What is Heart Orientation in a 3-D Worldview?
March 14, 2023
Katherine Schultz
Is it even possible to know someone’s heart? Well, no, of course not just by observing a person. We know this from the Bible, too: “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). But it is possible to ask worldview questions that can give a glimpse of understanding of a person’s heart orientation–to the person asking, as well as the one being asked.
3-Dimensional Worldview
To understand heart orientation as a part of a 3-dimensional concept of worldview, let’s be clear what we mean by worldview. A worldview is more than just ideas, thoughts, and beliefs. A worldview also includes a person’s behaviors. And it includes their attitudes. At 3-D Worldview Survey (3DWS), we label those three dimensions of worldview propositional, behavioral, and heart-orientation.
Heart Orientation: Attitudes
The definition of heart we use at 3DWS is “the religious, intellectual, affective, and volitional center of a person” (Naugle, 2002, 270). It is the attitudes and intentions, the inner thoughts, the will, with which a person operates. The questions in the 3DWS relate to a wide variety of topics in the propositional, behavioral, and heart-orientation dimensions, but this article is focusing on the heart-orientation dimension, so we’ll examine four parameters we think are part of the heart-orientation dimension in a person’s worldview.
Worship
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary online, there are two common definitions of worship: a) to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power; or b) to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion (Merriam-Webster, 2023). Both of these definitions apply to a worldview, even those that are not traditionally religious. We can have great regard and respect for Jesus, or we can have it for influential people in history such as Plato, Galileo, Bacon, Darwin, or Marx. It’s also possible to have such extravagant respect for inhuman concepts like justice, or reason.
Embodiment
Embodiment can be defined as making tangible or visible an idea, quality or feeling (Collins Dictionary, n.d.). For the Christian, we try to embody what it means to love and serve the Lord, we participate in the Lord’s Supper, and ultimately, we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God become man. A secularist might put similar trust into science, believing it can solve all human problems.
Symbol
A symbol is something that “represents or stands for something else, usually by convention or association, especially a material object used to represent something abstract” (Collins Dictionary, n.d.). Symbols such as the Bible, cross, or church buildings act as reminders to Christians, and Christ himself is the visible representation of the invisible God. But symbols play a part in secular worldviews as well: the scientific method, canonical writings such as Darwin’s Origin of the Species or Humanist Manifesto I & II, or even the Darwin fish serve as symbols.
Ritual
A general definition of a ritual is “a way of behaving or a series of actions which people regularly carry out in a particular situation, because it is their custom to do so” (Dictionary for English Learners, n.d.). Rituals in a Christian religious setting include the sacraments, observing the church calendar, and weekly gathering. For the secularist, rituals would include data collection and analysis, scientific investigation and experimentation, equality and justice, or creating safe spaces.
What Do I Do Now?
I have tried to give a very brief comparison between a Biblical worldview and a secularist worldview in the dimension of attitudes. The four parameters of worship, embodiment, symbol, and ritual all help us understand a person’s worldview more fully than their beliefs and behaviors alone would do. While it is still not possible to get a complete understanding of a person’s attitudes from the outside, these parameters help a person better understand his or her own worldview. And they give insights into the worldview of another person’s attitudes as well.
If you’d like help understanding someone’s worldview, asking questions is a great place to start. You can grab a free copy of the PDF “10 Questions to Understand Someone’s Worldview” at the link below.
References
Naugle, D. K. (2002). Worldview: The History of a Concept. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
