Ancient Cultural Osmosis

Osmosis, as I am using it here, means “the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, etc.”(Oxford English Dictionary).

I’m using osmosis instead of assimilation, because I want to emphasize the unconscious nature of that assimilation. The ancient authors lived and breathe in a cultural background. They were not aware of its influence on them. It is only later in the modern and postmodern period that we have become more self-critical.

Unconscious Assimilation

By cultural osmosis I’m talking about the early Christians unconscious assimilation of ideas, values and perspectives of the culture in which they lived. The obvious example is patriarchy.

In the process of trying to understand the Bible, we need to separate cultural contamination from genuine revelation. This is not always clear.

The Law of Love

In ethical issues, I would argue the best way to discern what is a cultural contamination and what is a general revelation, is to go back to the principle behind the ethics of Christianity. Christianity. That is, love.

If we truly understand. Love, then we will truly understand what ethics derive from that. Love does no harm (Rom..13:10). Therefore, if an action harms somebody, it is most likely wrong. It is not just a cultural construct, but a universal application of the moral law of love.

Modern Cultural Osmosis

But equally true, we need to be careful of our own cultural osmosis. It is very easy to unconsciously accept the modern and postmodern ideas. We must carefully discern what is truth and what is cultural assimilation.

How we do discern what is the cultural assimilation? It is by following the evidence. First, we have to realize our tendency to be biased. Second, we need to understand confirmation bias. And third, we need to honestly evaluate the evidence for and against a position.

Personally, I find it most helpful to try to prove the opposite point of view. Instead of trying to confirm what I already believe, I try to confirm what I don’t believe. That way I’m more honest with the evidence.

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Jay N. Forrest

Dr. Jay N Forrest is a Spiritual Teacher of the Anglican Middle Way, writing on Prayer, Meditation, and Mysticism. Jay became a Christian in 1983, attended Bible school, and eventually earned his Doctorate in Ministry. Jay served as a Protestant minister for 27 years, took catechism classes with the Orthodox Church of America, and spent about a decade practicing Buddhism. In 2005, Jay was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic Church, but has since joined the Episcopal Church.

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