John Valk

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor at University of New Brunswick

This chapter focuses on the cultural dimensions of worldviews: the stories, master narratives, sacred texts, teachings, and ethical principles embraced by various worldviews. It highlights the various rituals and symbols that define beliefs, values, and behaviours of various worldviews. It emphasizes social and communal gatherings that shape or str...

This chapter focuses on investigating certain universal beliefs and values such as justice, dignity, equality, sacredness of life, and concern for the environment and how these are particularized or given expression by various worldviews and through behaviours and actions within individual or national contexts. It will argue that peoples in all cul...

This chapter focuses on the ontological and epistemological factors that play a role in shaping worldviews. It explores the ontological beliefs of various worldviews regarding the nature of being, including the material and spiritual nature of the human, the immanent and transcendent. Beliefs regarding the beginnings and endings of the universe, ho...

A conclusion section summarizes the main points made in each chapter and reveals the comprehensiveness of our worldviews. Our beliefs, values, actions, and behaviours are impacted and influenced by the circumstances in which we are immersed. Cultural Dimensions—sacred texts, narratives, metanarratives, teachings, rituals, symbols, communities, and...

This chapter focuses on ultimate or existential questions, the so-called big questions that get at the heart of some of life’s big concerns—meaning and purpose; discerning right from wrong; responsibilities and obligations; existence of a higher purpose, force, or being; life after this life—and explores these from a variety of religious, spiritual...

This chapter focuses on family, community, socio-cultural contexts, and societal institutions that impact, shape, and influence personal and communal worldviews. It explores how contextual sources or factors—familial, social, communal—shape and influence certain beliefs and values, behaviours and actions, a first step in self-awareness. It argues t...

“In this magnum opus, John Valk presents the fruits of teaching and theorizing on worldviews for more than two decades. This book deals with worldviews as views of life and ways of life using an elaborate and comprehensive conceptual framework. This bridge-building approach, so urgently needed today, can create greater understanding of one’s own wo...

Diverse societies face increasing racial tension, social divide, religious illiteracy, and secularism. What role can education play in confronting these challenges? Universities generate scientific knowledge but less so the search for meaning. Worldview studies encompasses both views of life and ways of life. Exploring various worldviews becomes a...

In Chapter Three, Valk, Albayrak and Selçuk focus on what are often called the “big questions” of life. These questions confront all worldviews, whether secular or religious. Using an ultimate/existential framework, this chapter briefly mentions some general responses given by a number of worldviews to big questions such as the meaning/purpose of c...

In Chapter Two, Valk, Albayrak and Selçuk focus on the cultural dimensions framework and all its components. Each section initially addresses in brief issues or aspects that in large part are common to all worldviews, whether secular or religious, and raises questions that might arise from them. Then, in greater detail, the authors present in each...

In Chapter Four, Valk, Albayrak and Selçuk focus on yet another area that confronts worldviews, this time addressing some complex ontological questions. Here again, the chapter begins by briefly mentioning some general responses given by a number of worldviews, both religious and secular, to questions regarding the physical nature of being, the met...

In Chapter Five, Valk, Albayrak and Selçuk address some complex epistemological questions. The chapter begins by briefly mentioning some general responses given by a number of worldviews, both religious and secular, to questions regarding subjective knowledge, objective knowledge, and the sources of our knowledge. It then presents in greater detail...

In Chapter Six, Valk, Albayrak and Selçuk focus on beliefs and values that are often regarded as universal but are interpreted and enacted in different ways in different contexts. Notions of justice, equality and openness, for example, are understood in considerably different ways in different times and places. This poses a challenge for Islam, as...

In the minds of many in Europe and North America, the words Islam and violence often go hand in hand. Islam is readily associated with 9/11, ISIS, the oppression of women, honour killings, beheadings, and more. Small wonder. The media—newspapers, radio, television and more—report on an almost daily basis some car bombing, suicide bomber, mass killi...

In a world that is becoming increasingly globalized, it is ironic—as well as unfortunate and sometimes tragic—that secular and religious worldview education is decreasing, in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. This article argues for the immediate need for programs that intentionally prepare teachers for all aspects of the educational workfo...

Education, in one form or another, has been integral to the human condition since time immemorial. To be human is, among other things, to learn. It is to learn the basics – reading, writing, and arithmetic, even in its most simple forms. But it is also much more.

This book is a journey into the heart of an Islamic worldview. It asks challenging questions of far-reaching consequence, addressing matters such as the Qur’an and revelation; rituals and symbols embraced; nature of God, of humans, and of our knowing; dignity of the human, sacredness of life, and more. It precludes easy, prescribed answers, preferr...

Exploring one’s worldview requires a journey into one’s heart, soul and mind (Knowing Self). But Knowing Self requires Knowing Others, imperative in a global world. To what extent do schools prepare students for participation in that global world, especially when it comes to awareness of its worldview diversity, and no less its religious diversity?...

Discussions involving religion's place today in politics, the academy, the media, even in shaping public policy, in essence the public square, is not without its controversy, misunderstandings and challenges. At what point, however, does use of the term religion become counter-productive or serve to impede that discussion. At what point does its us...

Worldviews are those larger pictures that inform and in turn form our perceptions of reality. They are visions of life as well as ways of life , are individual and personal in nature, yet bind adherents together communally. Coming to understand a worldview can serve to illuminate particular beliefs and values, and may be helpful in a post-Christian...

Turkish religious education's focus on religion from a social science and prescriptive Islamic perspective faces challenges today. This article presents a new model and approach that assists students in exploring their beliefs and values, those of others, and their Islamic heritage from an interdisciplinary worldview perspective.

Higher learning enhances not only knowledge, awareness and critical thinking but also a sense of meaning, purpose, responsibility, right action and hope for the future. These are concerns also of religious traditions which founded the great universities. But the secularization of the academy has marginalized and compartmentalized religious worldvie...

Leadership is about ideas and actions. Put simply, it is about implementing new ideas into creative actions to achieve desired results. Doing so, however, is far from simple. We know leadership requires considerable skills and abilities. It requires knowledge and insight—about one's organization or entity, its people, goals, strengths and market ni...

Leadership is about knowledge, skills, and abilities for transformation. It is also increasingly about worldviews or visions of life—beliefs, values, and principles. But worldviews are also ways of life, for beliefs direct us, values guide us, and principles motivate us to certain kinds of action and behavior. How, then, do worldviews have an impac...

Leadership is about knowledge, skills, and abilities for transformation. It is also increasingly about worldviews or visions of life —beliefs, values, and principles. But worldviews are also ways of life , for beliefs direct us, values guide us, and principles motivate us to certain kinds of action and behavior. How, then, do worldviews have an imp...

Knowing self cannot be accomplished without investigation of the other. Knowing self and others —in essence, understanding the human—entails engaging the larger existential or ultimate questions of life. These questions loom large and defy easy solutions, yet wrestling with them remains the hallmark of the educated person, as questions asked of oth...

Educators seek to nurture in the hearts and minds of students a sense of moral thinking, action and behaviour. What these constitute is dependent on one’s perspective, or worldview. Moral thinking and action emerge from worldviews or visions of life—religious or secular. In the history of common or public schools educators have linked moral educati...

Eliade, the well-known and prolific historian of religion, has himself of late become an object of intense study. In his endeavours he sought to uncover the deeper, trans-historical meaning of religious expression. He introduced the term ‘creative hermeneutics’ in his more recent writings, and was most intent on discovering what the religious pheno...

Introduction Measuring human well-being is important in determining whether people's lives improve or worsen over time. Today many countries focus on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a basis to measure economic well-being, but focus on economic growth fails to capture the overall well-being of the people (Kusago 2007; Stiglitz, Sen, and Fitoussi, 20...