War and the Christian Worldview: Introduction

Part one in the seven-part series War and The Christian Worldview

Grand Canyon University integrates a Christian worldview into our curriculum and classroom discussions. We look at global events from a biblical perspective and have created a video series to help understand the war in Ukraine.

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Below is a transcript of War and the Christian Worldview, episode 1, an introduction:

Welcome to the War and Christian Worldview video series. My name is Dr. Jacob Hicks. I'm an online instructor in the College of Theology and I teach Systematic Theology, Christian Worldview and Christian History courses. Before we get started today, I did want to mention a little bit about what a worldview is. According to church planner, Tim Keller, a worldview is the comprehensive perspective from which we interpret all of reality, or you might be able to think of it as a lens or a pair of glasses through which we see and understand the world around us.

So, keep that in mind as we go through this video series process. Now, on Thursday, February 24th of this year, as we all know, the Russians, as commanded by President Vladimir Putin launched an all-out war, an all-out invasion, upon the Ukrainian people. Untold amounts of suffering has occurred in just a little over a month span of time and it's been bewildering, heartbreaking, daunting. What are we to make of all this suffering that's been going on?

People have lost their homes. Millions of people have actually been made into refugees virtually overnight. Thousands upon thousands of civilians have been murdered. People are stuck in various cities like Mariupol starving to death without medicine. It's been devastating and, unfortunately, we don't know when this war is going to end. Now, we do a great job in our churches and our families as Christians talking about the importance of finances, the importance of marital ethics, various things like that, but we don't really have a comprehensive understanding of what war is. How should we understand the Russia-Ukraine war and how should we understand war in general?

In our fallen broken world, war is a reality.

We try to prevent war, we don't want war to happen but, nevertheless, war exists. So how are we as Christians supposed to think about war? It's a big question, a weighty question, but fortunately the Christian worldview provides a very clear and comprehensive perspective on how to address war. To help us with this goal, several College of Theology professors have volunteered to do a video on various topics related to either war in general, or about the specific Russia-Ukraine crisis, and there's different approaches that, depending on the instructor, different approaches that they'll use. Some will use more of a biblical exegesis perspective.

Others, they'll use like a theological perspective or a historical analysis, and then one will even use a little bit of a personal testimonial, and some presenters will combine several different approaches. Now what you'll not see and listen to whenever you look at these videos is a specific denominational perspective on what war from a Christian worldview perspective is. See, here in the College of Theology and in the seminary, we're an interdenominational institution. So, what that means is we don't favor Baptist, Catholics, or any specific denominal perspective over one another. We're all unified on the essentials of the gospel, and we leave room for diversity when it comes to issues that are not foundational to what it means to be a Christian.

Also, if you're looking for the instructors to give a political spiel about, like, what specific politician or what specific political party has it right on war versus another, that's not really what this video series is going to be looking for. We're looking at war from a Christian worldview perspective that's above any sort of petty partisan concerns that are going on in our country now. So in light of what I just said, let me give you the lineup of presenters and topics relating to war and the Christian worldview.

Dr. Paul Rabbe will present on What Is Just War Theory from a Christian worldview perspective and how it's relevant to the Russian-Ukraine war. Dr. Christian Wilder will discuss To Kill or Murder, an important exegetical debate surrounding the sixth commandment. Professor Tom Joseph will draw attention to the topic of What Is Eastern Orthodoxy, the religion of most of Ukraine’s people. Dr. Amanda Jenkins will then examine What Does Christianity Say About Human Rights.

Dr. Brian Koning will examine the thorny question of Why Does God Command War in the Old Testament. And then I’ll conclude things with some specific action items what we, as Christians, can do in light of the Ukraine-Russian crisis. So, if you're interested in learning about war from a Christian worldview perspective, please stay tuned.

I want us to think about, and act Christianly about war, just as if we would if we were talking about marriage or finances or giving to missions. This is an important topic especially in light of what's going on in our world today that we really need to get a grasp on and really need to act in the most Christian way possible. So, thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy the series.

Read more Christian Worldview blogs and learn about theology and ministry degree programs offered by GCU's College of Theology.