Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home

Written by Glenn S. Sunshine and Charles Colson

Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

How do we come by our worldviews and philosophies? What impact did Christianity have on the worldviews that are common to Western civilization?

Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.

The two-pronged assault in our time on the biblically based worldview by postmodern philosophy and the writings of neo-atheists has made it even more crucial that we acknowledge and defend its historical roots.

This authoritative, accessible survey discusses Western worldviews as a continuous narrative rather than as simply a catalogue of ideas. Why You Think the Way You Do:

• Traces the effects that changes in worldview had on society.
• Helps you understand your own worldview and those of other people.
• Helps you recognize the ways that your worldview, philosophies, beliefs, and presuppositions affect the way you think about everything.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Release date: Oct 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9780310782506

Glenn S. Sunshine

Glenn S. Sunshine (PhD University of Wisconsin, Madison) is professor of history at the Central Connecticut State University and a faculty member of the Centurions Program at Breakpoint, the worldview training ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries. Previously, he taught at Calvin College and was a visiting professor at the Universität der Bundeswehr-Hamburg (now Helmut Schmidt University) in Germany. He is author of The Reformation for Armchair Theologians, and Reforming French Protestantism, and contributor to the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, and the Encyclopedia of Protestantism.

Reviews for Why You Think the Way You Do

[Meredith Marquell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow never thought of it this way! I’m amazed, sheesh that was insane

[Kristina Godau · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an extraordinary book but also difficult to hear. We are a hot mess as human beings and we are headed in a very dangerous direction unless we are prepared to recognize and implement Christian values. Before anyone stones me, listen to the book. (Certainly atrocities have been committed in the name of Christianity, but then that is not true Christianity.) This book is based on historical fact and the results of our choices cannot be denied.

[Karen Lee Peterson · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Cherry-picked information presents an unfair impression of views the author disagrees with. Example: saying the new atheists are hypocrites for wanting to maintain Christian values. A Christian value is something you have because Christ tells you to have it. Someone deciding on their own to be a good person does not mean they have Christian values. I wish this book had given an unbiased overview of the promised history and comparisons.

[Eugenie Santiago · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was gonna give it five stars. Up till the last 4 minutes of this audiobook I've been completely mesmerised by it and was thinking that everyone should read/listen to this book. The author even made me proud to be Christian (I consider it more my culture than my religion, though). The author presents his arguments as neutral and suggests in the beginning that the book is not about Christianity but about how the history of how Western civilisation developed. Given the role Christianity played in it, though, it was bound to take centre stage in the book.
This book has been a fascinating and engrossing journey through our history and it has made me think a lot about many things, about where my worldviews fall within the range of worldviews he presents. In that respect, I find the book very successful. But the author has managed to ruin this whole experience in the last chapter, where he goes on an evangelical rant about how we need to go back to the old ways of Christianity, with the Bible as our core, at which stage I've gone WTF?! Clearly, his intention was not to be impartial but to sell his view on Christianity and the Bible and God being the creator of the world. This has cast into doubt the integrity of the book since he's clearly biased in favour of Christianity and seems to have an "agenda". Most disturbing is the comment he makes that we're falling on the same sword that brought the Roman Empire to its demise: immigration. He warns that the West, at this rate, is gonna be 20% Muslim by 2050, so we Christians must wake up and take up the Bible once more to stop that from happening. I'm surprised that someone as knowledgeable doesn't understand the true meaning of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. We can't go back to the thesis. We need a synthesis, and I very much doubt going back to the old ways and starting preaching the glory of God and "HIS" creation with the Bible in hand is gonna bring the change we need. For me, the perfect ending would have been the author just letting us readers/listeners make up our own minds about what worldview we want to align with, rather than him trying to shove his own worldview down our throats.

[debs4jc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wish I would have had this book during my college years. It's a really handy summary of the different worldviews of the Western world during history and the events that molded and shaped them as they changed. It's not super long but the author does a great job of succinctly describing the worldviews and events, giving the reader a good solid overview of each one. I learned things I never knew before, even from taking the required courses on philosophy and history during college--partly because I could understand this author's explanations much easier than my college textbooks. I think this book is a great resource for anyone wanting to understand the tremendous shifts in thinking that are occurring know and how they relate to our shared (western) past. Homeschoolers or anyone in the education field would find it particularly useful. For a more in depth view of any of these time periods and views more reading and research would be needed of course, but this book is a handy reference to the basics that can be referred to whenever questions arise.