Culture and faith

This article by Jean-Claude Polet, philologist and master craftsman of the *Patrimoine littéraire européen* in fifteen volumes, offers an in-depth meditation on the concept of culture and its relationship with faith. Starting from a semantic and historical analysis of the term, the author traces the evolution of the notion from Renaissance humanism to its contemporary sociological and democratic reformulation, marked by the relativization of values and the sacralization of difference. He then examines the persistent tension between culture and religion, which both parties have maintained at the level of collective consciousness, before exploring the conditions for overcoming this antinomy. The theological contribution of the article lies in the proposition of a continuity between the culture of interiority and openness to faith: humanist culture, founded on logos and language, would constitute a propaedeutic to the encounter with an inner God, whose full realization is accomplished, for Christians, in ecclesial communion and the divinization of the person.