Culture and the Christian

When we write or speak of culture we do so out of an assumed knowledge that we actually know what culture is, but... do we? I would say that many of us talk about culture without even fully understanding what culture is.

In1960 Webster's definition of culture looked something like this: 1. The cultivation of soil. 2. The raising, improvement, or development of some plant, animal or product" (Friend and Guralnik 1958).

This use of the word has its roots in the ancient Latin word cultura, "cultivation" or "tending." But as one site stated, "By the time the Webster's definition above was written, another definition had begun to take precedence over the old Latin denotation; culture was coming to mean "the training, development, and refinement of mind, tastes, and manners" (Oxford English Dictionary). However, if you try a more modern source, you'll find a primary definition of culture which is substantially different than either of the two given above: "The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought."

Over time, these new uses for culture quickly eclipsed the older ones. When we open our dictionary to find the word "culture" today, we find the following:

1. 1. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
   2. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population: Edwardian culture; Japanese culture; the culture of poverty.
   3. These patterns, traits, and products considered with respect to a particular category, such as a field, subject, or mode of expression: religious culture in the Middle Ages; musical culture; oral culture.
   4. The predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization.
2. Intellectual and artistic activity and the works produced by it.
3. 1. Development of the intellect through training or education.
   2. Enlightenment resulting from such training or education.
4. A high degree of taste and refinement formed by aesthetic and intellectual training.
5. Special training and development: voice culture for singers and actors.
6. The cultivation of soil; tillage.
7. The breeding of animals or growing of plants, especially to produce improved stock.
8. Biology.

Notice the older definitions of the past have been pushed down to the bottom of priority regarding usable recommended definitions. This is itself an example of culture, and why it is so very important that Christians understand culture. There are many aspects of culture on which to think. There are layers, traits and definitions, but I am not concerned about those at the moment. What I am concerned about currently is the very real fact that learned behavior is a component of culture.

When writing about behavior one can write about many aspects of that behavior. Innate behavior is that behavior that is hard wired into the systems of the human... crying when in pain and yawning when tired are but two examples of many. Then there is learned behavior which is believed to be altered by experience. Language accusation is a learned behavior as are manners and eating habits. As a matter of fact, culture is composed of many more learned behaviors than innate, and culture will change in response to a different experience producing a different learned behavior which is the current issue.

Culture is reflective of what is transforming in people. Tad Beckman suggests in his article regarding culture in California "that society is a common human possession, but societies also differ. Specific human attributes lead to common cultural components that cause certain elements to occur in virtually all societies, of course. At birth, humans are vulnerable and they remain vulnerable for a long period of time. All human societies, then, provide for child support and development. Perhaps the parents remain together and provide support; perhaps a lone mother lives with an extended family in which the older generation accepts child-rearing responsibilities; but perhaps there is even a systematic arrangement for adopting children out to other members of a society. Whatever culture dictates, it is followed in a particular society more often than not."

I believe Beckman is right concerning culture. He describes it as "the fabric of learning that stands in back of and sustains a human society."

If Beckman is right, specific human attributes lead to cultural components. If there are no "Christian" attributes demanding time in the "fabric of learning" that is culture, it is a logical conclusion that it will not be long before that "fabric" ceases to have any strands that are Christian in nature. We believe in a sovereign God, but that does not negate our responsibility to engage culture with the energy and vigor necessary to dictate learned behavior that is rooted in truth(Christ) that society should and will follow.

I believe that if one does not engage one will be engaged. Christians must engage in a loving but offensive mode in order to avoid getting swept away in the wave of current culture and becoming nominal. Blessings!