The Universe Next Door
A Basic Worldview Catalog by James W. Sire
This year, I took a worldview class at my school, and during second semester, we took a look at other worldviews and what people who accept these worldviews believe about the world, humans, ethics, etc. During this study, we went through and read The Universe Next Doorby James W. Sire. This book examines 8 (give or take) of the most common worldviews found today. All the way from Christian Theism to Nihilism and everything in between.
What I like most about this book is how structured it is. With each worldview, Sire explores how each worldview answers what he believes are the 8 questions that sum up a worldview. These questions tackle subjects like reality, the universe, God, human beings, knowledge, ethics, etc. The answers to the questions give you a broad overview before he goes deeper. He elaborates on each of the answers to these questions and explains what this looks like. The way that he breaks this down is very helpful and ensures you gain a more profound understanding of each worldview. I was honestly fascinated by most of these worldviews, and James Sire did an impressive job of presenting them. The other aspect of this book I appreciate is the lack of bias in the book. This book is written from a Christian worldview, but Sire didn’t just go through the book saying that all the worldviews were all bad. He explained the worldviews and let them speak for themselves before giving any bias or criticism. I really appreciate this because I wanted a book that broadened my understanding of other worldviews, rather than one that just condemned every worldview other than Christianity. There was still some bias in the book, but Sire usually left it for the end of each section after explaining the worldview. Even when there was bias, he explained why the worldview is inconsistent or doesn’t satisfy our human desire, rather than just saying it is stupid or wrong.
Understanding other worldviews is important, regardless of what worldview you hold. If we don’t understand other worldviews, we can’t know what other people believe. And if we don’t know what other people believe, we can’t talk to them about their beliefs and teach them about ours. That is why understanding worldviews is essential because everyone has one, and it affects every part of their life. This book is a great resource to understanding many of the most common worldviews in society today. I highly recommend The Universe Next Door, especially to Christians. Even for those of other worldviews, this book is great to gain a more in-depth understanding of Christianity and worldviews other than yours. Since this book deals with complex and challenging topics, those under 14 might have a hard time comprehending and understanding the dense material found in this book, since it certainly isn’t a light read. But for those who are over 14 (both teens and adults), you must gain an understanding of the people of the world that you live in and interact with daily. I highly recommend this book to accomplish the task. You can buy it here (I recommend buying this RIGHT NOW because it is 50% OFF!)