The Barna survey defines a "biblical worldview" as:

believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.

Ongoing research by The Barna Group on these matters consistently demonstrates the powerful impact a person’s worldview has on their life. A worldview serves as a person’s decision-making filter, enabling them to make sense of the complex and huge amount of information, experiences, relationships and opportunities they face in life. By helping to clarify what a person believes to be important, true and desirable, a worldview has a dramatic influence on a person’s choices in any given situation.

And find that:

 

* One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of the born again adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth.

* Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.

* Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective.

* Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.

* A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.

* Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction.

Traditional African culture is examined in chapter 6 of The Eye is the lamp of the Body.  This is a theme that van der Walt has revisited a number of times.  Here he draws upon some African voices to examine some of the reasons for the poverty in Africa. Van der Walt writes not as outsider offering advice, but as an insider offering wisdom. African authors (such as Joseph Nyasani, George Kinoti and Peter Kimuyu, N. C. Dembetembe, Dia and Nyang ) are quoted at length to provide an objective view as possible. 

 

Van der Walt has done a great service for African development studies by drawing attention to these authors.  He concludes, rightly, that ‘Culture and development can only in theory (in abstraction) be separated, when we speak of culture and development. More correctly we should speak of development as (a part of) culture’ (p 184).

In the chapter on postmodernism he provides an accurate and broadly appreciative overview of postmodernism.  His is no knee-jerk response.  He sees it, rightly, as more than a reaction against modernism – it is the result of the long history of Western thought, from the sophists through Socrates and Plato to the rationalism and the irrationalistic tendencies that look for ‘the law in the subject’.  He provides an ‘immanent critique’ of postmodernism – postmodernism’s lawlessness is one of the results of historicism. Here he draws upon the work of D. F. M. Strauss and Roy Clouser on historicism: how can we have history if everything is history?  Postmodernism is characterised by a mistrust of metanarratives, they are regarded as oppressive and untrue.  And yet, as van der Walt points out, postmodernism ‘is nothing but (another) grand narrative, for it is the universal base on the grounds of which all other viewpoints are regarded as restricted versions. For itself postmoderism claims common validity while all other positions are relativised’ (p 147).

He takes on board the postmodern warning that worldviews can become oppressive or legalistic and identifies where this may happen in a Christian worldview. This can be avoided by being prepared to keep on listening to God’s revelation both in creation and scripture. 

2008. Craig G. Bartholomew and Mike W. Goheen. 2008. Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
There are a number of excellent resources to accompany this book - due for release in the UK on 18th December - here.

J. Mark Bertrand. 2007. (Re)Thinking Worldviews: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World. Wheaton: Crossway Books.

Steven Garber.2007. The Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief and Behavior. Downers Grove: IVP. 2nd edn.

Julian Hardyman. 2006. Glory Days: Living the Whole of your Life for Jesus. Leicester: IVP.

Arthur F. Holmes. 1983. Contours of a World View. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

David Naugle. 2002. Worldview: The History of a Concept. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Paul A. Marshall, et al eds. 1989. Stained Glass: Worldview and Social Science. Lanham MD: University Press of America.

Paul Marshall and Lela Gilbert. 1998. Heaven is not my Home: Living in the Now of God's Creation. Nashville: Word.

Nancy Pearcey. 2004. Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity. Wheaton: Crossway Books.

John Peck and Charles Strohmer. 2001. Uncommon Sense: God's Wisdom for our Complex and Changing World. London: SPCK.

James W. Sire. 1976. The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog. Downers Grove: IVP. 4th revised edn 2004.

James W. Sire. 2004. Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept. Downers Grove: IVP.

Brian J. Walsh and J. Richard Middleton The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian Worldview. Downers Grove: IVP.

B. J. van der Walt. 1991. Anatomy of Reformation: Flashes and Fragments of a Reformational Worldview. Potchefstroom: Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education.

B. J. van der Walt. 1994. The Liberating Message: A Christian Worldview for Africa. (Potchefstroom: Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, Institute for Reformational Studies).

B. J. van der Walt. 2001. Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind: Shaping a Biblical Worldview and a Christian Perspective on Scholarship. Potchefstroom: Institute for Contemporary Christianity in Africa.

B. J. van der Walt. 2008. The Eye is the Lamp of the Body:Worldviews and their Impact. Potchefstroom: Institute for Contemporary Christianity in Africa.

Michael E. Wittmer.2004. Heaven Is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Al Wolters. 1985. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. Second edition 1988. Revised and expanded 2005 (with Mike Goheen)