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Secular philosophies & popular worldviews

Secular philosophies & popular worldviews. Why do Christians look so odd to normal people?. Secular philosophies. What is a worldview? A set of values and assumptions which shape how we understand the world we engage with

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Secular philosophies & popular worldviews

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  1. Secular philosophies & popular worldviews Why do Christians look so odd to normal people?

  2. Secular philosophies What is a worldview? • A set of values and assumptions which shape how we understand the world we engage with • Every cultural group has their own worldview which may both overlap with and oppose others in different areas

  3. Secular philosophies • You can’t see the ground you are standing on. We are often unaware of our own cultural assumptions “…nobody can be told what the matrix is – you have to see it for yourself.”

  4. Secular philosophies popular culture vs. academic philosophy

  5. Secular philosophies • Pre-modern • truth partially knowable, • focus supernatural, • divinely revealed • Modern • truth fully knowable, • focus physical world, • external observation • Existentialism • truth personal, • focus on the individual, • whatever feels right. • Postmodern • truth unknowable, • focus on the individual, • whatever works for you.

  6. Popular Culture • Distrust for all forms of institution: • Church • Science • Military • Government • Finance • Media • Law/police

  7. Popular Culture Distrust for Institutions Pick n. Mix Pursuit of happiness Original goodness Spirituality Tolerance Consumerism

  8. The god of choice Consumerism

  9. Freedom is choice • Culture and identity are deeply connected. • Individual existential ‘feeling’ with post-modern ‘function’ = addiction • Without a fixed foundation for reality, we seek to create our identity from the things we do and the products we consume. “You can see the religious root in advertising. ‘Buy this product and you’ll be saved’.” James Twitchell

  10. Freedom is choice • Companies don’t sell products, they sell values. • What qualities do brands embody? • Apple, “Think different” • Google, “Don’t do evil” • Microsoft, “Where do you want to go today?” • Harley – “True religion”

  11. Freedom is choice • Religion as a product has been restricted to sorting out what happens when we die. • Spirituality as a product sorts out fulfilment in this life • Consumerism uses the levers of spiritual fulfilment + addictive behaviour to offer identity and salvation through product consumption

  12. Harley Davidson

  13. Harley Davidson

  14. The God brand • Existence of God is not really a question • Which god and why? • God brand associations: • Cruel • Bigoted • Sexist • Distant/absent • ???

  15. questions

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