to the thesis. We need a synthesis, and I very much doubt going back to the old ways and starting preaching the glory of God and "HIS" creation with the Bible in hand is gonna bring the change we need. For me, the perfect ending would have been the author just letting us readers/listeners make up our own minds about what worldview we want to align with, rather than him trying to shove his own worldview down our throats. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I wish I would have had this book during my college years. It's a really handy summary of the different worldviews of the Western world during history and the events that molded and shaped them as they changed. It's not super long but the author does a great job of succinctly describing the worldviews and events, giving the reader a good solid overview of each one. I learned things I never knew before, even from taking the required courses on philosophy and history during college--partly because I could understand this author's explanations much easier than my college textbooks. I think this book is a great resource for anyone wanting to understand the tremendous shifts in thinking that are occurring know and how they relate to our shared (western) past. Homeschoolers or anyone in the education field would find it particularly useful. For a more in depth view of any of these time periods and views more reading and research would be needed of course, but this book is a handy reference to the basics that can be referred to whenever questions arise.
1 person found this helpful