For more than thirty years, The Universe Next Door has set the standard for a clear, readable introduction to worldviews. In this new fifth edition James Sire offers additional student-friendly features to his concise, easily understood introductions to theism, deism, naturalism, Marxism, nihilism, existentialism, Eastern monism, New Age philosophy and postmodernism. Included in this expanded format are a new chapter on Islam and informative sidebars throughout.The book continues to build on Sire's refined definition of worldviews from the fourth edition and includes other updates as well, keeping this standard text fresh and useful. In a world of ever-increasing diversity, The Universe Next Door offers a unique resource for understanding the variety of worldviews that compete with Christianity for the allegiance of minds and hearts. The Universe Next Door has been translated into over a dozen languages and has been used as a text at over one hundred colleges and universities in courses ranging from apologetics and world religions to history and English literature. Sire's Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept provides a useful companion volume for those desiring a more in-depth discussion of the nature of a worldview.

The Universe Next Door: 5th Edition [Standard Large Print 16 Pt Edition]

Politics & Social Sciences

Sire, James W.

Philosophy

ReadHowYouWant

This book deals with profound experiences –emotional, intellectual, highly charged, usually sudden, unannounced, often odd, some weird, others glorious. Do these experiences mean anything? Are we puzzling over questions we can’t answer no matter how long we try? Is that puzzling itself meaningful? If so, is that meaning significant? Are these experiences actually signals that there is something more than to human life–our human life, my life–perhaps something transcendent?  The book ends with a discussion of the need for an apologetic that includes a wide range of biblical revelation―not just religious experience, but historical and scientific evidence and rational arguments involving both a positive case and a negative refutation of objections.

Echoes of a Voice: We are not Alone

Religion & Spirituality

Lutterworth Press

When The Universe Next Door was first introduced more than twenty years ago, it set the standard for a clear, readable introduction to worldviews. In concise, easily understood prose, James W. Sire explained the basics of theism, deism, naturalism, nihilism, existentialism, Eastern monism and the new consciousness. Later editions have been updated and expanded to include important sections on Marxism, secular humanism, New Age philosophy, and postmodernism. The Universe Next Door has been translated into many languages and has been used as a text at over one hundred colleges and universities in courses ranging from apologetics and world religions to history and English literature. This latest edition will continue to aid students, teachers and anyone who wants to understand the variety of worldviews that compete with Christianity.

The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog

Blackstone Audiobooks

James W. Sire offers an insightful, clear-headed analysis of New Age thought.

Shirley Maclaine and the New Age Movement (Viewpoint Pamphlet)

Christian Books & Bibles

Intervarsity Pr

<ul><li>A Christianity Today 1995 Books of the Year Finalist</li></ul> Believing. Most of us take it for granted. We just do it--whether it's trusting that the sun will come up tomorrow, that the lunch we are about to eat is not poisoned or that our religious beliefs are not ill-founded. But why should we believe any of these things? Why should anyone believe anything at all? With insight and humor, James W. Sire examines the reasons people give for believing what they do and suggests what are truly satisfying and compelling reasons for belief. He then turns to the question of a specific belief--namely, belief that the Christian faith is true. Sire tackles both the best reason for belief in Christianity (the identity of Jesus ) and the chief reason against it (the problem of evil). And he responds to these issues personally and philosophically. Here is a book to challenge the skeptic and reassure the doubter in us all.

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All?

IVP Academic

Chris Chrisman, a young Christian, goes to college only to have his world turned upside down. On campus he finds the challenges to his faith -- both intellectual and personal -- almost more than he can bear. Then he meets Bill Seipel and Bob Wong. Together, the three young men, two of them Christians and the other a self-styled atheist, forge a common bond in the quest for truth. In the process they confront some of the dominant ideologies of the secular university. Weaving the story of Chris's first year on campus with separate expository chapters on such forces as individualism, pluralism, relativism and privitization, James Sire offers a helpful apologetic for those who are searching for truth in a postmodern world. He identifies no fewer than six types of relativism, from "All religions boil down to the same thing" and "It's true for you; it's not true for me" to "God does not exist; naturalism is true." Then in down-to-earth language Sire helps readers to think through these and other complex issues.

Chris Chrisman Goes to College: and faces the Challenges of Relativism, Individualism and Pluralism

Literature & Fiction

United States

In addition to explications of such worldviews as theism, deism, naturalism, nihilism, Marxism, and others, this third edition includes a new chapter on postmodernism and a thoroughly revised chapter on New Age philosophy.

The Universe Next Door : A Basic Worldview Catalog

INTERVARSITY PRESS *

<ul><li>A 2001 Christianity Today Book of the Year</li></ul> What is an intellectual? How can you learn to think well? What does it mean to love God with your mind? Can the intellectual life be a legitimate Christian calling? Is the intellectual life your calling? James Sire brings wit and wisdom to bear on these questions and their possible answers. And he offers an unusual "insider's view" of learning how to think well for the glory of God and for the sake of his kingdom. In Habits of the Mind Sire challenges you to avoid one of the greatest pitfalls of intellectual life--by resisting the temptation to separate being from knowing. He shows you how to cultivate intellectual virtues and disciplines--habits of mind--that will strengthen you in pursuit of your calling. And he offers assurance that intellectual life can be a true calling for Christians: because Jesus was the smartest man who ever lived, Sire argues, you can and should accept the challenge to think as well as you are able.

Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling

Vaclav Havel: The Intellectual Conscience of International Politics : An Introduction, Appreciation & Critique

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

What is a worldview? What lies behind your thoughts about almost everything? For more than thirty years, James W. Sire has grappled with this issue. In this book he offers readers his most mature thought on the concept of a worldview, addressing such questions as 
<ul>
<li>What is the history of the concept itself?</li>
<li>What is the first question you should ask in formulating a worldview?</li>
<li>How are worldviews formed existentially as well as intellectually?</li>
<li>Is a worldview primarily an intellectual system, a way of life or a story?</li>
<li>What are the public and private dimensions of a worldview?</li>
<li>What role can worldview thinking play in assessing your own worldview and those of others, especially in light of the pluralism in today's world?</li>
</ul> In his widely used textbook The Universe Next Door, first published in 1976, Sire offered a succinct definition of a worldview and catalogued in summary fashion seven basic worldview alternatives. Students, critics, new literature and continued reflection have led him to reexamine and refine his definition of a worldview. This companion volume to The Universe Next Door is the fruit of that effort. Here is an excellent resource for exploring more deeply how and why worldview thinking can aid you in navigating your pluralistic universe.

Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept

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