Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home

Dr. Sunshine outlines in his book the historical descent of the Western mindset and culture. He begins by defining what a worldview is. He then takes us back to ancient Rome (and the Greek philosophers that influenced that culture), and continues a walk forward through not only the history of philosophy, but of various permutations of the visible church (but not necessarily Christian, a distinction that Dr. Sunshine is inconsistent with maintaining), and secular institutions as they progressed forward to today. He discusses not only theological impacts on our Western worldview, but also philosophical, scientific, and political viewpoints that all had their part in formulating much of what the western worldview (apart from the Bible) now contains in its modern and postmodern definition. The only complaint after reading the last chapter is his conclusion of what to do if we are to effect any change upon this worldview. He talks about social outreach, kingdom living, and politics but never mentioned the Gospel. Since the New Birth is primary and necessary for a Biblical Worldview, it would seem to be of utmost importance. This error in focus is where the church has, out of ignorance or in direct defiance of God’s command, failed to stand strong and authoritative in making any difference in our Western worldview and culture. Dr. Sunshine begins with the question “What is a Worldview?” and then takes us back to before Christ and the thoughts and attitudes of the Roman Empire. He identifies much of the thinking of that period and the Roman (and Greek) philosophers who shaped their worldview. As Dr. Sunshine progresses through the ages and pinpoints various activities that have shaped our current Western worldviews, he gives us an overview of both the theist and atheist viewpoints and their effect on society and Western thought. Dr. Sullivan writes about the religious (pagan, Christian, and otherwise) theorists and apologists and their impact on ancient and modern ways of thinking and society. He covers the new thoughts, that were the same old thoughts, that came out during the Enlightenment period, and proceeds through philosophy, science, and politics to document all the various schools of thought, both theist and especially atheist, that have shaped our worldview. He points out political high and low points through out our history, especially the Revolutions, which have influenced the basic framework of our current worldviews. From a purely academic viewpoint, this book, with a few missteps, seems to accomplish what Dr. Sunshine means the book to say. He falters, however, in some of his understanding of the true Church, and what it really means to be a Christian, and may not even be one. This book makes no statement of Dr. Sunshine’s conversion and there is an assumption of faith offered by Mr. Colson who wrote the forward. (10) The possibility that Dr. Sunshine himself is not born again is suggested when he offers in the last chapter every solution; social, political, and religious, to our worldview problem, except the only one that will actually make a difference in a person’s life, and by extension a community, and then society. Since a person cannot truly understand the Kingdom of God, apart from the New Birth, even if he borrows from its worldview, the Gospel would have to be an important part of the solution to the errors in our worldview and it is missing from the last chapter of the book. The chapters on the early church and his discussion of Christianity, as he sees it, and how the Church transformed the pagan and Roman world of the second century does not transfer to his conclusion on how to solve our current society and its ills. Maybe he believes it is irrelevant in this post-modern world, or he feels that the church only has a social and “churchianity” solution to bring to the table. Both views would be in opposition to what God has to say about His Church. Since Dr. Sunshine has a problem with distinguishing between the True Church, Protestant elements that may or may not be the Church, but just religious, and the pagan Roman Catholic system which parodied the true Church, and continues to do so today, it is hard sometimes to follow his application and thesis about Christian influences on our worldview. When the visible church, which was no longer Biblical, put the Bible under lock and key society was plunged into the dark ages. Dr. Sunshine does not make this connection, and so cannot follow the path of the access of Scripture to the changes in the “ages.” While at the same time there were many voices in opposition to God and His Word, as there always are, it was the availability of Scripture that brought about changes in illiteracy and knowledge, allowing the West to come out of the so-called “Dark ages.” Some of his ideas about our tolerant and pluralistic society, especially American society, are simplistic, dated, and no longer true, as he relates it in the first chapter. (15) The book does not seem finish the thought, and now with Eastern mysticism and the New Age there are even worse problems, but the Western worldview is not just one. Apart from Christianity and a Biblical worldview, there are as many “Western worldviews” these days, as there are schools of thought. While some worldviews here in the West, even the irreligious, are somewhat interconnected, and this book relates some of those paths; the naturalist, the humanist, the secular atheist, and the non-Biblical theist all have a different worldview. Most of them borrow parts of the Biblical worldview, or go mad trying not to, and Dr. Sunshine does do rather well to tie together some of those paths of Western thought that have brought us to where we are. A Christian looking into the history of the Church would do better with Foxes’ Book of Martyrs or any other accurate historical documents of the true Church. A student of history or philosophy, with a penchant for how worldviews have developed, especially in the West, could look at James Sire’s book The Universe Next Door, and its development of the different worldviews, or anything from Brannon Howse, though much of his is from a modern application viewpoint or Biblical and political conspiracies viewpoint, not a historical one. It would be impossible to cast this book aside completely, for it has its good points and some scholarly types may actually enjoy it, but the lack of a proper Biblical conclusion, especially in light of its premise of Christian influence on our worldview leads me away from a good recommendation for this book. It begins well, has only a few missteps along the way, but loses its way toward the end and all there is left is an academic treatise with no real solution for the problem of any of the erroneous Western worldviews. That solution is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and while our methods may change, our message has not.

Glenn Sunshine is a Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University, while also serving on the faculty of the Centurions Program of the Colson Center, and as the faculty advisor for Ratio Christi at CCSU. He has a BA in linguistics from Michigan State University, an MA in Church History from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, an MA in Reformation History from the University of isconsin-Madison and a PhD in Renaissance-Reformation History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a Christian and a historian, Sunshine has a passion for helping Christians see how worldview affects culture, and vice versa.The thesis of this book is that the history of Western Civilization can be traced according to its changing relationship to Christianity. Moreover, the successes and failures of western culture can be linked to its acceptance or rejection of a Christian worldview.The book opens with an explanation of the idea of worldview, and how it affects individuals and societies as a whole. It then traces the trajectory of estern culture from the Roman Empire, its transformation by the spread of Christianity, and the periods that followed.The chapters address major periods from the Middle Ages to the renaissance, to the modern “enlightenment” era, to the post-modern period to today. Sunshine shows how changes in worldviews impacted major events such as three great revolutions in England, France and America. This section was especially helpful to understand why the American Revolution succeeded where the Glorious Revolution, and the French Revolutions failed.As history unfolds in more recent decades, we see the consequences of elevating personal autonomy to the point where ultimate freedom for all means little freedom for some. We see where the only thing considered immoral is considering something immoral. Moreover, we see how struggles for equality have become struggles for privilege by claiming victim status. We seetolerance become meaningless since tolerance entails disagreement, but disagreement is considered intolerance.Sunshine has painted a clear picture of the consequences of the absence of the Christianworldview in the public square. While the history of Christendom is checkered with its wars of religion, Sunshine gives fair treatment of the issue, acknowledging excesses while noting where these diverge from Christian teaching. It is not only society, however, that has lost a conscious Christian worldview. This is also missing in much of the Church. We in the church need to read this book and take its lessons toheart if we hope to have an impact on our culture.This book is accessible to middle-school students, while being rich enough to not bore those with advanced degrees. Church youth leaders and students would do well to study this book.Our future as a nation may well depend upon it.

The book is just a phenomenal analysis of the true origins of current human thought. A look at the development of our thinking through the lens of historical shifts, from the perspective of a Christian mind. Simply wonderful read.

If you live in or are impacted by western thought and practices, this book is a challenge and invitation to think deeper on the large scale thoughts that brought us to our current paradigm.

My introduction to Dr. Sunshine was when I discovered Theology Pugcast last year. At some point in the course of listening to the Pugcast, I heard him mention having written this book and decided to purchase it and give it a read. I found it to be a very informative read, tracing the history of thought and developments that have impacted worldview, from the time of the Romans until now. Obviously given the breadth of time covered and size of the book, this isn't going to go super in-depth; but he gives you plenty of information to track with him, and enough to get you started anywhere you might want to dig into for more detailed study elsewhere. Dr. Sunshine is an entertaining writer, and if you've heard him speak, you can pretty much read the book in his voice in your head. I also found it interesting that reading this book twelve years after he wrote it, his thoughts a decade ago on where we were headed were quite prophetic. All in all, a good read, and one I'd recommend to pretty much any believer to whom the topic would be even remotely interesting.

I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book when it covers the importance and impact of Christianity on the major developments of post-classical society and Western worldviews up until the Enlightenment period. But it takes a turn towards blatant Christian propaganda once the complexities of modern worldviews set in, which undermine the argument of the book, which is ultimately that the Christian way is the right way. I really wanted to like this book, it's well-written, but also very superficial. But arguing that evolutionary theory is a leap of faith and calling climate change a new religion - lost me there. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see how much Christian thought has been shaped by many classical influences and has in turn shaped society in so many ways, it does answer "why we think what we do" in a Western context. I wish I could have stayed within that scope and not try to bust out the moral stick in the final quarter of the book. If you are a Christian, you'll enjoy it more I suppose.