Teaching World-Views: Its Importance in English Education

H. Richard Niebuhr, the American theologian, in his 1951 book Christ And Culture, presented a paradigm for understanding the foundational beliefs of Christianity in the way its various manifestations relate to mainstream culture. I have expanded it to include the secular world as well. This paradigm, I have found, is an effective pedagogical tool for introducing Japanese college students majoring in Global Studies to basic political and religious belief systems. Niebuhr divides these belief systems, or world-views, into five categories: Against Culture, Culture In Paradox, Above Culture, Transformer of Culture, and Of Culture. Japanese students, through learning the paradigm, gain valuable reference points for Western religious and political life.departmental bulletin pape