Van Til on Culture and Religion

While Van Til is concerned with culture he knows that culture, by itself, does not restore man, for that would be Pelagianism. As image-bearers of God, all humans will contribute to culture, but what kind of spirit animates that culture? He draws an antithesis between godly culture and ungodly culture (23).

Van Til argues that culture does not include religion (27). Religion is not one aspect of culture. To claim so is a naturalistic position. "The reason religion cannot be subsumed under culture is the fact that whereas man as a religious being transcends all his ativities under the sun, culture is but one aspect of the sum total of these activities and their results in forming history....The meaning of life does not lie in culture as such, but culture derives its meaning from man's faith in God; it is never an end in itself, but always a means of expressing one's religioius faith" (28).