Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home

by Glenn S. Sunshine

How do we come by our worldviews and philosophies? What impact did Christianity have on the worldviews that are common to Western civilization? Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization. The two-pronged assault in our time on the biblically based worldview by postmodern philosophy and the writings of neo-atheists has made it even more crucial that we acknowledge and defend its historical roots. This authoritative, accessible survey discusses Western worldviews as a continuous narrative rather than as simply a catalogue of ideas. Why You Think the Way You Do :

Genres: History, Philosophy, Christian, Theology, Nonfiction, Christian Living, Christianity

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 2009

Reviews

[Eric Hopkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are so many things I find problematic in this book that I can't possibly list all of them. The most obvious of them is that it seems to present itself as a historical book. I was introduced to this book in a Early Modern World class in university in fact. However the back of the book is clearer on this as it is categorized as "Religion/Christian Theology/General". Also it's publisher is Zondervan, a publisher of religiously themed books. Also important to note is that the funding for this book came from the Acton Institute, so before even opening the book there's a clear bias to it.

The bias is a problem, though possibly worse are parts of the book that are factually wrong or in some cases outright omissions. The most of startling which are all of the Crusades. To have a book which claims to deal with (though not explicitly stated) a Christian world view, to omit the crusades is just bewildering to me. And I don't mean that in the sense that Dr. Sunshine should go to great labors to apologize for the actions of past Christians. The Crusades, understood in the framework and worldview of their own time are hugely important to how Christians saw the world around themselves. The first crusade was the final manifestation of the work of the reforming Popes to move Christianity from an introspective and monastic based religion to one that was far more concerned with the world outside of itself and with the idea of Christendom as a whole. Again, there would be no need to labor on points of military actions or campaigns; but from the perspective of world view the Crusades mark a transitional period in the thinking of the western world about itself and the world around it.

Despite a preponderance of talking about ancient Greek philosophers much word on the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire is oddly absent. The Latin Empire; created by westerners during the fourth crusades is mentioned in name only, and no context is given to where it would be in the world. He even comes dangerously close to talking about it by bringing up John Scotus Erigena, an Irishman and famous neoplatonic philosopher. While Erigena was schooled in Plato, his schooling in platonic thought did not take place in the west which is what to book seems to suggest. But while studying abroad in the Greek Byzantine Empire where Plato's writings had survived. I was constantly surprised with how often Dr. Sunshine tries to make it appear that there was widespread study of Plato in the west. While there were philosophers like Erigena, they were the exception rather than the rule. It wouldn't be until the Council of Florence in 1438-39 that Gemistus Pletho would resurrect study of Plato in the west; despite Dr. Sunshine having "platonic humanism" as early as the mid 1200's. And for as often as Plato gets a mention in the books, Pletho and the entire Council of Florence who's goal was the reconcile the great schism don't even get a mention.

The book continues to have a number of issues, such as the suggestion that Jefferson meant by the pursuit of happiness "goodness and virtue". The reality was that Jefferson was keeping with the original theme of Locke "life, liberty, and estate". The term "estate" though had no resonance with the American people as there was no landed aristocracy in the colonies; the terminology was adjusted to be more in line with the mindset of early Americans. The assertion that "Darwinism" is not scientific as it can't be falsified it just wrong. A mammal in the Carboniferous period for example, would prove evolution wrong; it's really that simple. The author has a bad habit of fighting straw-men to prove his point toward the end of the book, where more modern ideas are being discussed. A particular example is where he uses Freud's theories as an opposing viewpoint. While Freud was important in his time, he no longer is in modern psychology. I can't imagine finding a modern psychologist who still holds to any of Freud's theories. Finally, the book is trying to cover a massive span of time. More than 2000 years of human history and thought in roughly 200 pages. Some quick math shows the book is moving at a pace of 13 years a page. And for the time span to book attempts to cover, the bibliography is a tiny 5 pages.

In summary, the book is simply too biased and too ill researched to be considered in any way credible. Even at it's best the book is an unforgivingly dull read.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t feel much real enthusiasm when I started reading this book. I expected it to be dry, somewhat boring, and that it would take me a long time to finish. I was wrong on all accounts.
This book is about how a Christian world view would change over decades and centuries, starting from Rome and leading up to modern times. In order to understand the Christian world view at each of those times, it is important to understand how the rest of the world saw things as well. I believe the author did a very good job at presenting both sides.
The reason I especially like this book is that it helps me understand where some of the church traditions came from and why would you do some of what we do. Some of these things have always puzzled or intrigue me, and now I have some solid answers. My particular point of confusion centered around communion. I couldn’t figure out how we got from what Jesus told people to do in remembrance of him to where we are now with little glasses of Red grape juice and little chunks of dried out crackers. Now I have a much better understanding of how this came to be. However, now I have an interesting dilemma because I don’t think this matches up with God‘s word very well. I have taken communion at a home church where we broke off pieces from a dense loaf of unleavened bread, real bread, and had small glasses of red wine. This form of communion felt more genuine to me, more spiritual as well as deepening the community between me and the other people in the room. It is difficult to put this into words. It felt as if Jesus was among us, A true kinsman redeemer. :-)
I don’t think this is a salvation issue or a reason to leave the church. I just think we are missing the point here by not actually breaking bread together and having wine as Christ did.
Please note that this book does not directly cover this issue. These are my personal thoughts that have been forming as I’ve read and thought about how our world has changed while Christ and His word have never changed.

[Garrett Mullet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Broad in scope, simple in form, articulated in an easy to understand way. This book would make a good companion work to Tom Holland's 'Dominion.'

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - Interesting look at the way the world has shifted since Rome due changing worldviews. I learned a lot from this book, but it required a lot of thinking/summarizing at the end of each chapter for me to grasp the big ideas at a deeper level.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not at all what it appears! It portrays itself as an objective look at how the western worldview developed, but it is actually just a piece of Christian apology!
Shortly into the book, you start to realize the author is Christian, and is writing from a Christian perspective, but he still does a fair job at being balanced, but about 2/3s of the way through, his gloves come off and it becomes a full attack on all things secular. He devotes an aentire chapter to trying to debunk 'Darwininsm', but clearly doesn't know much about biology. He repeatedly states something like 'Darwinism isn't falsifiable, so it isn't Science.' Evolution is very much falsifiable. Just one one example: if a rabbit fossil was found in the Cambrian era it would show Darwin to be completely wrong. Why do Christians always call it 'Darwinism' anyway? wtf? Its kind of like if secular people called Christianity Jesusism.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunshine is a gem, and you should read this book.

The book provides a survey of the development of western worldview from the time of the Roman Empire into which Christianity was born down to the present. Throughout, he upholds the value and uniqueness of the influence of Christianity in that history. In the conclusion, he shows how the rejection of Christianity as a cultural norm is bringing about a return to many of the characteristic features of the Roman society into which Christianity was birthed (and thus being an unusual cause for Christian hope in this present world).

I think this book would be valuable for the Christian high school or college student to read and outline, and a good read for *any* Christian wanting a better grasp on the history of Christian influence on Western society without the hostility that currently pervades such conversations.

I cannot write a review either so winsome or articulate (two of Sunshine's great strengths) as to merit postponing your enjoyment of this book, so I will borrow another of his great strengths--brevity--and just tell you to get to it.

*** This book is available in audio book format via Hoopla if that is an option for you.***

*** Sunshine is also the author of The Reformation for Armchair Theologians, more recently published as A Brief Introduction to The Reformation. This is certainly my single favorite introduction to the Reformation. ***

[Lauren Terwilliger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book blew my mind! Following ideologies with timelines through cultures past and present, “Why You Think The Way You Do” takes you on an unforgettable journey through history with a birds-eye view on the impacts those ideas and events had on modern day Western civilization. To solidify much of what I read, I dove into many a rabbit hole of external research on the ideologies or historical events referenced in the book. I felt like I learned something new or had an “aha” moment every other page! I highly recommend everyone high school aged and above read this book to truly understand how our culture has been shaped and what has made Western civilization so different than other civilizations past and present. This was a fascinating book and I can’t wait to reread it!

[Kenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned SO much from this book! It was clear and condensed yet extremely informative. It was amazing to see where many of the ideas that we take for granted today came from. It was also crazy to see that the issues our world faces today has strong similarities to the problems faced by those in years past.

[Paul Pompa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. Lots of good history. Lots of comparative analysis on worldviews and philosophies. To some degree it shows how we’ve in many ways come full circle from early Christianity.

[Dave Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the past year, I’ve been increasingly finding myself reading a lot of books on Apologetics and greatly enjoying the topic and the amount of literature in this field. As I’ve been reading on Apologetics, I’ve very quickly come to realize that I am very passionate about worldview issues and have been for a very long time. It should be of no surprise then that I’m reviewing a book on Worldviews titled Why You Think The Way You Do The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home by Dr. Glenn S. Sunshine. This book explores the question, “How have we come by our worldviews, and what influence did Christianity have on those that are common to Western civilization?”

This book is part biblical exploration and part church history. The author writes at a lay level to help his readers understand the development of worldviews that underpin the Western world. As he does this, he demonstrates the decisive effect the growth of Christianity has had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that is based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God that helped establish virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.

What makes this book a unique contribution to the many books on this topic is how the author discusses Western worldviews as a continuous narrative rather than as simply a catalog of ideas by tracing the effects changes in worldview have had on society. This approach helps readers to understand their own worldviews and those of other people by helping them to understand the consequences that worldviews have.

If Christians are going to make the kind of impact for the Kingdom of God that the early Christians had on Rome, we need their courage, their perseverance, and their faithfulness. If we have those qualities, we can and will have an impact on our society far beyond our numbers and will produce cultural renewal and a better life for those who come after us, Christian and non-Christian alike. I encourage you to get this book and read it carefully to learn the backdrop of our Western civilization and how God may use you as a vessel for His glory to reach others for the sake of His kingdom.

Title: Why You Think the Way You Do: The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home

Author: Glenn Sunshine

Publisher: Zondervan (2012)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Zondervan book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very clear survey of western worldview from Ancient Rome to today. Each chapter could be treated in a book of its own, so it's impressive how Glenn Sunshine is able to compress the ideas. But that means, unless you're already very familiar with the subjects covered, you can't skim this book!
I learned the most in the medieval section. And I appreciate that he corrected some common misconceptions - such as Columbus didn't really believe the earth was flat! I suggest you take notes as you read this book and plan to discuss it with someone afterward.
Sonshine ends the book with encouragement to Christians to actively work to influence our culture, but take the long view. The final paragraph is worth sharing: "We tend to get discouraged over a single election cycle. If we are going to have the kind of impact on our society that the early Christians had on Rome, we need their courage, their perseverance, and their faithfulness. If we have those qualities, we can and will have an impact on our society far beyond our numbers, and will produce cultural renewal and a better life for those who come after us, Christian and non-Christian alike.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why you think the way you do today in the Western world is largely connected to the days of Rome. This book explores the culture and worldview of Rome and how over time through various historical and cultural events, our world resembles it in many ways today. From post modernity, paganism, abortion, human trafficking, social injustice, and gender dysphoria to name a few, we can make parallels to the days of Rome to the days of today. Though gloomy and hard to face the realities of today, it raises up a call to Christians to engage today as they actually did in Roman times then too, though we may not have realized it. Christians changed the culture then, and we have the potential to change it today too.

[JR Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent short book on a history of western cultures and how changes in worldviews have led us to our current, post-modern situation. I wish Dr. Sunshine would have organized the book thematically rather than historically–The title indicates that the focus is on worldview through the lens of history, but it's the other way around–a whirlwind western civ. course with worldview implications or asides. The best chapter is the last one–where he does reflect on various aspects of a worldview and why the Biblical one provides the sound basis for culture itself–the image of God being the keystone for human rights, economics, politics, and religion.

As it is, the book is too little of either history or worldview to be super helpful in either category.

[Brittney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history dork meets epistemology. Two of my favorite topics done very well from a Biblical worldview.
Listened on audio but will have to buy my own copy.

[Andreas K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blatant Christian Agenda

I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book when it covers the importance and impact of Christianity on the major developments of post-classical society and Western worldviews up until the Enlightenment period. But it takes a turn towards blatant Christian propaganda once the complexities of modern worldviews set in, which undermine the argument of the book, which is ultimately that the Christian way is the right way. I really wanted to like this book, it's well-written, but also very superficial. But arguing that evolutionary theory is a leap of faith and calling climate change a new religion - lost me there. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see how much Christian thought has been shaped by many classical influences and has in turn shaped society in so many ways, it does answer "why we think what we do" in a Western context. I wish I could have stayed within that scope and not try to bust out the moral stick in the final quarter of the book. If you are a Christian, you'll enjoy it more I suppose.

[Kedryk Reynolds · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book grossly misreprents itself as an unbiased objective review of the christianity's effect on western world views. It becomes obvious very early that the author has a great distaste on the values of other religions and even goes as far as calling them perverted. They very delicately step over any unappealing aspecs of early christianity and make very blatant judgements on the practices of pagan religions. I found this book increasingly hard to read with every page due souly on the authors obvious attempt to frame early christians as the savioirs of the wretched perverted heathens around them. The title implies a tactful observation of the modern worldviews through a retelling of their origins but instead we are treated to a thinly veiled attack on any value opposed to the christianity.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating overview of Western history from Ancient Rome to modern times and how our worldview (including science, religion, economics, politics, ethics, etc) has developed over the centuries. He touches on so many things that we cover in Ambleside Online history readings, even including St. Brendan’s voyage, and builds a cohesive understanding of how we’ve gotten to where we are with postmodern thought and ethics and the political dumpster fire (😉) we are living in. I’m planning to build this into our high school years as it helps put a capstone on so many concepts and prepare students for what they will be facing head on.

[Tony Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening. Sunshine walks the Christian reader through changes, decisions, and events throughout history that have led the Western Culture to where we are today. If you are even remotely interested in generational thought-development from a Christian perspective, this book is a must read.

[Brock Stout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone in the West, and in the East, should read this book.

[Eugenie Santiago · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was gonna give it five stars. Up till the last 4 minutes of this audiobook I've been completely mesmerised by it and was thinking that everyone should read/listen to this book. The author even made me proud to be Christian (I consider it more my culture than my religion, though). The author presents his arguments as neutral and suggests in the beginning that the book is not about Christianity but about how the history of how Western civilisation developed. Given the role Christianity played in it, though, it was bound to take centre stage in the book.
This book has been a fascinating and engrossing journey through our history and it has made me think a lot about many things, about where my worldviews fall within the range of worldviews he presents. In that respect, I find the book very successful. But the author has managed to ruin this whole experience in the last chapter, where he goes on an evangelical rant about how we need to go back to the old ways of Christianity, with the Bible as our core, at which stage I've gone WTF?! Clearly, his intention was not to be impartial but to sell his view on Christianity and the Bible and God being the creator of the world. This has cast into doubt the integrity of the book since he's clearly biased in favour of Christianity and seems to have an "agenda". Most disturbing is the comment he makes that we're falling on the same sword that brought the Roman Empire to its demise: immigration. He warns that the West, at this rate, is gonna be 20% Muslim by 2050, so we Christians must wake up and take up the Bible once more to stop that from happening. I'm surprised that someone as knowledgeable doesn't understand the true meaning of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. We can't go back to the thesis. We need a synthesis, and I very much doubt going back to the old ways and starting preaching the glory of God and "HIS" creation with the Bible in hand is gonna bring the change we need. For me, the perfect ending would have been the author just letting us readers/listeners make up our own minds about what worldview we want to align with, rather than him trying to shove his own worldview down our throats.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the fun summary of Western philosophy got me interested, this is a Christian book. It is also the only history book I've ever read with an interesting plot twist in the second to last chapter.

The pro Christian argument is that without Christianity, the balance of our moral beliefs have no meaning. What are our morals based on if all that matters is the material world? What we have today is a remnant of the past. We have atheists with Christian morals. Over generations, there is no reason for the atheists to keep these morals. They will find reason, utilitarianism, etc. to make excuses for whatever morality suits their needs. While I don't ultimately agree that we are definitely headed in the wrong direction, I did find the argument compelling from a historical perspective.

I want to stress that this book is 95% history. It doesn't try to push any ideas until the very end of the book. If you hate the Christian right, I suggest you skip the last 2 chapters. With that said, I was shocked that I found the abortion argument enlightening given that it is such a trite, partisan topic. Sunshine talks about how the Romans used infanticide to get rid of women and deformed children. This ended when Christian values arrived because Christianity valued all life. He sees no reason why killing children won't be promoted in the future. In fact, he questions why any atheist would think differently about ending life just because the body slid out of the uterus.

I don't think Sunshine believes that will change anyone's opinion about abortion. His point is that our morality will change if Christianity is erased. That means that our current morality is already outdated if we're not going to be Christians. That's an important thing to understand whether you are Christian or not.

I am soon going to read Charles Taylor's book Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. He argues that human development has always been about creating the good.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating read!

I’ve been on a journey to figure out what it is that makes us do the things we do in society. Why is it the church is so inept at bringing change to the culture. The idea between eastern and western mindset intrigued me about this book. I honestly don’t even know why I picked it up. But I did and I’m so grateful.

You know it is a good book when while reading it, you realize you’re going to have to read it again to catch all the nuggets that are dropped in these few pages. It is a short read and synthesizes a lot of information very well. Thankfully, this isn’t the first book I’ve read in this area, so I was able to compare to the other research I’ve done and found for the most part it to be top notch.

Now I have some new areas to look further into to understand how to reach the hearts and minds of a society driving off a cliff with not a care or worry of concern. It breaks my heart to see so many people living in the deception and lies of the mindset that is not biblical, but this book has given me some great places to continue my pursuit of understanding how to straighten out all the lies that we have believed because of the week in an effective church leadership.

Praying that we wake up before we truly fall into the same demise that Rome experienced. Without the grace of God to open peoples eyes, we sadly no our fate. Thankfully we serve a mighty God, who is determined to help us turn from our wicked ways, and restore his favor and protection over our land.

So thankful for this book and all the information presented. My biggest issue is some of the misinformation about Jefferson and why he created his own Bible. But to me that’s not a huge issue,as he caught the true understanding of the position of our founding fathers which is a huge impactful area that we need to understand in order to operate fully in the benefits and privileges of being citizens of this great nation .

[K Pompa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the required curriculum for the Colson Fellowship. The book depicts the importance of worldview and how that has changed and evolved through cultures and civilizations. It's fascinating to look at history all the way back to the Roman Empire and see how people go back to their destructive nature time after time, even after knowing mistakes from the past. Humans always fail when left in control and end up destroying each other. Even more fascinating is the role Christianity has played and how it has shaped, for the better, civilizations and been the main proponent of human dignity, morality and value. I'm glad I read this book and will pass it along to my middle school kids as well. Unfortunately, so much of history and its significance is overlooked and left out in public school today. I agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Sunshine in that the Biblical worldview will prevail if we are left with the right to have a free marketplace of ideas and that we build from the bottom up, not the top down.

[Ahmed Almousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is full of information, and it’s written in very nice way, but the writer I think is biased, and claim that western civilization is product of Christian impact to the west, I think it is the opposite. Also, writer claim in one his chapters that Muslims believed that the reason of diseases were contagious is because of god well and they didn’t do any effort to prevent, it is totally untrue, because the people who lived in middleeast the had Quarantine for the people who come from different places to prevent pandemics since very long time . Another false point, writer claimed that private property were respected in the west , and no confiscation of property during the wars , is not true, and this was impact of Christian impact to the west.

Book overall is very useful for the one who want to the sequence of ideas and beliefs

[Bennett Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of Western thought from Rome to the present. Sunshine's presentation was clear, simple, and accessible. And he discussed economics and politics, as well as theology and philosophy, which makes this more than just a worldview catalogue arranged historically. His central thesis is that the greatest achievements of Western civilization were products of ideas that are rooted in the Bible and the Christian worldview, with the doctrine of the "image of God" being chief among them. I was particularly impressed by his ability to explain the metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical implications of this critical truth.

[Rachel Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a super fascinating discussion of the development of Western worldview from Rome all the way to present day America and the similarity (or return to) many of the Roman ideals/values. This book is written from Christian perspective and a reader should know that going into reading. Additionally, I thought the treatment of utopian ideals always leading to tyranny was especially relevant given the upcoming election that pits a liberal (borderline socialist) agenda against an agenda with little government regulation and oversight.

[Patience · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview and analysis of the development of western worldviews. Sometimes seems to lean toward oversimplification, but I think that's a necessary result of giving a manageable history of western thought. He makes a compelling case for the existence of strong parallels between Ancient Rome and post-modern western culture, and he points out some of the echoes of Roman thought in other eras, but it would have been interesting to see him develop that theme a little more. Is the post-modern western world really the first time that we've come "full circle" to Ancient Rome?

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glenn Sunshine research and explanations of the development of religions and our changing thought process over the ages was clear and fascinating to me. Sunshine did an excellent job of starting at the beginning of civilization as we know it and applying this progression of thought to Christianity today.
I read this book at a slow pace even when I hit the last chapter. I did not want to miss a word. “Why you think the way you do” was not an easy read but well worth the time spent with it. I will read it again.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling read even if you didnt like your undergrad philosophy class

Dr. Sunshine makes a comprehensive review of worldviews and their impact on all facets of culture throughout history a compelling read for even those who didn't exactly love the undergrad philosophy course. It's amazing how culture influences our thinking and how our thinking influences culture. We cannot improve our world without understanding how we got here and why.

[Stephanie Serrano Hargrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes you through ever culture from the beginning of Christianity in Rome to today and what we face as Christians and what we are called to do this is not light read but a deep dive into other schools of thought and their worldview and where we are in the scheme of this. You will learn every worldview that we have in history and today. And what is wrong with our society and our culture and our children teenagers and preteens