"Worldview in Conflict
Pt. 3"

Introduction

In part one we considered the influence of the world on the life-perspective (worldview) of professing evangelical Christians. Too often Christians attempt to reinterpret Scripture to fit contemporary societal convictions. Our working definition of a worldview is “a set of beliefs about the most important issues in life” and such fundamental commitments affect how a person interprets the world. The late Ron Nash suggested that a person’s worldview is like a pair of eyeglasses. While the correct worldview (prescription) will bring everything into focus, the wrong worldview will distort one’s understanding of life even further.

In part two we noted that the touchstone proposition of a Christian worldview understands God as the source of reality, considers our place in that reality, and acknowledges God’s revelation of Himself in time and space. A biblical worldview assumes 1) God’s majestic transcendence while acknowledging His sovereign involvement with the world He has created, 2) communication between God and the world, and 3) human beings have no right to sit in judgment of the sacred but rather, must submit themselves to its pervasive oversight and authority. These commitments were common in premodern times. While there were many problems in the premodern age of Christendom, those ills were not the result of the prevailing God-centered worldview.

The Currents of Change

Historically, changes in the rational thinking processes of a culture have occurred rather slowly. Even when revolution has turned a society upside down, the undercurrent that produced that tidal wave was quietly gaining momentum for a long period of time. However, as technology has progressed, so has the speed with which such changes are effected. Technological advancements afford the dissemination ideas with ever increasing speed. In times past, ideas were slowly absorbed into society; today, its almost as if they are injected intravenously. More often than not, the “information age” in which we live provides us with little more than data clutter. We are assaulted by so much information that one can scarcely sort it all out. In such an environment, the most effective propagation of ideas occurs through the filter of mass media such as television and newspapers. The result is not a “better educated” society but one that digests the particular ideologies of those controlling the filtering process. The media is not objective. They determine which stories are covered and the interpretation they will be given.

It is not surprising to find that, in tracing the historical development of western worldviews, there was an explosive change in the middle of the Renaissance. The emergence of the printing press enabled the philosophies of that age to impact the world far more quickly than in previous generations. By making mass dissemination possible, Gutenburg’s invention was the greatest single factor in furthering the ideals of that age.

There are many issues of interest and importance that one may consider in such a study. However, our purpose is to trace the broad changes that have occurred in the Western World-view concerning the touchstone proposition of Christianity. Therefore, rather than looking at cultural development from premodern to modern, and now, to post-modern times, we will focus on the influences that have particularly contributed to the perversion of Western societies’ view of God, specifically the influences of the Renaissance and, in the next installment of our series, Enlightenment thought.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance is generally considered to be the humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning that originated in Italy and spread throughout Europe from the 14th to the 16th centuries. This period, commonly used to mark the transition from medieval to modern times, was described by the French historian, Jules Michelet, as the age of the “discovery of the world and of man.” The humanistic revival that characterized this period had several distinct features. It was a time of breaking with tradition in almost every area of culture.

History

Until the Renaissance, history was considered a branch of theology, divided into three epochs: 1) creation, 2) the incarnation, and 3) the last judgment (a time yet to come). Renaissance historians rejected this division of history, replacing it with a new threefold framework: 1) antiquity, 2) the Middle Ages, and 3) the Golden Age of Rebirth (the renaissance). Notice the shift away from the divine perspective and the self-aggrandizing description of their own age. Historians were no longer interested in explaining what God was doing in the realm of time and space. They began to describe history from a human perspective. The prophetic aspect of future history, as declared by God’s Word, was also set aside. Renaissance historians rejected the notion of a “not yet” portion of history, certain and settled, simply because God had decreed it.

History was reclassified. No longer a branch of theology, the discipline was subsumed under the study of literature. Renaissance scholars, condemning the Middle Ages as a time of ignorance and barbarism, became infatuated with the ancients. They were looking for a pre-Christian perspective, a time before everything was evaluated with respect to God. Thus, the Renaissance was the rebirth of humanism. Rejecting the heritage of the church as a guide for cultural activity, they imagined some pristine age of purity before the influence of Christianity had its effect on the world. They determined to evaluate classical texts “on their own terms” without referencing them to Christianity. The Renaissance scholars hoped to uncover a “pure” philosophy that would produce free and civilized human beings. They longed to cultivate a society of sophisticates, a culture predicated on sound human judgment. They sought to replace the world of priests and monks with a society of citizens adapted to human potential. To a large degree, our modern notions of “human rights” arose from the humanism of that age.

Science and Technology

The Renaissance is often characterized as a time when enlightened men replaced “dark superstitions” with “objective reality.” We are told that the blinders of religion, tradition, and dogma gave way to a clearer and more impartial understanding. Many have claimed that such “non-religious” objectivity gave birth to modern science.

The Real Story

This idealistic view of the Renaissance is more legend than fact. While the revival of classic literature was touted as a search for untainted information, the standard of “purity” and “objective reality” was neither pure nor objective. “Purity” and “objective reality” were merely synonyms for “non-Christian ideology.” Many Renaissance scholars were desperately seeking freedom from Christian influence and biblical revelation, convinced that a purer truth could be found in other ancient documents.

At one point, renaissance scholars discovered a collection of Neo-Platonic documents known as the Hermetic Corpus. These documents, thought by many to be the earliest and most complete revelation of truth, were the writings of Hermes Trismagistus, an Egyptian wise man and supposed mentor of Moses and Plato. This occult literature advanced belief in “Ancient Wisdom,” a secret knowledge in the universe that was pursued through alchemy, numerology, and astrology. It was believed that those who uncovered these secrets could become terrestrial gods and transform their destiny. Renaissance scholars were searching for knowledge that would serve as a basis for a new science, society, and history; knowledge that would allow them to transform creation. They came to believe that one could break with biblical revelation because a purer truth was contained in these ancient documents.

Conclusion

Two major ideas were introduced into society through Renaissance humanism. The first was that human beings are terrestrial gods who are able to shape their own destiny. This is a denial of the absolute sovereignty of God and an unjustifiable exaltation of humanity. The second idea was that things once thought to be magic could be explained solely with natural philosophy (science). While the shift away from superstition was certainly to be welcomed, humanity ultimately turned to its own reason instead of God and His divine providence that establish the order and principles observable in nature.

In reality, the Renaissance was a shift to humanistic mysticism. Along the way, the religious aspects of this humanism began to fall by the wayside. Yet, the Renaissance prepared the way for the thinkers and scientists of the 17th and 18th centuries, giving rise to a movement of “pure reason.” Thus, the Renaissance redirected the Western worldview from a focus upon the transcendent Creator-Sustainer-Redeemer to temporal humanity. God was displaced by man as the center of all things. We are still living with the effects of that monumental paradigm-shift. It is difficult to train Christians to think theocentrically (God-centered) when the framework of society itself is anthropocentric (man-centered).

In the next issue, we will consider the development of these Renaissance ideals which flourished in the Enlightenment.

- Stan McGehee Jr