Bishop Peter visited our parish last Sunday. It was a good service and a relevant sermon. Like all sermons at St Paul’s, this sermon is available in audio form on the website. In the sermon Bishop Peter also mentioned the conference to launch the Anglican Community of St Mark and the presentation given by Bishop Steve Maina, Bishop of Nelson, at the Conference. Bishop Steve tried to understand different worldviews and through that also our current society. I was also at the conference and found the presentation helpful.

The Anglican Community of St Mark is based on orthodox theology and holds traditional views on matters of ethics and morality within society and the church. This worldview, therefore, differs in some important aspects from currently dominant worldviews. That is one of the reasons why such a community is so committed to understanding different worldviews and ways of thinking.

Something similar happens with languages. People who know and speak many languages, and not just the one dominant one, are often a lot more interested in how languages work—in linguistics. When we are just immersed in the one language, we often do not question how it works, or how the language can shape our understanding of the world and reality. We do not actively notice the many assumptions we make because we speak the one language.

Similarly, many people never really question dominant worldviews. Different worldviews are just dismissed as unsophisticated or old-fashioned. However, if we are in tension with some dominant views, then one possibility to engage them is to look at underlying assumptions of different worldviews. That doesn’t mean giving up one’s own position, but rather trying to understand more about how humans see the world. I hope that the Anglican Community of St Mark can continue to provide a point of difference and can help people to consider different worldviews.