Page 9 - Through New Eyes

INTRODUCTION

There are a number of books available on Christian world-
view, but precious little on the BibZical worldview. By drawing
this distinction, I am not belittling the former. There is certainly
a place for books that set out the Christian view of philosophy,
history, art, science, man, etc., using the vocabulary of our
modern age. There is also, however, a real need for books that
dig into the Bible and set out the Bible’s own worldview, explain-
ing the Bible’s own language. The Biblical worldview is not
given to us in the discursive and analytical language of philoso-
phy and science, but in the rich and compact language of sym-
bolism and art. It is pictured in ritual and architecture, in
numerical structures and geographical directions, in symbols
and types, in trees and stars. In short, it is given to us in a pre-
modern package that seems at places very strange.
For instance, when we come to the Bible with questions
about animals, we think in terms of biology, the nature of
genuses and species, and the like. The Bible, however, discusses
animals in terms of “kinds, ” distinguishes between “clean and
unclean” beasts, and tells us to observe the “ways” of animals as
they live. The Biblical worldview of animals, while it does not
necessarily contradict the findings of modern biology, is certainly
different. Similarly, if we approach the Bible with questions
about botany, we find that the Bible discusses plants and trees in
terms of how they symbolize various kinds of men, or in terms of
their usefulness for food and medicine.
When we look at the stars, we imagine millions of suns very
far away from us. There are cepheid variables, double stars,
neutron stars, galaxies, and quasars. In the Bible, however, stars
are given as “signs and seasons, and for days and years” (Genesis