The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog

Christian theism was the commonly accepted worldview of people in the Western world from the establishment of Christianity until about the 17th century, when other rival worldviews began to develop. Although Christian theism is no longer unchallenged, it still has a wide following both in the Western world and beyond.

According to Christian theism, the nature of prime reality consists in the existence of an infinite, personal, all-knowing, all-powerful, and good God who reveals himself both in nature (“general revelation”) and in the Bible (“special revelation”). God created the universe out of nothing, and the universe is orderly (because God as the Word embodies reason and logic in his nature) and open (i.e., not programmed). God takes an active role in communicating with human beings, and thus they have the capacity to know both God and the world around them. Indeed, human beings are made in God’s image and, like him, have freedom of will, enabling them to choose how to act.

Although human beings were created good, they fell into sin (an event known as original sin or the fall, depicted in the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible).