If you’re a Christian homeschooler who wants to teach biblical worldview to your teens, then you’re likely searching for great resources or curriculum. This post will walk through the pros, the cons, and our honest experience using the Biblical Worldview high school curriculum from BJU Press.
My posts contain affiliate links.
What is a Biblical Worldview
A worldview can be pictured as the set of glasses by which you view the world. Everything you read, hear, process, and think, makes it way through those glasses.
So then, a Biblical worldview is how Christians hope to gain perspective in this culture. It is shaped by the Word of God as the framework of beliefs, doctrine, and story of the world.
A biblical worldview (or a Christian worldview) is a worldview based on God’s unchanging Word. Since God is the Creator of everything in heaven and earth, He is the standard for truth. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and unchanging.
What is a Biblical Worldview and Why Is It Important in Education?, BJU Press homeschool blog
Perspective of BJU Press Biblical Worldview Curriculum
Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption from BJU Press takes the biblical worldview that is presented in all of the BJU Press materials and pulls it together in this one course. After explaining the significance of worldview, the student learns a Biblical worldview through the framework of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Finally, the course seeks to apply a biblical worldview to social institutions and disciplines.
Students learn apologetics and how worldview plays into all of these aspects of life:
- marriage and family
- government
- science
- history
- culture and the arts
BJU Press is written from a Protestant understanding of Scripture.
While false worldviews are discussed, the teaching is done from a positive presentation of and focus on the biblical worldview. This worldview curriculum also teaches a Bible-first perspective and seeks to look at evidence based on the infallibility of Scripture as the starting point. Because this text is written from a narrative point of view within the framework of Creation, Fall, and Redemption, this textbook is more enjoyable to read that a typical textbook filled with facts and definitions. It’s really the exploration of how God has interacted and continues to interact with His creation and the final end to which the world is headed – a new creation.
Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption is an examination of science, the arts, government, gender, and history using the lenses provided by the biblical storyline of Creation, Fall, Redemption to encourage students to make positive and distinctively Christian contributions in God’s world. A faith-centered approach focuses on developing a Christian worldview rather than critiquing false worldviews.
BJUPressHomeschool.com
Why a Christian Teen Should Study Worldview
I had just returned home from the Foundations Summit, hosted by BJU Press, in May 2021, where I heard Renton Rathbun give workshops to the invited homeschool attendees, and I realized that BJU Press had done a great job expanding this biblical worldview foundation into their curriculum. When I grew up using some BJU Press materials during my Christian school upbringing, the worldview component seemed like a tack-on to the content.
And I whole-heartedly believe that Christian teens need to learn to study Scripture for itself for Bible classes and not rely on an “already digested” curriculum to teach them the Bible. But, for my high school teens who have done inductive deep dives into whole books of the Bible, grown up in church knowing the chronology of Scripture and major doctrines, this Biblical Worldview curriculum was a missing component to their discipleship. Not missing totally, but this course pulled it together in one package, neatly arranged in a logical order.
So maybe this describes your situation? Your kids know how to study Scripture for themselves, they’ve grown up in the church, but it would be an effort worth making to dive into worldview before they graduate – because this worldview affects literally everything they will encounter as adults! From marriage to government to gender roles in society to arts and culture – nothing is immune from worldview. And if our teens don’t adopt a biblical worldview, they will adopt a secular one. No one is neutral.
BJU Press Biblical Worldview Curriculum for High School Components
There are many “moving” pieces to the complete curriculum package from BJU Press. I’ll get to this in a bit, but this was one of the massive drawbacks for us as a homeschooling family. I prefer open & go, homeschool-friendly resources. This is not that.
To complete the course as suggested by the publisher, you’ll need the whole parent-led textbook kit, which at the time of this publication (2024) cost just about $123. The Biblical Worldview Subject Textbook Kit includes:
- Teacher’s Edition
- Student Text
- Activities
- Activities Answer Key
- Tests
- Tests Answer Key
The Student Text is, of course, the most important component of this course. I wish that BJU Press would create answer keys to the student books that didn’t require a humongous Teacher’s Edition. The Teacher’s Edition includes extra explanations to the text, resource lists, and chapter review answers.
The tests, in my opinion, are over the top in difficulty. There is one huge test for each unit. A unit includes three chapters with a ton of information. Let me give you an inside peek into what the unit 1 test includes:
- 15 true/false questions
- 16 multiple choice
- 16 short answer, which includes defining multiple terms, listing out key factors, giving multiple reasons, etc.
- 11 matching
- 3 essay questions – asking for a paragraph or two about each one
- 3 Scripture memory – writing out passages from memory
The Student Activities book (and related Student Activities Answer Key book) include 1-3 additional activities per chapter! The student book already includes 5 questions for each small section of the book, then 11 questions for each chapter review. I’m not saying the Student Activities are not excellent, but I have no idea how a student would have time for them.
Now, if you wanted to include everything in the student book plus the activities book, you could very easily (in my opinion) take 2 full school years to complete this course in its entirety. Otherwise, you’ll need to pick and choose what’s most important for your family.
The publisher suggests this course is for an 11th grade student. My son took this class during his 10th grade year instead, since my 11th and 12th graders tend to take several Bible classes as dual enrollment courses.
What are the highlights of this curriculum
Every curriculum and resource has obvious pros and cons for the homeschool user. In our review of BJU Press Biblical Worldview Curriculum for High School, the best part of this course is the content. This course will dive into worldview topics that you may not cover in any other class, even if your other classes and resources are coming from a Christian worldview perspective.
Many Christian textbooks or classes tend to add in a biblical worldview comment or Scripture verse as an after-thought rather than absorbing the whole course in a biblical worldview.
Here are the practical topics covered in this class:
- Worldview
- Creation – God the Creator, Man and His Mandate, Everything God Made Was Very Good
- Fall – Far as the Curse if Found, Common Grace, the World, and You, Structure and Direction
- Redemption – An Everlasting Kingdom, Redeemed for Good Works, The Mission of the Church and Your Vocation
- Gender – The Man and the Woman in Creation, Marriage Twisted, Marriage Redeemed
- Government – Foundations of Government, Political Perspectives, The Goal of Government
- Science – Science is Something God Created Humans to Do, Fallen Science, Reading Genesis and Doing Science
- History – Foundations for History, Fallen History, History in Light of Redemption
- Arts & Culture
This course is very thorough. In fact, there’s so much content included in the text and the additional activities, that most of you will never use it all.
Another benefit is that you can choose the version of this curriculum that you prefer – whether ESV or KJV.
What are the drawbacks of this curriculum
When the Teacher’s Edition is at least double the size of the student text, you know you have a problem when you’re homeschooling! Open & go curriculum is the best option, in my opinion, for most homeschoolers. However, I was willing to try this out as the content is hard to find anywhere else.
I’ve already detailed this above, but the tests are way too detailed and overwhelming for most kids. My kids have taken dual enrollment Bible classes from BJU and those tests don’t even seem to be this nit-picky!
You’ll never use all the activities. Some of you will be overwhelmed with this curriculum because there’s too much content. If you’re okay with being in charge of the curriculum and using the parts you want to and ignoring the rest, then you’ll be fine. But if it’s going to cause you ongoing stress, maybe this curriculum is not for you.
How is BJU Press Biblical Worldview Curriculum for High School supposed to be used
This curriculum is laid out into units that include 3 chapters each. There is one test at the end of each unit. The whole course is planned to include 175 days of study, with each chapter taking about 6 days to complete.
Each day the student reads part of a section in the student book and completes the questions in the student text. Several times each chapter there are 1-2 additional activities to complete in the Student Activities book. Then, there’s a complete review day, with chapter review questions in the student book. And the final day of the unit includes the unit test.
FAQ – How Does this Curriculum Cover Specific Topics
I know that even in a Biblical worldview course, not every Christian family will agree on how every topic is presented. So I’ve chosen a few examples to give you insight into how the BJU Press Biblical Worldview Curriculum for High School covers it.
9.2 Sex in a Fallen World
The structure is clear in Scripture: God created sex, so sex is good. (“Sex is bad” is not the Christian view.) Sex’s structure is revealed in many places in the Bible, but it can be boiled down to this – Enjoy sexual intercourse often – within the covenant bonds of exclusive, one-on-one, heterosexual marriage. (page 127)
13.1 Marriage and Family
The authority structure in a marriage is like the one in the Trinity…. That’s what “head” most naturally means in a context like this one: “authority.”
…From the earliest pages of Genesis we can discern this same kind of distinction between the husband and the wife: equal in essence, different in function. Neither is more important or better than the other; God has simply assigned them different roles in order to accomplish what is best for the good of the human race and for His own glory. (page 185)
13.3 Gender Roles Beyond the Nuclear Family
“… not all Christians agree that men and women are given different roles. Two major positions are influential: (1) complementarianism, which sees the sexes as serving in complementary roles, and (2) egalitarianism, which sees every role in home, church, and society as equally open to women and men. (page 193)
This curriculum gives the explanations to both sides of the gender role argument in churches through a point-counterpoint discussion. The text is fair and balanced to both and doesn’t come out on one side or the other. It asks the student in one sidebar: “Which side do you fall on? If you want to earn the right to an opinion on the issue, studying the Scripture passages dealt with in this unit is the place to start.” (page 194).
14.2 Homosexuality
This text uses a lot of current cultural references. In the previous chapter on masculinity and femininity, Bruce Jenner is used as a negative example. In this section on homosexuality, the text brings in the story of former practicing lesbian and tenured university professor of queer theory, now pastor’s wife and homeschool mom – Rosaria Butterfield.
In a section of the text titled The “Gay Christian” Movement, the student book says this:
This is a confusing time. That’s why you need Bible study skills and a biblical worldview. You need Bible study skills because the “gay Christians” use sophisticated arguments about the meaning of New Testament Greek words, about Bible interpretation in general, and about the relationship of the two testaments in Scripture. This is not the place to enter those detailed arguments.
This is the place, instead, to remember Creation, Fall, Redemption. If you don’t see the Bible as the story of a good creation twisted by Adam’s Fall and then restored to its purpose, you’ll miss the most important argument in the whole homosexuality debate, which is this: the way God created the world is the standard by which we should judge the way things ought to be.
Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption (page 206)
Our Honest Experience and Review
After completing several chapters at the beginning of his 10th grade year, my teen and I found the assignments a bit laborious. We even tried the first test which seemed to be a bit nit-picky. We were never going to get to any of the extra activities, so we ditched that thought right from the start.
In order to award 1 credit on his transcript, he needed to complete approximately 150 hours of work this year on this course. That means that by investing 45 minutes to 1 hour each day of school (typically 180 days), he would earn that credit.
He answered the end-of-chapter questions for a while, but it was really just bogging him down. So, after Christmas break, I made the decision to just continue to read the text – which is excellent, by the way – but he needed to write up a chapter summary with the most important things he learned for each chapter. This is basically taking a curriculum made for a traditional classroom and turning it into a resource that is usable for homeschoolers without cracking open the massively intimidating teacher’s manual!
So, yes, we’re going back to tried-and-true written narrations with this worldview course. I’d rather read what my son has learned and then have discussions with him from there rather than get bogged down with over-the-top unit tests and excessive activities.
We may not finish the textbook completely, but that’s perfectly fine. We’ll get to as much as we can. And by stripping away the extra school-y parts of this very traditional curriculum (made for a classroom), it’s more user-friendly for our family.
Check out BJU Press Biblical Worldview Curriculum for High School
