BARNA REPORT AND

VEITH’S WORLD MAGAZINE.COM

(From Creeds to Core Values to World Views)

Ca. ½ of American preachers hold a biblical world view while infrequently informing their congregations.

Most Southern Baptists hold a biblical world view (71%).

Methodists (27%)

Non Southern Baptists—51%

Charismatic or Pentecostal Churches (44%)

Mainline Protestants, e.g., National Association, Council of Churches (28%)

African American Churches (35%)

In the denominations who ordain women, only 15% of female pastors hold a biblical world view.

Those attending Seminary (45%) are less likely to hold a biblical world view (due to anti- Christian postmodern cultural/epistemological relativism which controls the academy).

Younger preachers (56%) are shaped by the relativistic maze of the 1960’s (Margaret Mead and Thomas Kuhn) and are less likely to have a biblical world view than older preachers (50%), i.e., it is true because I believe it--Fideism).

Barna states that the figures are worse among church members. This suggests that merely preaching good sermons and offering helpful programs does not enable most believers to develop a practical and scriptural theological base to shape their lives, acquiring a biblical world view requires much more effort than memorizing James Sires’ code list.

See the web site (http://www.worldvieweyes.org/strauss-docs.html) for the following papers:

Postmodern Science and Eschatology

Six World Views: Narrative Displacements

God’s Promise/Cosmos and New Age Monistic Pantheism

Creation, Covenant, and Redemption Doctrine

Architects of the Postmodern Mind