In the context of a theological or philosophical disagreement among fellow believers, appeals to a ‘Christian worldview’ are either irrelevant or hopelessly question-begging.
The thrust of the appeal to a Christian worldview is this:
“These ideas are incompatible with the kind of worldview that a Christian should have. So Christians, as such, should reject these ideas as inconsistent with their Christian faith.”
“These ideas are incompatible with the kind of worldview that a Christian should have. So Christians, as such, should reject these ideas as inconsistent with their Christian faith.”
Here’s why that reasoning just doesn’t work.
Suppose that ‘Christian worldview’ refers to an epistemic framework (or some feature thereof) which corresponds to the truth claims of Christianity.
Now let ‘P’ be any (set of) proposition(s).
Suppose that ‘Christian worldview’ refers to an epistemic framework (or some feature thereof) which corresponds to the truth claims of Christianity.
Now let ‘P’ be any (set of) proposition(s).
If P is inconsistent with a Christian worldview, then P is inconsistent with some truth claim(s) of Christianity.
Thus the claim that P is inconsistent with a Christian worldview *presupposes* that P is inconsistent with some truth claim(s) of Christianity.
Thus the claim that P is inconsistent with a Christian worldview *presupposes* that P is inconsistent with some truth claim(s) of Christianity.
So the claim that ‘P is inconsistent with a Christian worldview’ can’t support the claim that ‘P is inconsistent with the Christian faith’, since the former claim presupposes the latter claim.
In other words, this line of reasoning is question-begging.
(An inference pattern is question-begging if it includes some premise that presupposes the truth of a conclusion which that premise is enlisted to support.)
(An inference pattern is question-begging if it includes some premise that presupposes the truth of a conclusion which that premise is enlisted to support.)
The only way to correct this problem would be to explicate exactly which of Christianity’s truth may be inconsistent with P, and in what way—at which point the worldview issue is totally moot.
So if ‘Christian worldview’ refers to an epistemic framework that corresponds to the truth claims of Christianity, then appeals to a Christian worldview are question-begging (and hopelessly so, since correcting the problem would require a totally new argument).
On the other hand, suppose ‘Christian worldview’ refers to something that is *not* an epistemic framework which corresponds to the truth claims of Christianity. In that case, ‘Christian worldview’ doesn’t refer to anything compelling to Christians (as such). So it’s irrelevant.
Either way, appeals to a ‘Christian worldview’ are totally unhelpful in adjudicating disagreements among fellow believers.
*…which of Christianity’s truth claims may be inconsistent with P.
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