Hidden Worldviews - by Steve Wilkens & Mark L Sanford (Paperback)

About the Book

Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford show how to detect the individualism, consumerism, nationalism, moral relativism, scientific naturalism, New Age thinking, postmodern tribalism and salvation as therapy that fly under our radar. Building on the work of worldview thinkers like James Sire, this book helps those committed to the gospel story recognize those rival cultural stories that compete for our hearts and minds.

Book Synopsis

Why do we buy what we buy, vote the way we vote, eat what we eat and say what we say? Why do we have the friends we have, and work and play as we do? It's our choice? Yes, but there are forces, often unseen, that shape every decision we make and every action we take.These hidden, life-shaping values and ideas are not promoted through organized religions or rival philosophies but fostered by cultural habits, lifestyles and the institutional structures of society. Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford shine a spotlight on the profound challenges to Christianity and faithful Christian living that come from worldviews that comprise the cultural soup we swim in.The authors show how to detect the individualism, consumerism, nationalism, moral relativism, scientific naturalism, New Age thinking, postmodern tribalism and salvation as therapy that fly under our radar. Building on the work of worldview thinkers like James Sire, this book helps those committed to the gospel story recognize those rival cultural stories that compete for our hearts and minds.

Review Quotes

"Hidden Worldviews is a well-written and helpful book. Preachers will find a wealth of information that will aid them in identifying and understanding the worldviews of the people sitting in their pews on Sunday mornings. The book will also give insight into how these 'hidden' worldviews can be confronted with the gospel of Christ."

--Joseph R. Buchanan, Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society, March 2011

"A timely call for the integration of confessional beliefs and values with actions makes this book well worth the read."

--Ewen Butler, Religious Studies Review, December 2010

"By explaining and exposing 'isms' like consumerism, relativism, nationalism, and post-modern tribalism, Wilkens and Sanford deftly demonstrate how we too often live according to 'cultural stories' that compete with the gospel."

--Trevin Wax, Christianity Today, May 2010

"It is wise occasionally to step back and examine the worldviews on offer around us. Especially the ones that tend to quietly stay in the background, mostly out of sight, hardly ever attracting notice. That is what Steve Wilkins and Mark Sanford have done in Hidden Worldviews."

--Denis Haack, Critique, Issue 5, 2009

"Wilkens and Sanford briefly yet comprehensively explain each worldview's core beliefs. These chapters can be useful as discussion starters about core biblical beliefs and as a tool to learn to critique cultural values."

--Rachael Eggebeen, Youth Worker Journal, (www.youthworkerjournal.com), January/February 2010

"Within our worldviews are heart-orienting, mind-structuring commitments that govern each person's life. Often we pay so little attention to these commitments that they lie hidden from us. Some of these commitments clash with and corrupt our ability to live a faithful life for Christ. Wilkens and Sanford identify and unmask eight of these, showing how they affect our commitment to Christ. This work willserve as an excellent complement to my own The Universe Next Door."

--James W. Sire, author with Carl Peraino of Deepest Differences

About the Author

Mark L. Sanford (M.Div., Nazarene Theological Seminary) is instructor in practical theology and facilitator of discipleship groups at Azusa Pacific University.

Steve Wilkens (Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary) is professor of theology and ethics at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans, Christianity Western Thought, Volumes 2 and 3 (coauthored with Alan Padgett), and Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics.