Culture and Society

CIVILIZATION is made up of society and culture. It is related to the word civicus, from civis “citizen” – and denotes those living in a civitas or “city” rather than in the sparsely populated country. In modern sociology, civilization refers to an advanced stage of human society, where people live together in a Great Space with a reasonable degree of organization and comfort, and pursue higher achievements, such as the arts, sciences, and education. Civilization is often defined as the opposite of barbarism and chaos. There can be more than one culture and corresponding society within a civilization, although a core culture will always dominate.

SOCIETY is from the Latin, socius, or “companion.” It is a friendly association with others, a collection of individuals who live together under one set of laws or orders. Society is the organization that ties a culture together.

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Political World Orders

BIPOLARITY was the state of the world from 1945 to 1991 there were two large blocs of power during the Cold War. (1). The free world led by the United States, Western Europe and their allies. (2). The communist world, led by the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China and their allies. The so-called “Third World” or the emerging nations of the Global South were thought to be excluded from bipolarity or were aligned with either “West” or “East.”

UNIPOLARITY was the system that emerged at the end of the Cold War in 1991. The United States was the unchallenged hyperpower and was enjoying a unipolar moment at the “End of History”19 when Liberal democracy emerged as triumphant. There would be no more wars among the great powers. The role of the United States was “to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival … to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.”[20 It took a series of wars led by the US and NATO and millions of dead until Western neoliberal globalism committed suicide by overextending itself. The United States’ had its brief “unipolar moment” as Charles Krauthammer stated in 1990.21 Since that time, the world has been shifting away from modern nation-states toward a multipolar order of civilization states.

MULTIPOLARITY was the state of the world in all of history until the 17th century. There were no “countries” as we think of them today. The political order of civilizations was organized into tribal peoples, kingdoms, and empires. The cultural order was aligned along the boundaries of civilizations. The boundaries of these great civilizations seldom touched. For most of history, one civilization did not even know others existed (e.g., Europeans, Chinese, Aztecs). When civilizations clashed, it was usually with great violence (Rome/Carthage, Greece/Persia, Spain/Inca). After the 14th century, which began after the Age of Exploration, the nations of Europe struggled against each other to dominate the sea trade and thus control the reserve currency and the seat of the European empire. Regardless of the fact that the power of Europe was unipolar, centering around one nation at a time, the entire world order remained multipolar as it was from the beginning.

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Modern Political Counterfeits

THE DEEP STATE is a synonym for the permanent political class. They are the unelected bureaucrats who are appointed, but do not stand for reelection. It poses a problem when an outgoing administration in effect leaves a Deep State in the form of thousands of unelected officials who often impede or negate the reform measures of a newly elected administration. In the United States, the original Deep State came about through executive orders and congressional laws that enlarged the executive branch with a huge bureaucracy. Through the powers given to the courts to create fiat law and executive power granting control to the military industrial complex, America is becoming more of an oligarchy in the form of a Deep State rather than a federal democratic republic.

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Political Theories

MODERNISM developed in the 18th and 19th centuries as a result of scientific rationalism. It is the idea that the new materialist worldview is the truth, while the old values based on religion are fading away. By the 1960s, it was common to hear the younger generation saying, “C’mon, Get with it man, this is the 20th century!” Family, faith and traditional morality are outmoded and old-fashioned. Therefore, these must be replaced with new political notions enforced as the only acceptable worldview to be promoted through civil politics, mass media, entertainment and education.

MODERNITY is the era in which this all took place and a blanket term for all Modernist philosophies.
THREE MODERNIST POLITICAL THEORIES and their SUBJECTS

  1. Liberalism – the subject is individual rights
  2. Communism – the subject is class
  3. Fascism – the subject is race or the state
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A Glossary of Terms for the Multipolar World - 4PT in Biblical Perspective

It is not necessary to carefully read through all of the Glossary articles (see the menu below). This section is lengthy and you have one of two choices.

  1. If you find yourself familiar with most of these terms, you might want to just skim through or skip ahead to the Our Purpose. If you want to get right into the meat of the book, you can refer back to the Glossary anytime. I have grouped these terms under subject headings rather than in alphabetical order. However, these terms are listed again in an alphabetical index at the end of the book so you can refer back here again.
  2. Some people may find this Glossary interesting as a stand-alone chapter. It serves as a road map to the rest of the book. The purpose is to show how many of these theories, movements, political organizations and concepts are all related. An intuitive person will be able to draw some conclusions by “connecting the dots.” You will be able to better predict where the line of argument of this book is headed.
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Introduction - The Fourth Political Theory in Biblical Perspective

This book presents a vision for the future of the United States of America as a Christian civilization. When I speak of the history of America, I include the United States as the federal union that came into being with the Constitution in 1787, but also the earlier settlements instituted by compacts, charters, orders and state constitutions. Christian nationalists bolster America’s unique political system by using the quotations of various Christian founders. Make no mistake about it – America is a Christian nation.8 This is undeniable, but it is neither because our political founders were professing Christians, nor because our Declaration of Independence repeatedly refers to the God of the Bible, nor because there is a treasure trove of quotations from our Founding Fathers who extolled Christianity. Although all this is true, this is not what made America a Christian nation.

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Preface - The Fourth Political Theory in Biblical Perspective

Three great modernist political theories emerged in the last 300 years of Western history – Liberalism in the 1700s, communism in the 1800s, and fascism in the 1900s. Fascism was destroyed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1945, two nations that represented and led the Liberal and communist worlds. Communism died of old age in 1991. Liberalism committed suicide by 2022.

In response, many would-be reformers of our day speak of recovering a “Christian nation.” I see that as a positive development, as long as we define what we mean.

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