Divine cultures emphasize absolute values while secular cultures put their faith in science and technology. How did these two types of culture come about? How will they develop? Can they be united? 

Upon hearing the term "divine culture", one would naturally think of religion. Indeed, as we examine human history, all cultures without exception trace their roots back to some type of mythology or religion. The explanation for such a phenomenon generally falls under two schools of thoughts: 1) the superstitious nature of primitive man and 2) the innate desire for perfection in the human heart. The former argues that due to the lack of understanding toward uncontrollable natural phenomena or out of fear and insecurity, the primitive people personified these natural elements and treated them as objects for their worship. The latter maintains that there is a common innate desire among men for perfection. Yet when man examined his own life, all he could see was imperfection. He therefore projected his desire for such an ideal, perfect nature and called it god. 

Both arguments have concentrated on the individualistic nature and psychological inclination of man in explaining the origin of culture. However, in my opinion culture should also be examined from the perspective of interpersonal activities and social relationships. 

For a group of people to form a society, the prior condition is that they hold the same set of behavioral norms and moral standards. Religious concepts are sufficient to explain the origin of these norms because it is reasonable to hypothesize that the gods worshipped by a group of people embody the common value system needed by the group. In the authority of their gods, they found the absolute basis for their moral norms.  

Religions of different ethnic groups can be either polytheistic or monotheistic. The form of  worship can range from an irrational ecstatic expression to a rational self-disciplined devotion. The objects of worship can be things that are readily perceptible, even a real  human being, or they can be things that are metaphysical. In observing the developing trends, it seems that monotheism is superseding polytheism. The image of god is becoming more and  more transcendent and the nature of god is becoming more suitable for intellectual discussion and investigation. As the structure of society becomes more complex and interpersonal interaction increases, the demand for a common set of norms and moral standards also increases. Monotheistic belief with its rational theology is well adapted to serve as the basis for such a common value system. 

Although religion is the foundation and originating point of divine cultures, it is not the whole of divine culture. The formation of pre-modern western culture is a combination of the essence of three ethnic cultures: the rationalism of the Greek philosophies, the religious thought of the Hebrews, and the laws of the Romans. All  three are categorized as divine cultures, though they are not all religious. 

The main body of all Greek philosophies is rationalism, but its ultimate object of study is god. However, this is not a god that has the same image and nature as man but is the altra-ego of reasoning. The god described by Plato is the ultimate "Good". Aristotle named the highest philosophy as theology. His concept of god has a three-fold meaning: 1) the first cause, 2) metaphysical, and 3) the thought of all thoughts. The Greek philosophers ascribed the highest principle for value judgment and perfect union of truth, goodness and beauty as god. Their attempt to apply rational reasoning to the study of god became the  philosophical undermining of divine cultures. 

The uniqueness of the Hebrew religion lies in its ethics. Moses, with Jehovah's Ten Commandments as a covenant, founded Judaism. The Ten Commandments were not only a set of religious rules to be kept, but moral principles such as "Honor your father and mother", "You shall not murder", "You shall not commit adultery" and "You shall not steal." These are absolute moral commands. Jehovah decreed these absolute orders. The absolute authority of these moral laws is sustained by his almighty power.  

Out of Judaism came Christianity. The founder of Christianity was Jesus who was also the issuer of absolute commands. Jesus was once asked, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind. . .love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-40) The love that Jesus promoted was unconditional and non-discriminatory. Not only should one love one's neighbor, but also sinners, and one's enemies. This is contrary to normal human nature. If it were not done in the name of god, the love of Christianity would never be able to spread.  

In contrast, Confucius and his followers promoted discriminatory love. That is, one should love his immediate kinsman first, then others. This kind of love sits well with human nature and is well suited for a law-abiding society. Another ancient Chinese philosopher, Mocius, promoted non-discriminatory love based on the needs of mutual benefits. However, it did not have any religious foundation. Mocius in his philosophy mentioned understanding the "spirits", but the "spirit" was not God and, thus lacked the absolute authority that comes from God. The non-discriminatory love proclaimed by Mocius was just an ideal that could not be lived out. On the other hand, drawing strength from its faith, the love of Christianity has prevailed for over two thousand years in western societies. From this one can see the tremendous influence of religion on the formation of moral and ethical standards in western cultures. 

The foundation of the Roman Law was the concept of Natural Law. Natural Law is a  kind of unwritten moral standard which has been inscribed on the heart of every man. Aristotle was the first one who developed this thinking. Later the Christian Church also affirmed it with dialectical proof. Both ascribed sacred meaning to the "Natural Law". 

 In different ways Greek philosophy, Hebrew religion, and Roman law have each manifested some characteristics of a divine culture's value system. Their unique characteristics, like tributaries of a river, all merged into Christianity. Therefore the medieval Christian culture is a typical example of divine culture.  

Although divine culture has secured its position in the history of western civilization, the divine value system represented by Christianity was eventually abandoned at the conclusion of the Medieval Ages. This replacement of one system by the other is similar to a paradigm shift in the history of science. When replacement occurs, it is not necessarily because there are intrinsic flaws in the replaced system but because of its inability to meet the new challenges created by changes in society. 

No matter how sacred, holy and high-minded a value system is, it needs to be lived out by ordinary people. The monks and clergy were the primary agents living out the Christian value system in the Medieval society. The fate of the whole divine value system hinged on whether their conduct measured up to the norm demanded by this value system. In the early stages of Christianity, this was not a problem. The life examples of a group of saints who lived by these values became the standard for society at large. However, towards  the latter half of the Medieval period, the whole ecumenical system became corrupt. From the Pope down to the priests, their immoral lifestyle shattered the foundation of the divine value system in the society. As society in general abandoned the practice of living by these norms, there was no reason for the value system to continue to exist. 

II

The Enlightenment Movement is regarded by most western scholars as the model for modernism. As we all know, the Enlightenment Movement is what started the process of secularization in society. It is generally agreed that rationalism and humanitarianism are  the essence of the Enlightenment movement. At the core of humanitarianism is the idea of self-consciousness. It replaces God with Man as the ultimate good.  

The scholars of the Enlightenment Movement criticized the previous era as an era of ignorance. They took it upon themselves to conquer anything irrational and anti-rational  with reason. Although the use of reasoning power was also commonly found within divine cultures for the purpose of expounding and affirming the faith, the Enlightenment advocates excluded the divine culture completely from the realms of rationalism. The rationalism they championed was for the sole purpose of serving human needs. They established a court of rationalism and pronounced judgments in the name of the whole humanity. They changed the sacred nature of reason into a secularized one. Francis Bacon said, "Knowledge is strength". He put his finger on the crux of modern rationalism: reason is but a tool. The rationalism within the Enlightenment Movement was the manifestation of reason being secularized.

The Enlightenment Movement was a revolution of the mind and it led to other social revolutions. Its positive contributions were that it helped humanity rid itself of the out-dated

divine cultural tradition, and it established a system based on modernism which was more suited for an increasingly industrialized and secular society. 

In the following two centuries, modernism grew and matured. However it also revealed its own weaknesses in the process. The unchecked expansion of tool-oriented rationalism not only led to the exploitation of nature and destruction of the natural ecology; it also led to the control of the thinking process of individuals and society as a whole. In a so-called "democratic and free society", people unknowingly live within a huge invisible cage. For instance, at first glance, consumers seem to have the freedom to choose what they want to buy. But in reality their choices have already been subtly made by the ever-present commercials. 

 The other problem facing modernism is that the human spiritual need has been completely neglected. This has led to emptiness in the human heart, rampant greed, and deteriorating moral standards. When people are discouraged to better themselves morally, absolute values are abolished, and material possession and enjoyment become the ultimate goal for most people. No wonder moral education and moral pursuits are failing!

These problems are manifesting themselves in the family structure, society in general and in the education arena. The over-emphasis on teaching specialized skills at the expense of moral development is  the major shortcoming of today's educational systems.

III

Neo-modernism sets as its goal to surpass modernism. To sum it up: it rightly diagnoses the problem of modernism, but it prescribes the wrong remedy.

The neo-modernists have correctly identified the problems and shortcomings of  modernism. They say that reason is not as objective and bias-free as the modern rationalists proclaimed it to be. Tool-oriented rationalism can serve as a framework for scientists and technocrats. When used as a general standard by which value is judged, it becomes a new faith, a set of doctrines. Similar to "God" in the divine culture, the capitalized "Man" in humanitarianism becomes the ultimate authority. Once reason is manipulated by a certain group or class of society, it too, just like the Gods of the past, can be used to suppress individualistic development or to invalidate the humanity of certain strata or groups in the society.  

Since the neo-modernists identified the faults of the modernists' value system, they should have offered a supplement to make it complete. Unfortunately they chose to reject the  validity of all value systems. They regarded every norm as if it were the set of rules for  games. All activities related with a culture were only parts of a game. For them, life on this earth was a series of distinct games, without meaningful content or purpose. Neo-modernists were filled with doubts and relativism. They were prone to question, discredit, criticize and sabotage everything.

IV 

Both the divine and secular cultures have their strengths and weaknesses. It should be possible for them to complement each other. The strength of divine culture lies in its absolute value system, while secular culture is good at utilizing knowledge and science. If  they can be combined together, a new culture can be formed. As we know, the term "culture" encompasses a lot of things, but its major content fall under two categories, namely the value system and the knowledge system. If the value system of the divine culture and the knowledge system of the secular culture can be combined together, a new and better form of culture will emerge. 

The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, already proved that a moral standard must be a set of absolute commands to be obeyed unconditionally. Unconditional obedience does not imply following blindly. As Kant has pointed out, it is a rational self-discipline, a self determination to follow something that is most commonly believed to be rational. 

If we affirm the reasonableness of the absolute value systems of divine culture, we are not advocating a return to the old tradition. History is ever moving forward. The pre-modern divine cultures have forever become relics of the past. Their sacred value standards were solely derived from religion. Its absolute authority came from a personified "God". From history we have witnessed that this absolute authority had been misused to oppress human spirit and to deny individuality, to the detriment of society. Hence it is not suitable for today's modern society. In my opinion, the sacred absolute value standard need not come from only one source. For instance, humanity is sacred, nature is sacred, the authority of a nation is sacred, the rights of its citizens are also sacred. Of course one's individual right is sacred and so is fulfilling one's responsibilities. Holding high ideas is sacred, and so is performing daily mundane routines. As we have mentioned, the sacredness of a value standard is another name for the need of common applicability of self-disciplined reason. This sacredness does not need to be guaranteed by the gods of religion alone. Science is totally capable of supplying such warranty. Science has discovered and revealed many natural laws and phenomena which were previously accepted only by faith. There is reason to believe that in the future human development and advances in science can also provide the absolute authority for value standards which were previously only to be found in religion.  

Mr Zhao Duanhwa is a professor in the Philosophy Department of Beijing University