Anthropology
The study of human cultures reveals universal patterns—religion, morality, family—that point toward common human nature and transcendent orientation.
The Religious Universal
The universality of religion demands explanation. Why do all cultures, without exception, develop religious beliefs and practices?
Naturalistic explanations (religion as evolutionary byproduct, social glue, or cognitive error) cannot fully account for this universality. Perhaps religion is universal because it tracks something real—the divine reality that grounds all existence.
- Belief in Spirits: All cultures believe in non-physical beings—ancestors, spirits, gods. This universal belief in the immaterial challenges materialist assumptions.
- Ritual Practice: All cultures have rituals marking life transitions, seasons, and sacred occasions. Ritual creates sacred time and space, connecting humans to transcendent reality.
- Afterlife Beliefs: Belief in continued existence after death is nearly universal. Humans intuitively sense that death is not the end—that persons transcend their bodies.
- Sacred/Profane Distinction: All cultures distinguish the sacred from the ordinary. This universal category suggests humans perceive a dimension of reality beyond the mundane.
Human Nature and the Imago Dei
Cultural universals suggest something fundamental about human nature. We are not blank slates shaped entirely by culture but beings with a common nature.
The Christian doctrine of the imago Dei explains these universals. If humans are made in God's image, we would expect universal capacities for reason, morality, and relationship with the divine.
- Common Nature: Universals point to shared human nature, not just cultural invention. We are one species with one nature, made in one image.
- Transcendent Orientation: Universal religiosity suggests humans are made for relationship with the divine. Augustine: 'Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.'
- Moral Realism: Cross-cultural moral agreement suggests objective moral truths. The convergence of moral codes points to a common moral reality.
- Human Dignity: The universal recognition of human worth and rights reflects the imago Dei. Every culture recognizes that humans are special.