Order an ESV, Get Rethinking Worldview at 50% Off

Our friends at Crossway have extended a special offer to Bible Design & Binding Blog readers! From now until December 14, when you buy an ESV Bible from Crossway, you can also get my book Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World at 50%. That works out to just $8.50 per book, the lowest price available anywhere. If your total order exceeds $30, Crossway throws in free shipping. Look at the nifty banner, and then I'll explain how this works.

What you'll need to do is click on the banner, which will take you to the Bible page at Crossway.org. Add whatever Bible(s) you'd like to the shopping cart. Then, add a copy of Rethinking Worldview to your cart, too. It will show up at the 50% price. The only catch is, to get the discount, you'll have to add Rethinking Worldview to your cart.

You could pre-order one of the upcoming Personal Size Reference Bibles, due out in January, and get a copy of Rethinking Worldview for half off. Or you could spring for the excellent Daily Reading Bible. The possibilities are endless. And if you decide that everyone on your Christmas list needs a copy of Rethinking Worldview -- and let's face it, who doesn't? -- you can buy a whole stack of them at discount. Just remember to pull the trigger by December 14.

I want to thank the folks at Crossway for making this possible. They've been extraordinarily supportive of the book. And thank you for making the Bible Design and Binding Blog such a cool place to hang out!

Comments

[Scott Sackett]

Mark, I don't know if this is the appropriate place to make this comment and I don't know how much you had to do with it, but I just wanted to comment on how cool the cover design of your book is. It has a cool, retro-sixties look to it. Nice to see something on the cover of a Christian book besides a stock photo of some stones.

[PDS]

Here is a review from Nathan Williams at Pulpit Magazine. Hit my email box today!

(Re)Thinking Worldview by J. Mark Bertrand (Crossway, 2007, 272 pages)

(Review by Nathan Williams)

(Re)Thinking Worldview is a new book by J. Mark Bertrand which seeks to explain the idea of worldview and how this notion will change the way you live, speak and interact with the world around you.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked up this book, but I was pleasantly surprised by the emphasis on practice that saturates (Re)Thinking Worldview. Bertrand understands worldview as not simply an intellectual checklist but as an outlook on reality that transforms the way you live your life.

Bertrand demonstrates this emphasis on practice even in the flow and argument of the book. (Re)Thinking Worldview divides into three major sections. The first section deals with the topic of worldview in general. In this section he defines worldview as “an interpretation of influences, experiences, circumstances and insight” (p. 26). In other words, your worldview is something which helps you interpret the world around you and which you may not even be fully aware of possessing.

Throughout the rest of this first section he comes at the concept of worldview from three different angles to help the reader grasp the fullness of the term. In the chapter describing worldview as a starting point he gives 4 fundamental pillars that form the basis of the Christian worldview. These pillars are creation, order, rationality and fear.

Next worldview is described as a system. Scripture presents God’s truth as an organized system. This helps us to see the major differences between our view of reality and that of other worldviews. Finally in this section, he describes worldview as a story. In all our systematizing we have to remember our worldview is made up of the gospel story.

The second section of (Re)Thinking Worldview transitions from a discussion of the basic understanding of worldview to the topic of wisdom. At first glance, this may seem like a massive jump, but the transition is quite purposeful. “One of the blind spots of much worldview chatter is the failure to connect thinking and living” (p. 115). The concept of worldview cannot be divorced from the practical outworking of wisdom in the life of a believer.

Under the topic of wisdom, Bertrand gives a helpful chapter on what true wisdom looks like. Wisdom is not detached from practice. “Wisdom, then, is the consistent outworking of belief, action, and discernment from worldview” (p. 133). It is easy to see how wisdom fits perfectly into the discussion of worldview. Our beliefs and understanding of the world work themselves out into our decisions and actions.

As an example of putting wisdom into practice, Bertrand gives a chapter on the importance of learning to read. Reading must always be done with a critical eye for the purpose of understanding the worldview assumptions of the author. We must not only do a worldview critique of books, but also of movies, music, and television programs in an effort to recognize the author’s agenda.

The third and final major section of this book is appropriately titled witness. The progression is intentional. We move from an understanding of worldview to the outworking of that worldview in wisdom to the expression of that worldview in our witness. In the section on witness Bertrand deals with some issues of apologetics and also provides a helpful chapter on unbelief. We must be prepared because inevitably our worldview will clash with other worldviews.

As has already been hit upon, (Re)Thinking Worldview is structured in a very intentional manner to help the reader see the progression from right belief to right practice to right witness. Bertrand also writes in a style which is engaging and easy to read. He mixes didactic sections with interesting illustrations and stories to keep the pages turning and the reader on his toes.

I think this would be a great book to open up the discussion of worldview with a group of college students. A proper understanding of the concept of worldview and the basic structure of the Christian worldview are vitally important for believers to grasp. Sometimes, we need to step back and look at the big picture of our system of belief and our notion of reality. A book on worldview is just the tool to help us in that endeavor.

[J. Mark Bertrand]

Scott -- The cover design is the work of Josh Dennis at Crossway, who was a great artist to work with. He got in touch with me, solicited my feedback, and managed to come up with something really effective. So all the credit goes to him.

Paul -- Thanks for posting that review. I linked to it from my Rethinking Worldview blog -- http://jmarkbertrand.typepad.com.