The Universe Next Door Summary

James W. Sire is a Christian author with a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He teaches English, philosophy, theology and other courses at many universities. It is no surprise that he published a book about different worldviews. His most popular book is The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog that was published in 1976. The Universe Next Door has sold over 350,000 copies and has been translated into 19 languages. The Universe Next Door describes and discusses eight different popular worldviews.

Sire says that each worldview can be “expressed in propositions” (p. 22). This means that each worldview can be boiled down to eight basic questions. As the book progresses, each chapter starts with an introduction to the worldview and ends with Sire’s opinion on how the worldview is still popular. In the middle of each chapter, he answers those eight basic questions. Early in the book, he states the eight questions as “What is a prime reality-the really real? …What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world

around us? … What is a human being? … What happens to a person at death? … Why is it possible to know anything at all? … How do we know what is right and wrong? … What is the meaning of human history? … What personal, life-orienting core commitments are consistent with this worldview?” (p. 22-23)

So how do each of these questions relate to a worldview? Sire has the belief that everyone has a worldview (p 19). The main worldviews are Christian theism, deism, naturalism, nihilism, existentialism, Eastern pantheistic monism, postmodernism and Islamic theism. Each chapter follows the eight basic questions and how each worldview would answer or approach them.

The first worldview that Sire starts with is theism. Theism is perhaps the first worldview that people think of. Theism is the worldview that concerns God. Sire views that the first question to address with theism is the fact that the theistic God is a very personal and infinite God. He is triune, transcendent and immanent. The first basic question asks what the prime reality is, and the theistic point of view says that God is the prime reality. Sire also states that God created everything “ex nihilo” (p. 31). This means that God created everything out of nothing. At the end of the chapter about theism, Sire states that theism is a complete worldview because it can accurately answer all of the questions without contradicting itself. It also talks about how the people who believe in theism go a step further than just accepting that this is true, but that they go towards obedience and praise to the Lord.

Because theism is very doctrinally, theologically and philosophically heavy, many people became very upset with this worldview. Insert here deism. Deism developed because people wanted a simpler worldview. Deism sees God as the clockmaker of the universe. In other words, the followers of deism believe that God started out the universe and then abandoned it to run on its own. Sire states that there are two forms of deism: warm deists and cold deists. Warm deists are the closest to Christian theists. Warm deists believe that there is an afterlife after death. Cold deists, on the other hand, do not believe in the afterlife at all. Cold deists believe in a heavy presence of science in their worldview. A major difference between theism and deism is that they believe that human beings are nothing but “apart of the clockwork of the universe” (p. 52). Sire points out that while deism was only supposed to be a transitional worldview, people enjoyed the fact that they could claim that there is a God, but not have a very long and detailed description of who God actually is. Deism is a worldview that supports focusing on making oneself feel good.

Deism is really the stepping-stone between theism and naturalism.

He also says that without deism, “naturalism would not have come about so readily” (p. 66). Naturalism answers the “What is a prime reality-the really real?” question with the statement that prime reality is matter. This matter exists forever but God does not exist. Naturalism also believes that the universe is a closed off system that cannot be changed. In naturalism, death is the end of any kind of personality or individuality. Not very personal, naturalism states that because humans are made solely of matter, they are not capable of anything but existing. Human Manifesto II says that there is “No credible evidence that life survives the death of the body.” (p. 74). Sire states that naturalism has had a great staying power. The reason why it has had great staying power, he believes, is because it gives the impression of being honest and it logically makes a lot of

sense.

From deism to nihilism, the author takes a huge swing to what might seem like a completely opposite worldview. But is it really? Nihilism, as stated in the book, is “more a feeling than a philosophy” (p. 94). Nihilism is really the denial of any philosophy or worldview. The Universe Next Door states it well that nihilism is the “negation of everything- knowledge, ethics, beauty, reality” (p. 94). An eerie start to this chapter, Sire mentions a thirty-five second play that has no actors but more or less a pile of garbage. The lights go dim and brighten and then go dim again and all the audience hears is a deep breath in then an exhaled breath then a cry to close the play off. This almost psychedelic approach to the earth is exactly what nihilism tries to portray. Nihilism believes that while they are the natural child of naturalism, naturalism in itself was confining. Sire mentions that anyone who belongs and believes in naturalism basically ends up in an insane asylum or changes worldviews. Nihilism is very odd and unusual and can end up playing with the brain in a strange way.

Like nihilism, existentialism follows many of the same beliefs. But in turn, existentialism tries to transcend nihilism. But as Sire later states, that while it tries to transcend it, it fails to. Basic theistic existentialism and atheistic existentialism are two of the forms that one could see existentialism in. Theistic existentialism accepts the basic concepts of theism like God being a personal God and creating something out of nothing. But, they believe that human beings find themselves in a strange world and that it is a tough question whether or not there is a God. Because theistic existentialism does not start with God, this is what sets it apart from actual theism. Atheistic existentialism on the other hand accepts naturalisms basic questions. Atheistic existentialism focuses on that each person is totally free. Totally free to make their own decisions and free within.

Eastern pantheistic monism is very different from the previous worldviews mentioned. Eastern pantheistic monism was formed because the West tends to focus on discussing who is right and who is wrong. The East decided to end this quarreling, and they created a worldview that states “let go and let it happen” (p 145). Eastern pantheistic monism focuses on become one with the One. When one becomes one with the One, they find true inner peace. This is accomplished by many different tasks like yoga, chants, stress chanting, mantra and chanting the word “om”. Buddhism is different than eastern pantheistic monism in the way that Buddhists believe that the final reality is the Void (p161). Sire states that while this worldview has lost some attraction, the Eastern worldview is slowly adopting some of the Western appearances.

The last worldview is that of postmodernism. This worldview accepts the foundation of naturalism, which is that humans are matter and God does not exist. Postmodernism has spread like wildfire and can be seen in sociology, cultural history, natural science, anthropology and psychology. Postmodernism can also be seen in health with the practices like acupuncture and psychic healing. While New Age is “highly syncretistic and eclectic” (p 179) it gets its basic ideas from almost every other worldview. One could say that it is a melting pot of many different worldviews.