The dust-up at Patrick Henry College underscored the school’s reliance on a Statement of Biblical Worldview that doesn’t strike us as a statement of worldview at all – bibilcal or otherwise. Which puts us in mind of the dispatches from the Barna Research Group claiming that almost nobody in America who is a self-described Christian actually has a biblical worldview. A December 2003 Barna Group release explained:

For the purposes of the research, a biblical worldview was defined as believing that absolute moral truths exist; that such truth is defined by the Bible; and firm belief in six specific religious views. Those views were that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He stills rules it today; salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned; Satan is real; a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people; and the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings.

A January 2004 release claimed the poor showing ("…just 9% of all born again adults and just 7% of Protestants possess a biblical worldview") is to be expected because…

“The most important point,” Barna argued, “is that you can’t give people what you don’t have. The low percentage of Christians who have a biblical worldview is a direct reflection of the fact that half of our primary religious teachers and leaders do not have one. In some denominations, the vast majority of clergy do not have a biblical worldview, and it shows up clearly in the data related to the theological views and moral choices of people who attend those churches.”

Like Patrick Henry College, the Barna Group’s definition of a biblical worldview is a list of affirmations – and not the same affirmations.

Our colleague Donald McGilchrist weighs in on the subject:

Barna’s seven propositions do not constitute a worldview. They are more like a compressed fundamentalist checklist. They present assertions more than perspectives…and are a curious mix. They lack coherence. If one were to insist on using such a checklist, the Apostles Creed would be a better launch pad!

I would not sign up for all of Barna’s seven points. Take the first. "There is absolute moral truth based on the Bible." This seems to me to be confused. Surely, one would prefer to say "there is absolute moral truth based on the character of God." And what does "absolute moral truth" actually mean? So, I would be among the 91% of born-again Protestants who would not embrace all of Barna’s list.

At a more significant level, Barna is not addressing worldview but creed. A worldview integrates and interprets reality. It is not to be reduced to a checklist, because it then loses explanatory power and formative energy. A worldview shapes, a creed defines. Worldviews are universally held, but creeds are products of a literate culture with an attention to what is systematic.

What Barna has chosen to do is to make up his own creed. He is moving in the arena of a Creed (as in Nicene) or a Confession (as in Westminster) or a Statement of Faith (as in National Association of Evangelicals) which are collections of basic theological propositions used as tests of orthodoxy. So, this being an exquisitely individualistic culture, he seems to have chosen to assemble his own garland of basic propositions! In any case, whether they are useful propositions or not, they have little to do with worldview.

A Biblical worldview is transformative and is so much needed among the people of God. Yes, we are in a desperate context of biblical ignorance, as Barna highlights, but the way forward is not to cheapen the pursuit of a biblical worldview.

Hear! Hear! Donald. So say we all. The Barna Group and Patrick Henry College are welcome to their belief sets; just don’t frame them as the biblical worldview.

So . . . enough on what a worldview is not. Next up, a brief consideration of what a worldview is (in our humble opinion).