Western Worldview- And how it makes our brains tiny
( I dedicate this blog title to a Claremont alum friend who approved it on IG and she’s been sick, so she gets the blog title she wants)
We Don’t Even Know It’s There
Here’s the thing about worldview—we typically don’t realize we have one. Its the container in which we move. We may be aware of moving from one part of the container to another, but we remain unaware of the container itself, the way it is shaping how we move and where we move. So when it comes to theology we might change our theological opinion from
not supporting to supporting women in leadership,
or not affirming to affirming our queer kin,
or not talking about race in church to assuming it should be addressed from the pulpit
But we rarely step back to examine our assumptions about theology itself—the assumption that theology is primarily an intellectual exercise or something to be debated. We rarely question whether we’re even asking the right questions; instead, we argue over the answers. This happens because we aren’t aware of how the Western Worldview is creating a container for how we approach theology.
Much of this stems from not recognizing how our worldview is being formed in the first place. Language is a powerful example.
Language doesn’t just reflect reality; it shapes how we experience it. Take land, for instance. When we refer to it as a “natural resource” or speak of “ownership,” we’ve already placed it within a framework of extraction and possession. Without realizing it, we’re reinforcing a capitalist lens that reduces land to something to be used rather than something to be in relationship with.
But what if we learned to speak about land as a relative? Relationship and interrelatedness with the community of creation are embedded in many Indigenous languages. For example, in the Lakota language, there is a phrase, Mitakuye Oyasin, which translates to "All My Relations" or "We are all related.” And I must credit Lenore Three Stars for her teaching on this topic. The phrase holds a worldview—one of deep relationship with the land, and one of respect, mutuality, and responsibility.
This difference in language highlights another point: how worldview shapes not just what we say, but how we think. If our words shape our reality, then a language that centers relationship fosters a worldview of interconnectedness. But what happens when a language is built around the individual?
The Limits of Individualism in Language
English is obsessed with the individual.
And here’s another way English centers the individual: we capitalize “I.” Think about that. We don’t HAVE to capitalize “I.” It’s a choice. Meanwhile, other languages don’t do this. In Korean, names aren’t capitalized, its not even an option. And your last name comes before your first name. Think about how that holds meaning and value. You’re family name comes before your personal name.
But English? English props up the individual at every turn. It capitalizes the self and doesn’t have space for a collective “you.”
Case in point: There’s no real collective “you.” In the South, folks say “y’all.” Other languages make a clear distinction between “you” the individual and “you” the group. But English? It collapses everything into the singular. And that has major implications—especially when reading the Bible.
Most of the Bible isn’t speaking to “you” personally. It’s addressing entire communities—nations, cities, the people of God. But because English is so individualistic, Western readers shrink everything down to personal promises, personal morality, personal responsibility. Suddenly, collective accountability gets erased, even though the Bible is FULL of it.
And when that’s the container that we are given to make meaning of the world, and of the Bible, it has some troubling implications.
It means that even though huge portions of the Bible- Elder Testament and New Testament- are talking to collectives- those of us who speak English and have been shaped by the Western worldview turn everything into an individual conversation with God. And interpret sin as something that an individual does and an individual is held accountable.
So now when folks want to talk about the collective sin of slavery in the United States, the sin of genociding Native Americans, the sin of greed by corporations, the sin of ongoing corporate greed in many forms- the church says it has not place in the church, and continues to fixate on individual sin.
Because of the Western worldview—its deep-rooted individualism, the limitations of its language, and the way Western Christianity has been co-opted by empire—theology has been reshaped to serve the agenda of the U.S. Empire. Here in the United States, white Christian nationalism has become a tool of empire, and empire is not interested in being held accountable for its sins. And I’m intentionally using the language of sin here.
The Bible is deeply concerned with how nations use their power. It is interested in holding them accountable, and naming sin for what it is. But empire doesn’t want a theology that challenges it. It wants a theology that allows it to do whatever it wants without accountability. It wants a theology that allows it to do as it pleases while being punitive toward individuals.
Theolgies of empire are not really interest in individual holiness—just look at Trump. It is interested in power- just look at Trump. It exists to police marginalized people it perceives as a threat while making accountability for the very worst perpetrators of violence impossible.
When you carry the Western worldview’s obsessive individualism, unbridaled capitalism, and American Christianity’s relentless fuckboy allegiance to empire— you end up here. Right where we are in 2025.
* I must always credit Dr. Randy Woodley, Edith Woodley, Lenore Three Stars and many of my professors from the Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies with introducing me to this topic and to Indigenous worldview. I can not credit them for each idea they have given me, because they have throughly shaped by understanding of both the Western Worldview and Indigenous Worldview so thoroughly