Culture: Everyone experiences it, but few can define it
The silhouettes of two visitors are seen in front of an art piece by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, Germany. Photo AFP, Lilith von Borstel
Christian Life
Culture is everywhere. Whether reading a book or playing the piano, we are constantly reminded that we live within a culture. But what does that word mean?
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Are we talking only about the arts? If that were the case, why do we find the suffix -culture in words like agriculture, horticulture, or apiculture (beekeeping)? Do the arts have anything to do with these activities? What’s more, expressions like ‘LGBT culture’ or ‘cultural Marxism’ are more and more used these days.
Culture is also at the heart of the biblical worldview. In the Bible, the account of the creation of man, as found in Genesis 1:26-28 is known as the cultural mandate. But religion has nothing to do with culture, does it?
In fact, the word culture comes from the Latin cultus, a word that also gave rise to the word cult. This should already tip us off because the word cult is inextricably linked to religion. Indeed, cultus means worship. Contrary to popular belief, not only is culture associated with religion, but in reality, all culture is rooted in religion. But what link can there be between religion and culture? And how does agriculture have its roots in religion?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines culture as follows:
the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time;
the attitudes, behaviour, opinions, etc. of a particular group of people within society.
These definitions hint at the fact that the roots of a culture are always religious. In his masterful book The Mission of God, Joe Boot explains that the word culture also comes from the Latin verb colere, which can mean ‘to till the soil to make things grow.’
If we therefore link the two Latin words at the root of the word culture, cultus and colere, culture ploughs seeds, that is, basic ideas about what is good, just, or beautiful, and makes them grow to become a concrete reality in all areas of society. It is, therefore, on the basis of these ideas that a nation organises itself at all levels. However, ideas concerning good and evil, right and wrong, etc., are always religious.
It is that which man worships as God that will generate these ideas. All human activity is, therefore, religious. This is why Henri Van Til was right to define culture as nothing other than ‘religion externalised. In other words, culture is a belief system applied in all spheres of society.
The religious roots of culture are not clearly apparent in modern Europe. These beliefs, which seem self-evident to most people, can be expressed as follows: human reason and senses can understand all of reality without external help. Man can, therefore, interpret the world completely autonomously. These beliefs were at the heart of the philosophy of the Enlightenment. The ancient Greek expression can summarise them, ‘Man is the measure of all things’, which was revived by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Although the philosophers of the Enlightenment described themselves as non-religious, their belief was just as religious as the belief in Jesus Christ. Modern European culture rests firmly on this religious foundation called ‘humanism’.
Biblical Christianity denounces humanist belief. It, therefore, attacks the root of the culture that dominates European nations. The Bible effectively describes any doctrine opposed to the Bible as being ‘doctrines of demons’ (1 Timothy 4:1).
The Christian culture is rooted in and shaped by the Spirit of God. And so, given that demons and the Spirit of God are radically opposed, the Christian culture is radically opposed to humanist culture. Unlike the humanist creed, the Christian culture is not built on the belief that man is the measure of everything. Rather, it is based on the fact that God is the measure of all things and that man must be totally subject to God and His Word. The Bible must define all categories, such as good and evil, and unjust, what has value and what does not, etc.
The Christian culture recognises that sin leads man to define these categories independently of God. It recognises that man seeks to unjustly hold the truth captive (Romans 1:21). Man is, therefore, incapable of independently interpreting reality. All his theories about ethics, politics, economics, etc., are corrupt at their root. Man needs a rebirth, which is only possible through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Christian culture recognises that everything has been subjected to Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18). It recognises that Jesus Christ is the source of wisdom on which our society can be built.
If culture is, therefore, religious, all its derivatives are also religious. Agriculture, for example, is not a ‘neutral’ activity. It is practised based on beliefs concerning what is right or has value. These beliefs are ultimately either humanist (man is the measure of all things) or Christian (Jesus Christ is the measure of all things). And the boundary between the two options is hermetic. There is simply no neutral ground.
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