In this essay, “theology” and “culture” are placed together around a set of core social relations. The author defines and configures these relations within a Trinitarian and incarnational theological framework drawn largely from the thought of Scottish Reformed theologian T. F. Torrance. Then it is suggested that this particular theological vision, and the configuration of social relationships it suggests, not only accounts for the emergence of human culture and cultural activity but is open to insights from work being done in other anthropological disciplines. Convergence between these other disciplines and the theological vision developed here is demonstrated through brief considerations of the work of cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker and sociologists Christian Smith and Peter Berger.
The Institute for Cultural Engagement, an official program of Multnomah University and Biblical Seminary