Theology of Culture

The book covers a lot of topics and on each topic it gives very comprehensive and in- depth review. Theology of culture is a branch of theology that studies culture and cultural phenomenas. It lies close to philosophy of culture, but has focus more on existentialism and spiritualism. According to the modern worldview, reality is divided into two large cognitive domains, the natural and the supernatural. Humans, guided by human reason and the laws of nature, operate within the natural realm and live largely independent of the spiritual. The academic discipline of anthropology studies human beings within in the natural realm, while theology deliberates on the supernatural. Even most Christian anthropologists become uncomfortable when the boundaries between anthropology and theology disintegrate. In this book all aspects are analyzed in a systematic manner. The language of this book is easy to go through and comprehend.

Nagendra Ojha (born on 23th July, 1970) did his B.A. from Guwahati University, Guwahati. Thereafter he achieved his M.A and PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Guwahati University, Guwahati. He has written extensively in national and international journals. Currently he is teaching in West Bengal. He has published a good number of Research Articles, many Books and journals. He excels as a seminarian, attended several national and international seminars.

According to many theories that have gained wide acceptance among anthropologists, culture exhibits the way that humans interpret their biology and their environment. According to this point of view, culture becomes such an integral part of human existence that it is the human environment, and most cultural change can be attributed to human adaptation to historical events. Moreover, given that culture is seen as the primary adaptive mechanism of humans and takes place much faster than human biological evolution, most cultural change can be viewed as culture adapting to itself. Although most anthropologists try to define culture in such a way that it separates human beings from other animals, many human traits are similar to those of other animals, particularly the traits of other primates. For example, chimpanzees have big but human brains are bigger. Similarly, bonobos exhibit complex sexual behaviour, but human beings exhibit much more complex sexual behaviours. As such, anthropologists often debate whether human behaviour is different from animal behaviour in degree rather than in kind; they must also find ways to distinguish cultural behaviour from sociological behaviour and psychological behavior.

Acceleration and amplification of these various aspects of culture change have been explored by complexity economist, W. Brian Arthur. In his book, The Nature of Technology, Arthur attempts to articulate a theory of change that considers that existing technologies (or material culture) are combined in unique ways that lead to novel new technologies. Behind that novel combination is a purposeful effort arising in human motivation. This articulation would suggest that we are just beginning to understand what might be required for a more robust theory of culture and culture change, one that brings coherence across many disciplines and reflects an integrating elegance.

**Contents and Sample Pages**