Home > Literature essays > Book Critique: Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society Since 1500

Essay: Book Critique: Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society Since 1500

Essay details and download:

  • Subject area(s): Literature essays
  • Reading time: 5 minutes
  • Price: Free download
  • Published: 15 September 2019*
  • File format: Text
  • Words: 1,306 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 6 (approx)

Text preview of this essay:

This page of the essay has 1,306 words. Download the full version above.

Book Critique: Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society Since 1500
Summary
Glenn R. Martin’s Book, Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society Since 1500, is easily summed up in the title of the book. It can be even further summed up within each chapter since it goes deeper into the origin of different worldviews and their impact on today’s society. The first chapter explains what exactly a prevailing worldview is. After that much of the first half of the book is based on two core worldviews: A Christian worldview and then the rationalist worldview. He made it important to know these two worldviews because each worldview he discussed after branches from one or even both a Christian and rationalist worldview. Whether the worldview consists of a Christian worldview, “Government is a gift of God for the orderly procedure of man in a fallen world.” (Martin 2006, 57), or a rationalist worldview, “…unrestricted exercise of reason in the search of truth would lead to a better world, and no authority or religion should be allowed to impose a limit on it.” (Martin 2006, 82), the worldview has helped mold society into what it is today. However, with each emergence of a new rationalist world view we stray further and further away from God and how he intended us to live. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17 English Standard Version), and if we take God out of anything this is exactly the trail we are headed for.
Critique
Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society Since 1500, does an excellent job summarizing in great detail the origins of worldviews and how opposing worldviews counter each other and influence the society in our world. Martin theorizes that God is being removed from our day to day lives in every facet we have with each and every emerging worldview helping to prove his claim. Martin used a quote about John Locke to prove that a rationalist worldview could destroy a Christian mind, “But Locke, good Christian though he was…could not accept these suppositions; he announced, quietly, that all our knowledge comes from appearance and through our senses – that ‘there is nothing in the mind except what was first in the senses.” (Martin 2006, 79). According to Martin rationalists concluded that law is based off the law of nature. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1 English Standard Version) This verse goes to government in all forms, to take God out of the government is to disobey his word. While I do not completely understand Martin’s solutions, I completely understand and agree the need to address the absence of God in a rationalist government and how it affects society today. For instance, marriage, marriage was intended to be between man and woman. “For the Biblical Christian, marriage is holy matrimony. Although we still use the term, we have largely lost sight of its content. Holy matrimony involves three parties: God, a man, and a woman within the frame work of marriage” (Martin 2006, 97) All things in our lives from marriage to our government should begin and end with God. Without God in the mix of everything we a society feel a sense of insecurity, “…increases in religiosity and public opinion both reflect demands from citizens in the face of insecurity. We argue that religiosity is comprised of two factors: responses to insecurity; and long- held preferences for religion, or secularity.” (Habel et al. 2013, 282). It is not surprising that insecurity is related to lack of religion in government. All in all the way Martin spoke of marriage can be used to view how rationalistic worldviews stray us further from away from God over time.
Application
After reading Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society Since 1500, I feel as though I have a better understanding of the current state of affairs that are happening throughout the country. By giving us a detailed account of the different worldviews that are around and how they influence the country’s policies that exist currently. These different worldviews are constantly standing in the way of one another as Martin states, “…As a part of the intellectual tradition which begins and ends with man, it stands in contrast to and in conflict with the Biblical Christian worldview and Biblical Christianity.” (Martin 2006, 81). These Christian and rationalists worldviews can be applicable to the Republican and Democratic parties whom seem to always contrast and conflict with one another. When America was first founded as a country under the leadership of George Washington the country was almost completely united under God, George Washington even stated, “In particular, Washington warned against the establishment of political parties on a sectional basis: “In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished by characterizing parties…” (Fornieri 2005). This splitting into parties is said to be the biggest divider of our country, as George Washington warned about. As the Democratic Party takes on the role as the liberalist, the Republican Party takes on the role as the traditional party holding on to the Biblical Worldviews. However, in today’s society the political parties are not as straightforward as they seem to be.
Policy Review
One public policy issue that always seems to come up that pits the Republican party, the Christian and Biblical Worldview, and the Democratic Party, the Rationalist Worldview against each other is the issue on education. In the most recent presidential race Bernie Sanders, at the time the Democratic candidate hopeful, proposed free tuition to all public and state colleges no cost to households with less than $125,000 yearly income. This of course would be no cheap task, “The estimated cost of the program is $47 billion a year. That would cover, Sanders estimates, 67% of the $70 billion it costs for tuition at public colleges and universities. States, he proposes, would cover the remaining 33%.” (Wellman 2017). All this money would create a raise in taxes, which would then be stored in a “pool” of public funds. This “pool” seems to be the big theme of debate between the two parties, as the Republican Party is usually against public funds. However, it is with good reason, “For the Biblical Christian, there is no such thing as public funds. We have individual taxpayers’ dollars, not public finds…Biblically understood, public funds are taxpayers’ dollars which are confiscated by an authoritarian state.” (Martin, 2006, 229). As a current student this policy sounds amazing and with the public student loan debt clock at $1,591,345,710,96.68 and it ticks upward every second it sounds like it very much needed in our country. However from what we have learned from Martin’s teachings is that if it comes from a public fund “pool” it is not the right, Biblical Worldview, way to implement this luxury. Furthermore,  the last thing we need in our country is more government dependent people.

References

The Holy Bible. English Standard Version
Fornieri, Joseph R. “Washington’s Farewell Address and Lincoln’s Lyceum Address.” White House Studies5, no. 3 (Summer 2005). Accessed May 12, 2018. Academic One File.
Habel, Philip, and J. Tobin Grant. “Demand for God and Government: The Dynamics of Religion and Public Opinion.” Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2013, 282-302. Accessed May 08, 2018. 360Link.
Martin, Glenn R. Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society since 1500. Marion, IN: Triangle Publishing, 2006.
Wellman, Mitchell. “Here’s How Much Bernie Sanders’ Free College for All Plan Would Cost.” USA Today: College. April 17, 2017. Accessed May 12, 2018.

...(download the rest of the essay above)

About this essay:

If you use part of this page in your own work, you need to provide a citation, as follows:

Essay Sauce, Book Critique: Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society Since 1500. Available from:<https://www.essaysauce.com/literature-essays/2018-5-12-1526162412/> [Accessed 29-03-24].

These Literature essays have been submitted to us by students in order to help you with your studies.

* This essay may have been previously published on Essay.uk.com at an earlier date.