To see or not to see? Rethinking worldview in missiological education

The concept of worldview has been employed as a framework for interpreting cultural and religious differences in missiological praxis, yet its definition and usefulness are contested. This article asks: How should the concept of worldview be used in missiological education, if at all? Drawing on a critical literature review spanning missiology and related disciplines, the paper examines three central questions—what worldview refers to, its relationship to religion, and whether it is collective or personal. Based on the literature review, the article concludes that use of the worldview concept as a fixed, collective construct, is problematic, but that it remains a valuable means of dialogue when reframed as personal, embodied, and relational. Missionary training about worldview should therefore focus on cultivating ethnographic attentiveness, reflexivity, and theological reflection, rather than on defining other people’s beliefs.