MACMILLAN Worldviews: A Comprehensive Approach to Knowing Self and Others

This book investigates the concept of worldview, in its numerous aspects, and how worldviews impact, shape, and influence individuals, communities, societies, and cultures. It explores various worldviews―religious, spiritual, and secular―using a comprehensive approach to highlight their breadth, depth, and scope. John Valk argues that everyone has a worldview, and that worldview is often shaped and influenced by individual circumstances and situations. While worldviews have similar structures to one another, they vary in content, including differences in metanarratives, teachings, ethics, and more. In the course of explaining how worldviews respond to life’s ultimate and existential challenges, the book poses ontological questions to highlight various (world)views on the nature of being and the human, and epistemological questions pertaining to sources of knowledge and certainty. Inviting readers to reflect on their own worldviews as they explore the worldviews of others, Valk also reveals how certain universal worldview beliefs are interpreted in particular contexts. From the Back Cover “In this magnum opus, John Valk presents the fruits of teaching and theorizing on worldviews for more than two decades. This book deals with worldviews as views of life and ways of life using an elaborate and comprehensive conceptual framework. This bridge-building approach, so urgently needed today, can create greater understanding of one’s own worldview and those of others.” ― Siebren Miedema, Professor Emeritus of Educational Foundations and Religious Education, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands “This book awakens us to recognize that our capacity to understand each other springs from an acknowledgement that everyone has a worldview. John Valk offers a unique framework with engaging thoughts and ideas, guiding the reader to explore the knowledge, insight, and wisdom that lays the ground for a deeper exploration of who we are. This book will speak to you!” ― Mualla Selçuk, Former President of the Religious Education Association and Professor of Religious Education, Ankara University, Turkey This book investigates the concept of worldview, in its numerous aspects, and how worldviews impact, shape, and influence individuals, communities, societies, and cultures. It explores various worldviews―religious, spiritual, and secular―using a comprehensive approach to highlight their breadth, depth, and scope. John Valk argues that everyone has a worldview, and that worldview is often shaped and influenced by individual circumstances and situations. While worldviews have similar structures to one another, they vary in content, including differences in metanarratives, teachings, ethics, and more. In the course of explaining how worldviews respond to life’s ultimate and existential challenges, the book poses ontological questions to highlight various (world)views on the nature of being and the human, and epistemological questions pertaining to sources of knowledge and certainty. Inviting readers to reflect on their own worldviews as they explore the worldviews of others, Valk also reveals how certain universal worldview beliefs are interpreted in particular contexts. John Valk is Professor of Worldview Studies at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He is coauthor (with Halis Albayrak & Mualla Selçuk) of  An Islamic Worldview from Turkey: Religion in a Modern, Secular and Democratic State (2017). About the Author John Valk is Professor of Worldview Studies at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He is coauthor (with Halis Albayrak & Mualla Selçuk) of An Islamic Worldview from Turkey: Religion in a Modern, Secular and Democratic State (2017).