Inculturation
is a term that one hears often when speaking about religion and culture. It is
a term most often used in Catholic mission circles to refer to an attempt to
make the church intimately connected to the local culture so that the religion
would not be perceived as something foreign or imported as it often is the case
in many cultures. In Thailand for example, Christianity is essentially seen as
a “farang” religion, meaning it is a Western religion. Being a Thai, on the
other hand, is almost being synonymous with being Buddhist, even though
Buddhism itself originated in India. In this paper, I aim to explore the
theological concept of inculturation and show why inculturation is necessary
for the mission of the Catholic Church in the world, in particular in Asia,
where Christianity only makes up a miniscule percentage of the population. By
understanding inculturation and the need for carrying it out actively, the
Church may have hope to be firmly rooted in the local culture.
The Basis for
the Task of Inculturation in Vatican II Documents
In the decades
since Vatican II, the concept of inculturation went from being an implicit
notion in Church documents to being a theology that could not be left out of
any discussion about mission work or mission theology. In this section, I will
present the elements of Vatican II documents that made it possible for
inculturation to be deveopled into the modus operandi for the Catholic Church
as it attempts to root itself in different cultures.
Though not
always the case in practice, in the past more often than not, the Catholic
Church has presented itself as a church than was basically connected to the
southern-European culture which any people who accepted Christianity had to
adopt as part of its own. To accept Christianity was equivalent with giving up
one’s cultural heritage in order to adopt a foreign culture, specifically
European culture and lifestyle. This undoubtedly caused great pains for
countless people who, though were attracted to the Christian message, felt that
they had to sacrifice part of their cultural heritage in order to be accepted
into the Church. However, the Catholic Church would eventually realize that the
policy of imposition would exert too much toll on the local churches and needed
to change the way it viewed itself in relationship to other cultures. It must
be said that cultural adaptation as an intuitive process had been carried out
since the early days of the Church as Christianity moved out of Jerusalem and
into other parts of Asia and the Roman empire (Bevans, 2002, p. 8); and in
Catholic theological circles, as early as 1930s, Henri de Lubac had already
identified cultural adaptation as a key element of Catholicism, asserting that
Christian salvation had a close relationship with human destinies and connected
to human societies (Doyle, 2012, p.
2). However, it was not until the
Second Vatican Council that the Church took a serious and systematic look at
the issue of culture.
Vatican
II issued 16 documents, including four Constitutions, three Declarations, and
nine Decrees. However, the four major documents that most paved the way for the
work of inculturation are Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution of the
Church in the Modern World), Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church), Nostra Aetate (Declaration on Relation of the Church to
Non-Christian Religions) and Ad Gentes (Decree on the Missionary
Activity of the Church). These documents represent the Church’s effort to
engage the world and undergo the process of aggiornamento, or updating
so that the Christian faith can find contemporary expressions with more
penetrating impact (Doyle, 2012, p.3). In
so doing, it begins by recognizing the positive relationship between the Gospel
and “whatever good lies latent in the religious practices and cultures of
diverse peoples” (LG 17). Gaudium et Spes looks at culture in a positive
light and defines it in the following manner:
Culture is first
defined as a universally human phenomenon in a way that is prior to a
consideration of a variety of diverse cultures: The word “culture” in its
general sense indicates everything whereby man develops and perfects his many
bodily and spiritual qualities; he strives by his knowledge and his labor, to
bring the world itself under his control. He renders social life more human
both in the family and the civic community, through improvement of customs and
institutions. Throughout the course of time he expresses, communicates and
conserves in his works, great spiritual experiences and desires, that they
might be of advantage to the progress of many, even of the whole human family.
Thence it
follows that human culture has necessarily a historical and social aspect and
the word “culture” also often assumes a sociological and ethnological sense.
According to this sense we speak of a plurality of cultures. Different styles
of life and multiple scales of values arise from the diverse manner of using
things, of laboring, of expressing oneself, of practicing religion, of forming
customs, of establishing laws and juridic institutions, of cultivating the
sciences, the arts and beauty. Thus the customs handed down to it form the
patrimony proper to each human community. It is also in this way that there is
formed the definite, historical milieu which enfolds the man of every nation
and age and from which he draws the values which permit him to promote
civilization. (53)
Thus, in this understanding, while
culture is a universal process by which human beings employ to promote
progress, there is a plurality of cultures that results due to different
lifestyles, values, and habits. The role of the Gospel of Christ, then is to
enter into the culture in order to purify and renew the morals and values of
all people and to make fruitful their spiritual qualities and conditions
(Doyle, 2012, p.4).
In Nostra Aetate, the Church
also affirms the value of various religions and their goal to seek for the
ultimate. The Church “rejects nothing that is true and holy in these
religions,” at the same time tries to “recognize, preserve and promote the good
things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among
these men” (2). Lumen Gentium
likewise affirms the universality of salvation in different religions,
declaring “whatever good or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the
Church as a preparation for the Gospel” (16). The Word of God does not place
itself in an antagonistic relationship but “purifies, strengthens, elevates and
ennobles” those cultural elements (13). Thus, living out Christian life does
not mean rejecting one’s own culture for a Christian culture. Rather, as Ad
Gentes assures, “Christian life will be accommodated to the genius and the
dispositions of each culture. Particular traditions, together with the peculiar
patrimony of each family of nations, illumined by the light of the Gospel, can
then be taken up into Catholic unity ” (22).
From
these documents, we see the basis for formulating the theological concept
called “inculturation” that affects the
faith life of the people on both the individual and the collective level. As
stated in AG, “The congregation of the faithful must be supported by its own
culture, and all kinds of associations and groups should be organized in order
to affect the whole society, since mission works should never belong only to a
personal level, but a communal one” (15). Thus, inculturation is to take place in liturgy renewal, in
social participation such as education, art, science, economic life, social
justice, social relief, as well as in political life (GS 61-86).
Terminological
considerations
Inculturation is a key concept in
the evangelizing mission of the Catholic Church. However, before delving
further into the meaning and aims of inculturation, it is beneficial to examine
some other terms that may have aspects related to inculturation as well as
terms that have been proposed instead of inculturation in order to have a
broader view of the matter at hand.
It must be said that there is no
lack of terms employed in the writings of church documents, theologians and
missiologists to refer to a process of introducing Christian faith and worship
into a particular culture. These include translation, accommodation,
adaptation, localization, indigenization, contextualization, incarnation,
acculturation, inculturation, and interculturation (Phan, 2003, p. 4). Some
of them have now been deemed as outdated, for example, the terms “adaptation”
and “accommodation”; but a few continue to warrant due consideration for their
merits. However, in the process of arriving to a terminological consensus, no
doubt the presence of such a wide array of terms with divergent understandings
could cause much confusion. The confusion is even greater when the same term is
used by different writers to mean different things. For example, in reflecting
on missionary work in Africa in its historical reality, Steven Kaplan (1986)
nominated six “modes of adaptation” that could be observed (p. 166-186):
1. Tolerance.
This is the act of accepting certain cultural traditions even though they were
seen as incompatible with Christian belief. Tolerance was defended on the
thinking that to prohibit such practices would create negative effects in the
people at that time. The hope was that eventually, those practices would
eventually die out on their own.
2.Translation.
This is not merely translating content from one language to another, such as
translating the Scripture or liturgical rites for local usage. By translation,
Kaplan means the creative attempt to communicate the Christian message in
indigenous idiom, finding analogies and comparisons that are familiar to the
local people, at the same time accurately reflect the Christian belief.
3. Assimilation.
This is the act of introducing certain non-Christian practices into Christian
rituals as a way to make these rituals more familiar and comprehensible to the
local people. Assimilation takes place when there is understanding of the
positive aspects of the traditional practices and how they can effectively
communicate the Christian message when used in the new setting.
4. Christianization.
This is the act of taking non-Christian rites and practices and “purifying”
them of any “un-Christian” qualities, then proceed to use them as essentially
Christian rituals. This is a process whereby local traditions are affirmed of
their value, and when such rites and practices are adopted into the Christian
life, they are lifted to a level of something akin to sacramental status.
5. Acculturation.
This is the act whereby the local rites and practices are seen to be valuable
to the development of Christian spirituality that there is an active attempt to
preserve them for the local people. This is a much more positive attitude since
there is a shift away from cultural superiority on the part of foreign
missionaries who now are able to recognize the value of the local culture.
6. Incorporation.
This is the act of incorporating local elements into “normative” Christianity
as a whole. For Kaplan, this goes beyond strict adaptation since it entails
allowing the local church to affect the universal church as a whole, changing
the institutional church in ways beyond the local context.
Kaplan’s
typology is an example of how certain terms may be used by different writers to
describe different phenomena. For example, Kaplan employed the term
“acculturation” to describe a positive mode of missionary adaptation, which is
quite different from the usual usage of this term do denote a sociological
concept. In the sociological sense,
acculturation denotes the process of cultural and psychological change that
takes place on both the individual and collective level when one culture
encounters another, or when there is an encounter of cultures (Sam and Berry,
2010, p. 472). However, because acculturation has elements that are closely
connected to inculturation, which is a theological concept, some writers seem
to confuse between the two and sometimes even use these two terms
interchangeably (Shorter, 1999, p. 6).
Terms
such as “accommodation” and “adaptation” were commonly used before Vatican II
but fell out of favor with the shift in perspective as the Church moved out
from a Eurocentric world view and into one that recognized the the reality and
value of a plurality of cultures and religions. As theological concepts, they became
inadequate because they only expressed superficial efforts on the part of the
“older” Western Church to make concessions to the “younger” churches to include
certain local elements that were deemed as either good or neutral into faith
expressions. However, these were simply the “husks” of the faith that could be
changed, while the “kernel” of Western theology had to remain untouched (Phan,
2003, p. 26).
Another concept that gained attention until it
too fell out of favor is “indigenization.” This term was first used by an
Indian theologian D. S. Amalorpavadass who advocated revising the liturgy in
such a way that it would be native to the local community (Angrosino,
1994, p. 825). Indigenization
seems to stress the proactive role of the people on the receiving end of the
Gospel, making it appropriate for the local perspective. However, according to K.P.
Aleaz (2011), the word indigenous is a nature metaphor conjuring the image of
the soil. The use of this concept may present limitations since it seems past
oriented and do not reflect the dynamic nature of culture (p. 232). Vatican itself though generally
supportive of the intent of indigenization, has not favored use of the word
because of its rather patronizing tone (Angrosino, p.
825). A.P. Nirmal cited
by Aleaz, has been especially critical of the term “indigenization.” According
to Nirmal, this is a contradiction in terms because something is either
indigenous or it is not. Any attempt to “indigenize” is simply artificial.
Moreover, theologically it implies that God is a “foreigner,” which is contrary
to the basic Christian belief that God is the creator of the entire universe.
Thus, "'indigenization' really means first of all the branding of God as a
'foreigner' in his own home and then having branded him a 'foreigner,' seeking
to make him 'indigenous' in our own country, nation, culture and so on" (Aleaz, p. 240).
Another
term that continues to pull its weight in modern mission theology is “contextualization.”
This term came into popularity among liberation theologians who saw it as a
word that communicates making the life and mission of the church relevant to
contemporary situations of the people. In the 1980’s Robert Schreiter developed
what he called an approach to “contextual theologies” that gave more
consideration to local contributions in a more basic and dynamic way, at the
same time keeping the integrity of the Gospel intact (Doyle, 2012b,
p. 9). According to
Aleaz, the term “contextualization” is able to communicate all that is
contained in the term “indigenization” while also conveys a future-oriented
outlook and open to change in accordance with the time (2011, p.232). For
Stephen Bevans (2002), contextualization helps us to understand culture not in
a limited sense, but is broadened to also include social, political, and
economic spheres, all of which constitute the contemorary human reality with
its phenomena of secularization, technological progress, globalization,
cultural change, and so on (p. 26).
From
the part of the church as well as theologians in general, the term
“inculturation” has gained acceptance, albeit not absolute consensus, as a
concept that adequately expresses the process of adaptation that would
ultimately lead to Christianity being able to incarnate in new cultural
settings (Angrosino,
1994, p. 825). Inculturation
has its origins in the sociological term “enculturation” coined by Herskovits (1948) which denotes a process by which one
becomes competent in his culture through the learning experience that enables
him to adapt to his socio-cultural environment (Giersewski, 1989, p. 122). In
missiological circles, however, the term “inculturation” would eventually be
introduced as a theological notion that describes how the Gospel message is
inserted into a particular culture (Amaladoss, para 2). Inculturation as a
concept began finding popular usage in the 1970s with various nuances and
emphases. However, the definition that received great acceptance was that of
Fr. Pedro
Arrupe in a letter to the Jesuits (1978),
of whom he was their General Superior at the time. In this letter, Fr.
Arrupe defined inculturation as “the incarnation of Christian life and of the
Christian message in a particular cultural context…transforming it and remaking
it so as to bring about a ‘new creation’” (p. 172). At the highest level of the
church, however, the term inculturation was used for the first time in the
papal document Catechesi Tradendate of Pope John Paul II. In this apostolic
exhortation, Pope John Paul II writes that despite inculturation being a
neologism, in terms of the work of evangelization, it is a powerful concept
because it effectively expresses “one factor of the great mystery of the
Incarnation” and helps to “bring the power of the Gospel into the very heart of
culture and cultures” (53). In Slavorum apostoli (1985) Pope John Paul II expressed his
understanding of inculturation in the following manner: “Inculturation is the
incarnation of the Gospel in local cultures and at the same time the
introduction of these cultures in the life of the Church” (21). One can see
that for Pope John Paul II,
inculturation which entails the Gospel message being enfleshed in a given
culture is a concept that is theologically analogous to the Incarnation. As the
enfleshment takes places, the Gospel retains its integrity and
unadulteratedness as reflected in the Church’s thinking in which the Gospel
always takes precedent over culture (Doyle, 2012b,
p. 8).
While
the incarnation is certainly an important model for inculturation, Shorter
(1999) argues that the incarnation alone is not enough. The incarnation model
has merits in that it expresses the enculturation of Christ, the Son of God who
adopted human flesh and culture, and was educated as a first century Jew from
Galilee. This implies that Jesus is the subject of inculturation. As Jesus became
a Jew in his incarnation, Christ can also become an African or an Asian in the
process of inculturation. In addition, the model expresses that culture was an
essential part of Christ’s life and ministry since Jesus employed cultural
concepts, symbols, and behaviors in his teachings. Finally, as a result of
being enculturated as a Jew, Jesus had to also accept intercultural processes
that would take place in encounters with other cultures, for example the Roman
culture or the Samaritan sub-culture. Despite these merits, Shorter argues that
the analogy of the incarnation alone is not enough because the emphasis on the
enculturation of Christ as a one time event in a specific culture may result in
focusing on the first insertion of the Gospel into a culture while overlooking
the on-going dialogue taking place between the Gospel and culture. Moreover,
the incarnation model expresses a Christology “from above” that may result in
seeing inculturation as being one-way. Finally, the focus on the enculturation
of Christ and his acceptance of a particular culture, while not paying
attention to how Christ challenged his culture may result in culturalism (pp.
80-82).
For
Shorter, the better analogy to use for the inculturation process is that of the
Paschal Mystery, which necessarily begins with the incarnation, but also
includes the death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven of Christ. Shorter
writes:
The Resurrection enabled
Christ to transcend the physical limitation of an earthly life bounded by time,
space and, of course, culture. The
intercultural contacts of the earthly Jesus were necessarily limited. After the
Resurrection, Christ belonged to every culture at once. The Resurrection made
it possible for him to identify explicity with the cultures of every time and place,
through the proclamation of the Gospel to every nation.” (p. 83)
Thus,
the Paschal Mystery is an analogy that adequately expresses the dynamic nature
of the inculturation process. It is not limited to any time or place. Cultures
are continually invited to enter into dialogue with the Gospel of Christ, and
be challenged and renewed by the Risen Christ who is present in the
socio-cultural sphere through the presence of the Holy Spirit (p. 84).
Inculturation in Asia
As already mentioned,
inculturation is essential to the task of evangelization. This is no more truer
than in Asia, the place where Jesus was born, yet Christianity is still
considered a foreign religion, essentially making Jesus a foreigner in his own
home. In his exhortation Ecclesia in Asia (1999), John Paul II made inculturation one
of the primary points of his presentation. Recognizing that although
Christianity had its beginning in Asia and made advances in various territories
of this continent, due to various reasons including the the lack of ability to
adapt to local cultures and to encounter other great religions of Asia, by the
end of the fourteenth century, the Church in Asia was reduced to a dimunitive
entity on this continent (9). During the
colonial era, missionaries arrived to Asia, once again making an effort to
build up Christianity in this continent. However, the effort to inculturate the
Gospel were inadequate (9). In order for Christianity to gain a foothold in
Asia, considered to be the cradle of the world’s major religions and spiritual
traditions—Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Sikhism and Shintoism—Christianity needs to
engage in sincere dialogue with other religions (6). In so doing, it is important
to recognize the chacteristic traits and values of the Asian people. The
document makes the following observation:
The people of
Asia take pride in their religious and cultural values, such as love of silence
and contemplation, simplicity, harmony, detachment, non-violence, the spirit of
hard work, discipline, frugal living, the thirst for learning and philosophical
enquiry. They hold dear the values of respect for life, compassion for all
beings, closeness to nature, filial piety towards parents, elders and
ancestors, and a highly developed sense of community. In particular, they hold the family to be a
vital source of strength, a closely knit community with a powerful sense of
solidarity. Asian peoples are known for their spirit of religious tolerance and
peaceful co-existence. Without denying the existence of bitter tensions and
violent conflicts, it can still be said that Asia has often demonstrated a
remarkable capacity for accommodation and a natural openness to the mutual
enrichment of peoples in the midst of a plurality of religions and cultures.
(6)
In
the face of tremendous cultural and religious diversity in Asia coupled with
complex socio-economic-political situations, Pope John Paul II calls for
proclaiming the “Good
News with loving respect and esteem for her listeners” using available linguistic, philosophical and
cultural resources (20). While he reminds that the Gospel and evangelization is
not identical with culture, it remains that “the Kingdom of God comes to people
who are profoundly linked to a culture, and the building of the Kingdom cannot
avoid borrowing elements from human cultures” (21). Thus, the act of
evangelization is an interplay of the Church transforming the particular
culture it encounters by imparting its truths and values , at the same time
taking positive elements from the culture to present the Christian faith in
such a way that it can become a part of the people’s cultural heritage. This
task is especially urgent in the Asian context due to “the multi-ethnic,
multi-religious and multi-cultural situation of Asia, where Christianity is
still too often seen as foreign” (21). The task of inculturation, says the
Pope, must be gradual and “guided by respect for the sensibilities of
Christians”. In the end, “the test of true inculturation is whether people
become more committed to their Christian faith because they perceive it more
clearly with the eyes of their own culture” (22).
FABC and
inculturation
It is not only at the ponfitifical
level that the issue of inculturation holds significance. In some ways,
inculturation is even more of an immediate and urgent matter at the local
church level since it is here that the tensions are most profoundly
experienced. In Asia, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) has
paid attention to the matter of inculturation early on and has continued to
give it due weight until the present time. Established in 1970, FABC is a
transnational body comprised of 19 Bishops’ Conferences and 9 Associate Members
from countries throughout the continent. Since its first Plenary Assembly in
Taipei in 1974, there has been a total of 10 such gatherings, the latest taking
place in Vietnam in 2012, which coincided with the 40th anniversary
of the official founding of the FABC in 1972.
While the existence of a body such
as FABC is meant to serve a variety of purposes, the issue of inculturation in
the Asian church is undoubtedly one of the priorities in its agenda. Review of
FABC materials show that it had used the term inculturation in its official
documents quite early, since 1970, when it was stated in the Final Statement of
the Asian Bishops’ Meeting:
In the
inculturation of the life and message of the Gospel in Asia, there have ben
hesitations and mistakes in the past, but we are more than ever convinced that
dialogue with our fellow Asians whose comitment to other faiths is increasingly
important. We also urge on all a deep respect for the culture and traditions of
our peoples, and express the hope that the catholicity of the Church, the root
of our diversity in the oneness of faith, may serve to help Asians remain truly
Asian, and yet become fully part of the modern world and the one human family
(ABM, 24).
In
this statement, the Asian Bishops had already displayed awareness of the need
for dialogue as an integral part of inculturation, and acknowledgement of
Asia’s diversity as contexts that must be paid attention to. Rather than
recoiling at the prospect of such a challenge, the Asian Bishops have shown
enthusiasm and determination towards inculturation in the Asian milieu (Kroeger,
2010, p. 7). Their vision for inculturation was expressed in the statement of
the First Plenary Assembly asserting that “the decisive new phenomenon for
Christianity in Asia will be the emergence of genuine Christian communities in
Asia—Asian in their way of thinking, praying, living, communicating their own
Christ-experience to others…. If the Asian Churches do not discover their own
identity, they will have no future” (FAPA I, 70).
In
surveying the tremendous body of documents issued by the FABC, James Kroeger
has identified various characteristic themes related to the concept of
inculturation as understood by the Asian Bishops. Some of the most important
themes expounded by Kroger include inculturation as an urgent imperative, as a
task linked to interfaith dialogue, and as a task carried out actively by the
local Asian churches themselves.
According to Kroeger, culture and
inculturation are not concepts that had a fixed meaning for the Asian Bishops.
Documents show that there is an evolution of understanding as ongoing
reflections took place among the bishops. In
the early FABC documents, terms like “adaptation,” “incarnation,”
“acculturation,” “indigenization,” and “inculturation” were often used
interchangeably, thus leading to different interpretations of the inculturation
process (p. 9-10). As time went on, more concrete understanding of
inculturation began to take shape. As a result of a 1979 mission conference
workshop in Manila devoted to inculturation, it was concluded that:
Inculturation is not mere adaptation of a
ready-made Christianity into a given situation, but rather a creative embodiment
of the Word in the local church. This is the basic and fundamental process of inculturation….
In this process of inculturation a people receives the Word, makes it the principle
of their life, values, attitudes and aspirations. In this way they become the
Body of Christ in this particular time and place—a local church…. The community
discovers a new identity, losing nothing of its cultural riches, but
integrating them in a new whole and becoming the sacrament of God’s liberating
love active among men. (FAPA I, 138)
As
their understanding matured, inculturation was less taken to be a
uni-directional method (faith into culture) and more as a process of dialogue,
mutuality and reciprocity. For the FABC, an acculturated Church “comes into
existence and is built up through a deep and mutually enriching encounter
between the Gospel and a people with its particular culture and tradition....
Inculturation consists not only in the expression of the Gospel and the
Christian faith through the cultural medium, but includes, as well,
experiencing, understanding and appropriating them through the cultural
resources of a people. As a result, the concrete shape of the local church will
be, on the one hand, conditioned by the culture, and, on the other hand, the
culture will be evangelized by the life and witness of the local Church” (FABC
Papers 60, 18).
Despite
its evolving understanding of culture and inculturation, the FABC has always
seen inculturation as an urgent imperative. This is reflected in the constant
refrain in FABC literature expressing the desire for “intensifying our efforts,
especially in the area of inculturation” (FAPA III, 215). The reason this is so
strongly felt is because
As a social
institution the Church is perceived as a foreign body in its colonial origins
while other world religions are not. The lingering colonial image survives….
The Church is even sometimes seen as an obstacle or threat to national
integration and religious and cultural identity…. The Church remains foreign in
its lifestyle, in its institutional structure, in its worship, in its western
trained leadership and in its theology. Christian rituals often remain formal,
neither spontaneous nor particularly Asian…. Seminary formation often alienates
the seminarian from the people. Biblical, systematic and historical theology as
taught are often unpastoral and unAsian. (FAPA II, 195-196)
For the FABC, in
order for inculturation to take place, the local church has to be the primary
subject as stated in the final statement of the Fifth Plenary Assembly in 1990
in Indonesia: “The renewal of our sense of mission will mean…that the acting
subject of mission is the local Church living and acting in communion with the
universal Church. It is the local Churches and communities which can discern
and work out (in dialogue with each other and with other persons of goodwill)
the way the Gospel is best proclaimed, the Church set up, the values of God’s
Kingdom realized in their own place and time” (FAPA I, 281). In numerous
instances, the FABC stresses the role of the local Church in the inculturation
process, emphasizing that “more and more the local Churches in Asia must see
themselves as responsible agents for the self-realization of the Church…. We
grasp something of the significance of local Church and
inculturation in this context; those who cannot understand this fail to
resonate with the signs of our time, and the heartbeat of our peoples” (FABC
Papers 60, 52).
As
already embedded in the above statement, while the local Church is the primary
actor, dialogue will be the primary
vehicle through which inculturation is carried out. This has been asserted
numerous times in FABC documents. “Dialogue is a primary means and way for inculturation”
(FAPA I, 142). “We perceive dialogue as a necessary condition and instrument
for inculturation” (FAPA I, 249). “The local Churches of Asia will
proclaim Jesus Christ to their fellow humans in a dialogical manner” (FAPA I,
346). Indeed, the FABC recognizes that in the extreme cultural, linguistic,
religious milieu of Asia, dialogue is the only possible avenue for the task of
inculturation (Kroeger, p.12). For example, while Christianity make up less
than three percent of the total Asian population, eighty five percent of people
who adhere to other living faiths come from Asia (Kroeger, p. 16). The Muslim
population in Asia exceeds that of Christians by seven times. Thus, dialogue is
imperative in the mission work of the church. FABC has identified three
distinct but inter-related aspects, that of dialogue between the Church and
Asia’s people, especially the poor, Asia’s cultures, and Asia’s religion. This “triple dialogue” paradigm, then is a
dynamic process in which not only the Church influences Asia’s people,
cultures, and religion, but the Church itself is transformed by these realities
(p.13).
In
assessing the FABC’s understanding of inculturation, Jonathan Y. Tan (2011)
asserts that from the get go, the Asians Bishops had been conscious that
inculturation is not merely external adaptations of Christian beliefs,
practices, and structures to the Asian milieu, but rather a “dialogical
encounter” between the Gospel and the local church on the one hand, and the
Asian reality with all of its religious, cultural, and social diversity as an
integrated whole on the other (p. 99). In this encounter, the enrichment is not
one-sided, but rather both sides come to be transformed by the other. According
to Tan, “the FABC’s integrative approach to inculturation enables it to respond
credibly and effectively to the ‘signs of the times’ – the multifaceted cultural,
social, religious, political and economic dimensions of Asian societies” (p.
100). In so doing, Tan concludes that this will facilitate in bringing about
the “Asian-ness” of the Christianity in this continent in which the local
Church and the faith communities become immersed in the Asian mosaic of
cultures, religion, social situations, and is able to stand in solidarity with
the Asian peoples (p. 100).
This
vision of a renewed and inculturated Asian Church is perhaps most succintly
presented in the eight movements in the Final Statement of the Seventh Plenary
Assembly (Samphran, Thailand, January 3–12, 2000), with the general theme of “A
Renewed Church in Asia: A Mission of Love and Service.” The points are
presented in full as follows:
1. A movement toward a Church of the Poor and a
Church of the Young. “If we are to place ourselves at the side of the
multitudes in our continent, we must in our way of life share something of
their poverty,” “speak out for the rights of the disadvantaged and powerless, against
all forms of injustice.” In this continent of the young, we must become “in
them and for them, the Church of the young” (Meeting of Asian Bishops, Manila, Philippines,
1970).
2. A
movement toward a “truly local Church,” toward a Church “incarnate in a people,
a Church indigenous and inculturated” (2 FABC Plenary Assembly, Calcutta,
1978).
3. A
movement toward deep interiority so that the Church becomes a “deeply praying
community whose contemplation is inserted in the context of our time and the
cultures of our peoples today. Integrated into everyday life, “authentic prayer
has to engender in Christians a clear witness of service and love” (2 FABC
Plenary Assembly, Calcutta, 1978).
4. A
movement toward an authentic community of faith. Fully rooted in the life of
the Trinity, the Church in Asia has to be a communion of communities of
authentic participation and co-responsibility, one with its pastors, and linked
“to other communities of faith and to the one and universal communion” of the
holy Church of the Lord. The movement in Asia toward Basic Ecclesial
Communities express the deep desire to be such a community of faith, love and
service and to be truly a “community of communities” and open to building up
Basic Human Communities (3 FABC Plenary Assembly, Bangkok, 1982).
5. A
movement toward active integral evangelization, toward a new sense of mission
(5 FABC Plenary Assembly, Bandung, Indonesia, 1990). We evangelize because we
believe Jesus is the Lord and Savior, “the goal of human history...the joy of
all hearts, and the fulfillment of all aspirations” (GS, 45). In this mission,
the Church has to be a compassionate companion and partner of all Asians, a
servant of the Lord and of all Asian peoples in the journey toward full life in
God’s Kingdom.
6. A
movement toward empowerment of men and women. We must evolve participative
church structures in order to use the personal talents and skills of lay women
and men. Empowered by the Spirit and through the sacraments, lay men and women
should be involved in the life and mission of the Church by bringing the Good
News of Jesus to bear upon the fields of business and politics, of education
and health, of mass media and the world of work. This requires a spirituality
of discipleship enabling both the clergy and laity to work together in their
own specific roles in the common mission of the Church (4 FABC Plenary
Assembly, Tokyo, 1986). The Church cannot be a sign of the Kingdom and of the eschatological
community if the fruits of the Spirit to women are not given due recognition,
and if women do not share in the “freedom of the children of God” (4 FABC
Plenary Assembly, Tokyo, 1986).
7. A
movement toward active involvement in generating and serving life. The Church
has to respond to the death-dealing forces in Asia. By authentic discipleship,
it has to share its vision of full life as promised by Jesus. It is a vision of
life with integrity and dignity, with compassion and sensitive care of the
earth; a vision of participation and mutuality, with a reverential sense of the
sacred, of peace, harmony, and solidarity (6 FABC Plenary Assembly, Manila,
Philippines, 1995).
8. A
movement toward the triple dialogue with other faiths, with the poor and with
the cultures, a Church “in dialogue with the great religious traditions of our
peoples,” in fact, a dialogue with all people, especially the poor. (FAPA III,
p. 3-4)
According
to Peter Phan (2011), these movements points to the desire of the FABC to
transform the Catholic Church from simply being just the Church in Asia
but rather the Church of Asia (p. 258). Phan also agrees that in order
for this to be realized, inculturation needs to take place with the triple
dialogue as the operative paradigm that “can offer useful directions for
building up a vigorous Asian Christianity in its mission of bearing witness to
the reign of God” (p. 259). Indeed, this vision of church is so important that
it was reiterated in a more abbreviated manner in the Final Statement of the
2012 Plenary Assembly in Xuan Loc, Vietnam (FABC Final Statement, 11).
To conclude the discussion on the
meaning and aims of inculturation, I would like to rephrase the summary of
Peter Phan (2003) to help us gain a concise understanding of the concept:
1. Inculturation is inextricably tied with the
evangelizing mission of the church.
2. Inculturation is a two-way process of the Gospel
being introduced into the local culture, which in turns also exerts its
influence on the Gospel. This results in the culture being renewed within by
the Gospel, and the Gospel being enriched by the culture with its new way of
living and understanding the Gospel message.
3. Inculturation goes hand in hand with
interculturation since the Gospel comes to a particular culture already dressed
in another culture. Thus, discernment of the Gospel independent of its outer
coverings is important in the effort to re-express the Gospel in the new
culture.
4. Inculturation is integrally related to
interreligious dialogue since religion with its beliefs, values and practices
is very much tied to culture.
5. Inculturation can be understood using the analogy
of the mysteries of the incarnation, death, resurrection of Jesus, and the
ongoing presence of Christ through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
6. Inculturation has the local church, not the
experts or the central authorities as its primary agent. Thus, theology of the
local church must be promoted to advance this process.
7. Inculturation is a comprehensive effort that
delves into all aspects of church life, especially not ignoring the liberative
dimension with respect to the poor, the marginalized, and the colonialized.
8. Inculturation promotes acceptance of plurarity
not at the cost of destroying the unity of the universal church. Both diversity
and unity must go hand in hand. (pp. 5-10)
Through
this eight-point definition, we see that inculturation is an open-minded,
comprehensive, and constructive approach to the mission of evangelization.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be stated that
even though there is not total concensus on inculturation as the best term to
express the goals and purpose of the church in respect to the relationship
between religion and culture, I believe it is the best possible term at this
time. Moreover, it has been sufficiently developed by the official church as
well as credible theologians to warrant application in specific local contexts,
especially in Asia where the church continues to be seen as a foreign entity.
Inculturation needs to be actively carried out in Asia where the Christian
population is small and risks marginalized if it fails to root itself in the
local culture. Unfortunately, while inculturation as a theological concept has
been thoroughly discussed, in practice, this has not always been implemented,
which may explain why Christianity continues to be a tiny minority on the vast
continent of Asia.
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