Cultus, Culture, and the Nature of Identity

An examination of the origins of culture requires one to look to the roots of the division of mankind and the emergence of the cultural awareness of historic time. Cultures emerge when a sense of identity is established by a shared history and sense of place. Bishop James Heiser builds on his examination of the distinction between mythological and historical time which he set forth in A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven (2012) to give context to the current controversies over the nature of identity in connection with religion and culture. This essay concludes a study begun in two previous essays, The One True God, the Two Kingdoms, and the Three Estates (2011) and Sovereignty and Authority in the Context of the American Republic (2016).