Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today's Competing Worldviews

I can’t say for sure that everything said in this book is accurate. It has been years since I’ve read it. But even so. I remember reading this book for a class in High School. And it put me down the path I still follow to this day. I remember even in its most desperate attempts to discredit Marxism, the information presented about the writings of Karl Marx still convinced me to become a Communist. I have this book to thank for changing my life for the better, and making me who I am today. I truly think it is brave of the Author, who I am sure is a proud conservative Christian (although I don’t know this for certain) to include so much information about the Marxist perspective in here. Because I remember when reading about Dialectical Materialism compared to Christianity, the former made sense, and I felt the latter fall like ash through my fingers. Highly recommend

Very informative about the origins of anti-Christian ideas by which we are constantly bombarded in our day to day lives. A good, informative, and easy read for anyone wishing to understand todays' world views. A good tool for having an answer for those that oppose themselves (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Easy to understand for most any reader, but still packed with many sources of information.

A valuable resource that will greatly aid any layman hoping to understand the competing worldviews of our day. The benefits of this book are many. First, it is comprehensive but not overwhelming. Covering Islam, Christianity, postmodernism, New Age, and Marxism, Noebel looks into ten different worldview categories for each of these six worldviews. The addition of Islam and Postmodernism in this version makes it leaps and bounds beyond the first edition. Furthermore, each chapter provides what you need to know in the very words of the proponents of that worldview. Many in the emergent church or "liberal" crowd will balk at the idea of "the" Christian worldview, but Noebel makes a good case from scripture in sticky areas like economics and sociology. He also refrains from bashing the other worldviews---he remains unemotional, although he admits from the start that he is hoping that the truth of the Christian worldview is illuminated throughout the book. The section on postmodernism is particularly valuable. This is a difficult area of thinking to understand but one that is extremely pervasive and MUST be understood by Christians today. He explains at length how postmodernism has affected our legal system as well as social justice. He also covers "postmodern Christianity" as popularized by the emergent church (e.g., Brian McLaren). My complaints? Noebel is an evidentialist, sadly. His section on Christian epistemology is abysmal. At one point he says that revelation is the foundation of our worldview, but then says that revelation is verified by science and archaeology! (p. 87) Well, which is it? Other strange statements include, "The basic tenets of Christian philosophy are rational because they are held by average rational men and women." (p. 88) No, Christianity is rational because it was revealed to us by a rational God (John 17:17, 1 John 5:9). Consequently, Noebel's evidentialism plays out especially loud in the section on biology, which is nothing more than a teleological argument---a very overrated argument that's still managed to become a staple in the arsenal of many apologists. The above paragraph sounds harsh. Realize, however, that one can still draw a tremendous amount from this resource while recognizing its shortcomings. Though Noebel's evidentialism seeps into the rest of the book, it still deserves 4 stars and a place on the shelf of any Christian who would like a concise, cut-to-the-chase guide on the worldviews of our age. Thank you, Dr. Noebel, for helping us "understand the times."