Religion and Culture: New Explorations

In this lesson, you studied the major influences of religion on society. The following activities will give you the opportunity to investigate one of three main themes. Based on your area of interest, choose a topic below and write a detailed essay answering some of the questions posed. Be sure to supplement your thinking with additional research and think carefully about your answers. Don’t feel obligated to answer all the questions in a given message. On the other hand, pick one or two and create a strong thesis statement.

Christianity:

How did the spread of Christianity change the Roman Empire? What other religions were prevalent in the empire at the time? What aspects of early Christian persecution and expansion can still be found in parts of the Christendom today? When did Christianity begin to split into sects during its expansion? What impact did these divisions have on human culture?

Islam:

What are the roots of Christianity and Islam? This lesson refers to Islamic developments in the arts, sciences, and mathematics. How did the spread of Islam affect the cultures of the parts of Africa where it spread? How influential is he in India?

United States:

When Christianity arrived in the Americas, which religions existed and were practiced by indigenous groups? What kind of influence does Christianity have on the local people? How does the legacy of Christianity relate to discussions about the effects of settler colonialism today? What is the current impact of Christianity on American culture, education, and politics? Which Christian denominations were founded in the United States?
Religion and Culture

The world’s major religions –

– Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and folk religions — collectively have some 6.4 billion adherents in a world population of 7.9 billion. In addition, approximately 385 million people worldwide practice other non-primary religions. These religious figures create and influence culture.

This colorful map shows the geographic distribution of the world’s major religions.

A color map showing the distribution of the world’s major religions.

The terms religion and culture have different meanings to different people. Although it is difficult to determine the exact definition of the two, it is possible to understand the two concepts and how they relate to each other. Sociologists and theologians can help a lot in this regard.

Sociologist Emile Durkheim defined religion as “…a unified system of beliefs and practices concerning sacred things, that is, things that are segregated and forbidden—beliefs and practices, organized in communities called churches form a single moral unit., all who practice them.” Thus, for Durkheim, religions consist of three essential things: beliefs and practices, sacred objects, and a moral community of followers. He also reasoned that religion is the most fundamental of all social institutions and the forerunner of most others. Therefore, in Durkheim’s view, the influence of religion on culture is profound.

The eminent theologian Paul Tillich wrote: “Religion is a state of being which contains the ultimate concern which makes all other concerns primary and which itself contains the answer to the question of the meaning of our lives … For Tillich, the term “ultimate concern” refers to a divine quality attributed to God or to something. These divine attributes can be attributed to objects, principles, beliefs, people, nations, science, Something sacred and profane inspired by an animal or any other human spirit. Throughout history, humans have identified many ultimate concerns and built communities around them. Tillich believes religion is too serious, encouraging people to sacrifice and conflicting with ultimate concern The secondary and limited concern of Tillich later wrote that religion is “the substance that gives meaning to culture …” and culture is “the sum total of ways of expressing the basic ideas of religion.”

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Is religion a culture?
Although the concept of religion