Introduction
The way we perceive the world is influenced by the way we think about the world; and there are three very important ways we can think about the world: scientifically, theologically, and philosophically. These three ways of thinking about the world, along with an introduction to the philosophy of phenomenology, will be the subjects of the first chapter of this book.
In the second chapter, we will be comparing the prescientific view of the world, which we find in the Bible, with the view of the world that is currently held by modern science. At the end of this second chapter I will be introducing what I believe to be a way in which to reconcile the prescientific biblical view of the world with the modern scientific view of the world, which is for us to view the world phenomenologically.
The third chapter provides us with three examples, taken from the prescientific/biblical view of the world, and demonstrates how these prescientific views conflict with three similar examples taken from the modern scientific view of the world: 1) Geocentric Cosmology versus Heliocentric Cosmology; 2) Creation versus Evolution; and 3) Absolute Time versus Relative Time. These three examples act as case studies from which we can learn how our perception of the world is influenced by the conceptual schemes, or paradigms, we develop about the world. In this third chapter I will also be presenting an alternative theological/phenomenological appearance-based conceptual scheme for making sense of the world, which we can use to reconcile the seemingly contradictory perspectives of the world that are given to us by both modern science and the Bible.
The theological portion of this book begins in the fourth chapter, continues throughout the fifth, and concludes in the sixth. In the fourth chapter we will be unpacking the concept of a theology of appearances, exploring what it means to think of the world as a text, and examining the kinship between the phenomenological concept of the life-world and the Bible�s presentation of the world.
In the fifth chapter we will be exploring the Bible�s presentation of the world, which comes to us through the human perspective. The Bible presents the reality of the world to us in a very human way, in the same manner in which the world appears to us: as our lived-experience of being in-the-world. In this chapter I will also be using the parables of Christ (three parables in particular, which are found only in the Gospel of Luke) as examples of how our lives, as we live them in-the-world, constitute (for us) our existential and experiential lived-reality. A philosophical examination of this lived-and-experienced reality will then follow, along with a brief presentation of an appearance-based ontology: being as purpose.
The sixth chapter concludes the book with a summarization of its main points. It will also focus upon how the theological and phenomenological way of thinking, perceiving, and living in-the-world can change�for the better�our everyday perception of the world, of ourselves, of our neighbors, of our world, and of our Creator, leading us to improve the way we will choose to live-out our lives.
Return to Main Page
Page last updated 08.31.09
� 2009 A.J. MacDonald, Jr.