UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES Published by Summit …

1 UNDERSTANDING THE TIMESP ublished by Summit Box 207 Manitou Springs, CO 80829In cooperation withDavid C Cook4050 Lee Vance ViewColorado Springs, CO 80918 C Cook Distribution Canada 55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5 David C Cook , Kingsway CommunicationsEastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, EnglandThe graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2 Used by permission. All rights 2014932409 ISBN 978-1-4347-0958-5eISBN 978-0-7814-1378-7 2015 Summit MinistriesPrinted in the United States of AmericaFirst Edition 20151 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10052915 The book you are holding has a very long story. It began when I was a junior in college and was asked to lead a study group on communism. From that day until now, my interest in the subject has led me to the conclusion that Marxism is a religious worldview. And like other worldviews, it competes for allegiance. This got me wondering: how does Christianity measure up to other competing worldviews? The answer took years to sort out. The first edition of UNDERSTANDING the TIMES was the finished product of that sorting-out s been over twenty-five years since those early copies of UNDERSTANDING the TIMES em-barked on their maiden voyages to the bookshelves and consciousness of faithful Christian readers all over the country.

3 The original 900-page tome was a labor of love by the generous hearts of the Summit family. Shortly thereafter, partnerships were formed with Harvest House and the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) with hundreds of thousands of copies reaching laypeople and Christian students impact and reception was far greater than anything we could have light of that history, I am deeply pleased with this revised and updated edition. Jeff and his team have completed a marvelous achievement that will take its rightful place in the long legacy of this book. Their efforts have ensured that there will be still more generations that understand the TIMES (1 Chronicles 12:32).David A. Noebel, FounderSummit MinistriesFOREWORDCONTENTS 1 Battle of Ideas pg. 1 2 Christianity pg. 27 3 Islam pg. 51 4 Secularism pg. 75 5 Marxism pg.

4 99 6 New Spirituality pg. 123 7 Postmodernism pg. 147 8 Theology pg. 173 9 Philosophy pg. 199 10 Ethics pg. 225 11 Biology pg. 253 12 Psychology pg. 281 13 Sociology pg. 307 14 Law pg. 337 15 Politics pg. 365 16 Economics pg. 395 17 History pg. 425 18 Conclusion pg. 451 Glossary pg. 481 Index pg. 499 ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis work began as a work of trepidation: how do you take a classic work and one of the most popular texts on biblical worldview and update it?Thanks to the wisdom of teams, though, it turned into something that transformed those who were part of it. From the Verdoorn family, who helped make it financially possible, to Joey Amadee, whose tireless genius conceived and wrote every line of code for its brilliant digital delivery system, I find myself humbled and who s who of subject matter experts checked various chapters for its accuracy and logic.

5 These include Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, Dr. Hunter Baker, Dr. Paul Kengor, Dr. Douglas Groothuis, Dr. Scott Smith, Dr. Francis J. Beckwith, Dr. W. Gary Phillips, Dr. Scott Rae, Attn. Casey Luskin, Dr. Clark Rose, Prof. Ernest Skip Burzumato, Attn. Jeffrey Ventrella, Dr. Eric Patterson, Dr. Jay W. Richards, and Dr. Richard Shumack. Their helpful comments and insights were thoughtful and Knopp was our project manager, keeping the trains running on time with the aid of the impeccably organized Amanda Bridger. My executive assistant, Tosha Payne, looked over just about every chapter and gave comments that erased errors and doubts about whether the thing was actually interesting to editors and proofreaders, Carlos Antonio Delgado, Robert Hand, Jason Graham, Trudy Friesema, and Dr. Paul Copan read every word and made just the right suggestions in just the right entire team has dedicated hours upon hours to help me craft the best edition of UNDERSTANDING the TIMES .

6 Nevertheless, wherever this volume may be found deficient, that responsibility lies solely with curriculum director, Roy Faletti, developed the relationships with schools that tested the whole project with their would also like to thank our Vice President of Programs, Eric Smith, who kept the Sum-mit boat moving smoothly through the water while I wrote six hours a day for nearly a long-time friend, John Stonestreet, participated in brainstorming sessions and high level edits and helped me chart a course of accuracy while avoiding theological , I would like to thank the Myers children, who patiently listened to me read from newly written chapters and then asked questions. May the UNDERSTANDING of what is between these covers be part of your generation s Myers, PresidentSummit MinistriesSECULARISMMARXISMPOSTMODERNISM NEW SPIRITUALITYISLAMCHRISTIANITYPHILOSOPHYM ateralism & NaturalismDialectical MaterialismAnti-RealismSpiritual MonismDualismDualismETHICSM oral Relativism or UtilitarianismProletariat MoralityCultural RelativismKarmaDivine Command TheoryAgapeBIOLOGYAnti-EssentialismSpiri tual EvolutionNeo-DarwinismPunctuated EquilibriumSpecial CreationSpecial CreationLAWL egal PositivismProletariat LawCritical Legal StudiesSelf-LawShariah LawNatural LawPOLITICSP rogessivismStatismPolitical Pessimism or LiberalismAutarchyIslamic TheocracySubsidiarityTHEOLOGYA theismAtheismTheological SuspicionPantheismMonotheismTrinitarian MonotheismPSYCHOLOGYMind/Body Monism (Self-Actualization)

7 Mind/Body Monism (Classical Conditioning)Decentered SelfMind/Body Monism (Fourth Force)Mind/Body Dualism (Unfallen)Mind/Body Dualism (Fallen)ECONOMICSE conomic InterventionismSocialismEconomic InterventionismUniversal Enlightened ProductionShariah EconomicsBiblical StewardshipHISTORYS ocial ProgressHistorical MaterialismHistorical RevisionismEvolutionary GodhoodPan-IslamRedemptive NarrativeSOCIOLOGYP ersonal AutonomyProletariat SocietySocial ConstructionismCollective ConsciousnessUmmahSphere SovereigntySECULARISMMARXISMPOSTMODERNIS MNEW SPIRITUALITYISLAMCHRISTIANITYPHILOSOPHYM ateralism & NaturalismDialectical MaterialismAnti-RealismSpiritual MonismDualismDualismETHICSM oral Relativism or UtilitarianismProletariat MoralityCultural RelativismKarmaDivine Command TheoryAgapeBIOLOGYAnti-EssentialismSpiri tual EvolutionNeo-DarwinismPunctuated EquilibriumSpecial CreationSpecial CreationLAWL egal PositivismProletariat LawCritical Legal StudiesSelf-LawShariah LawNatural LawPOLITICSP

8 RogessivismStatismPolitical Pessimism or LiberalismAutarchyIslamic TheocracySubsidiarityTHEOLOGYA theismAtheismTheological SuspicionPantheismMonotheismTrinitarian MonotheismPSYCHOLOGYMind/Body Monism (Self-Actualization) Mind/Body Monism (Classical Conditioning)Decentered SelfMind/Body Monism (Fourth Force)Mind/Body Dualism (Unfallen)Mind/Body Dualism (Fallen)ECONOMICSE conomic InterventionismSocialismEconomic InterventionismUniversal Enlightened ProductionShariah EconomicsBiblical StewardshipHISTORYS ocial ProgressHistorical MaterialismHistorical RevisionismEvolutionary GodhoodPan-IslamRedemptive NarrativeSOCIOLOGYP ersonal AutonomyProletariat SocietySocial ConstructionismCollective ConsciousnessUmmahSphere Sovereignty1chapter- 1 -11. The Secret to UNDERSTANDING the World of IdeasTo understand the world of ideas, we must figure out how tennis champs return opponents blazing fast serves and how chess masters memorize the position of every piece on the you ve ever been on a tennis team, your coach probably told you to keep your eye on the ball.

9 But that s not good enough if you had to return a 150-mile-per-hour serve from former world champion tennis player Andy Roddick .. the Battle of Ideas- 2 -THE BaTTLE of IdEaS By the time you react to the serve, the ball is already past you. Yet those who played Roddick regularly returned such serves. How could they possibly do this? Now think about how chess grand masters read the chess board. After just briefly seeing the board of a partially played chess game, they are able to remember the exact placement of the pieces. Do they have a pho-tographic memory?Maybe tennis and chess champions are just made differently from the rest of us. Maybe they re more gifted. It would be somewhat of a relief if this were true, because we d be off the hook for figuring out their secrets and applying them to our own lives. But it s not that Champions Succeed by Mastering the World s PatternsChampions have learned to see things differently.

10 This gives them a level of success the rest of us find amazing. UNDERSTANDING how they do it is the key to successfully navigating our complicated, confusing, and contentious world. There are two keys to unlocking the #1: We live in a rule-governed universe. Andy Roddick can t serve the ball anywhere he likes. He has to make it land in a certain square on the court, or it doesn t count. Similarly, pieces on a chess board cannot be moved wherever the player wishes. There are rules about what each piece can do. Life is like that too. There are rules. If we can underst how to make the world a better #2: When the rules are followed or ignored, patterns emerge. Our friend David Wheaton played against Andy Roddick a few TIMES and describes his serve as unbelievably enormous. David said, If Roddick hits a 150-mph serve in the corner, there s no way to touch it unless you ve accurately guessed where it is going to hit.