day no. 16,145: revelation, enculturation, and education

“Culture is ‘lived religion.’ It is the form that religion takes in the lives of men… Culture is any and all human effort and labor expended upon the cosmos, to unearth its treasures and its riches and bring them into the service of man for the enrichment of human existence unto the glory of God.” - Henry R. Van Til, The Calvinistic Concept of Culture

Culture is religion incarnate.

It is worship with a waistline. It is doctrine on display. It is a creed performing live and in concert. Culture is revelation and education.

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Instruction is enculturation. This presupposes a particular culture. Paul is not suggesting that Christian dads should simply get some kind of culture into their kids lives, he is commanding them to produce and promote a particular, Christian culture in their life and livelihood, under their roof and wherever they roam, a foundation for future culture enfleshed at present in the education.

Education assumes an end and culture assumes a Creator, just as a kingdom assumes a King.