Enculturation

The word enculturation is not the same as the words inculturation or acculturation. In order to understand this page, a bit of logic must be applied upfront, to avoid confusion. There are many from among the (Catholic; Orthodox; Protestant) COP Cultists who have humanist or formal educations, but who do not have the overwhelming empowerment and eternal wisdom of Messiah Yeshua, via the auspices of Ruach HaKodesh.

Consequently, they do not fully appreciate these differences, but knowing the difference is key to a deeper understanding of all the things found under the Messianic Cross (and therefore within this work). That is why you will find such errors even in some English dictionaries, who were written by these same kind of people.

Many of us have educational achievement plaques from the curriculum regurgitated credential mills of data memorization, but pure and transcendent wisdom comes only from above (James 3:17). Messiah Yeshua, my Master, had no formal education, and was a construction worker. He tried to school the PhD level Pharisees, but they did not have the Spirit inspired mental capacity to comprehend much if any of it. Here is some topic relevant sociological detail:

Enculturation: The process by which people learn the dynamics of their surrounding culture and acquire values and norms appropriate or necessary to that culture and its worldviews. As part of this process, the influences that limit, direct, or shape the individual (whether deliberately or not) include parents, other adults, and peers. If successful, enculturation results in competence in the language, values, and rituals of the culture. *

Growing up in any culture, all humans go through the process of enculturation. This process is the way in which we obtain and transmit culture. It describes how each individual comes to terms with the already set ideals that their culture has established, and how each person adapts to prohibited behaviors and beliefs, which are proscribed, versus encouraged behaviors and beliefs which are prescribed.

Parents and other authority figures in young children's lives are usually the initiators of this process, steering the children toward activities and beliefs that will be socially accepted in their culture. Through this process these authority figures definitely shape the child's view on life. Enculturation results in the interpretation of these ideals established by our culture and the establishment of our own individual behaviors and beliefs. (Source: Lumen Learning)

Acculturation: A process by which the culture of an isolated society changes on contact with a different one; it is primarily about cultural assimilation. E.g: The first Americans who were sadistically conquered by weaponized colonizers and conquistadors from the Age of Sail.

Inculturation: The adaptation of Christian teachings in an unchristianized culture. This is a term that is generally used by Catholics, whereas Protestants, especially associated with the World Council of Churches, prefer to use the term contextual theology.

Relevant free resources that will expand the mind a little are: The Acculturation of American Indians {jstor}, and Red as an Apple: Native American Acculturation and Counseling With or Without Reservation {Wiley}, and Ancient DNA Adds Evidence Of Asian Ancestry For Native Americans {New Scientist}. What these teach us (among other things) is just how diverse our species is, globally and for many millennia.