The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of “the ability of human reason to know God [and the Church's] confidence in speaking about him to all men….” Such claims involve both philosophical and theological questions concerning the possibility of transcending cultures. Philosophy can vindicate the capacity of the intellect to speak of God, and despite varying intellectual traditions, the Church has been able to communicate the Gospel across cultural boundaries. In fact, historically Christendom was built up by preaching not to individuals but to cultures. Conversion of a culture means that its fundamental principle has changed, and individuals will usually begin to change with it. This does not necessarily imply an inauthentic or merely formal religious adherence, but highlights the fact that cultures as well as individuals are susceptible of evangelization.

Starting from a statement of Thomas Aquinas to the effect that even though a saw made of glass would be more beautiful than one made of iron, it would not fulfil its artistic end, it is argued that we have largely lost an awareness that the fine arts in their pursuit of beauty must also have a connection to some end, just as the saw does to cutting, and that seeking beauty in the abstract and divorced from such an end has had deleterious effects, including the loss of the artist's social role, the disappearance of the fine arts from everyday life and their replacement by objects of mass culture. This process is particularly illustrated by the history of the connection between poetry and music.

The concept of cultural identity is illustrated by the example of Latin America. At the same time Latin America is shown to be a true part of the Western world and understandable only as such, and the reasons for other cultural identifications of Latin America are examined. Then the cultural development and identity of the West as a whole is considered, with special reference to two competing accounts of Western cultural development, both of which focus chiefly on the econonmic development of Europe and North America, in contrast to its cultural or spiritual roots. Finally the special case of the United States is looked at, and it is asked how her peculiar self‐understanding affects her cultural identity as part of the Western world.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 30 – August 3, 2005