FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE
Father Harry C. Stolk, sj, said that inculturation is a process in which every Christian lives the "epiphany" of the Church. From one side he manifests the Universal Church, as a mystical body of Christ in the midst of a local society with its complexity of cultures, and from another side he contributes that which his culture has cultivated in him, as it is expressed through diverse manifestation.(1) So it is a living theology which is being lived by every Christian, either as an individual or as a community; it is not merely a theology which is being reflected by theologians, bishops, and priests.
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Fr. Yves Congar in his discourse on Christianity as Faith and as Culture(2) emphasized that there is no contradiction between the local Church and the Universal Church. There is only One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.(3) This single Church becomes concrete, present and active in each and every constituted Church. This single Church exists wherever the unique and revealing initiative of God meets the response of a human being. The economy of God to redeem all humankind is operative in all encounters, in all moments and in all places. It exists within every social context and every expression which mankind produces. The response to this divine initiative is not to be considered as a spoken answer. A human being shows this response by how it is given, lived and expressed within the flesh of his concrete humanity. Therefore, the Universal Church becomes concrete only with the giving of some particular recognition. Particular is opposed to general, but not to catholic. The particular realization and recognition of God's initiative within the Catholic faith are pars pro toto and totum pro parte.(4) All Churches are accomplishing their task to realize what the Universal Church, the mystical Body of Christ, maintains as the truth. The accomplishment of this is not achieved by a mere deductive application of universal and abstract truth applied to a concrete situation, it is, rather, an event of Jesus Christ who brings evangelical values for all humankind and their cultures.(5) The Church lives in divine and human energy through the many religious experiences which occur when a human lives profoundly his relationship with God and is transformed into a new creature. His fidelity to his existential experience, illuminated by the teachings of the Magisterium, brings him into new values, and he is impelled to express these values throughout his dimension of life and through his various cultural categories: such as socio-politics, morals and esthetics...(6)
Inculturation is not merely a policy or tactic of the Church in order to proclaim the Gospel or to adapt Christianity to a determined culture. It is a salvific work of God, in Jesus Christ and through His Holy Spirit. This event has its foundation in the history of salvation which we can perceive in the Holy Scriptures, the Gospel, as well as within the documented and living tradition of the Church. Within this history we can discover the pattern for a correct process of inculturation. The Magisterium has frequently declared that the incarnation of God in His Son becomes the theological foundation of the process of inculturation.(7) Jesus is a model of a process of inculturation: assuming human cultures with their values, He used and renewed them radically for the proclamation of the Good News. His death and resurrection for the glory of God is the gateway for a new humanity, with all of its aspects.
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Card. Paul Poupard explained that the theological foundation for the evangelization of a culture can be seen in three stages of incarnation: the mystery of Christmas, the Paschal mystery and the mystery of Pentecost.(8)
The incarnation of God's Son is the primary motivation and most perfect model for inculturation. The local Church must become part of society, for the same motive which led Christ to bind Himself to the definite social and cultural conditions of human beings among whom He dwelt. The local Church promotes and takes to herself the goodness, abilities, resources, and customs of the people while purifying, strengthening and elevating them. Each Church contributes her offering to other Churches and to the whole Church. The Christian life of a local Church is not only expressed through the elements of cultures; the culture becomes new creation as it is being transformed by divine power. Therefore, inculturation is a practical consequence of the incarnation of God's son, which must be continued by His Mystical Body, that is the Church. Inculturation relates to the duty to eliminate, as much as possible, the spirit which is contrary, thereby transforming the whole of humanity into new life in Christ.
The mystery of incarnation reached its accomplishment in the Paschal mystery. Through His death and resurrection He saved humankind and the world from sin. Since human cultures are deeply affected by sins, the process of inculturation must follow in this same way. To redeem humankind with its cultures involves essentially a process of "crucifixion", "conversion", and "purification" into a new life in Christ. It means that the Church takes His words and His life and uses them as a criterion of their judgement, a standard of their values, making them the very center and root of their new life. Each culture is incorporated into new life in the risen Christ. Inculturation must follow the process of kenosis. Even the cultures which are already invested in a so called "Christianism",(9) have to die together with other determined cultures in order to rise again as new creations in Christ. Practically the local Church receives, from the mystery of death and resurrection, a criterion of discernment; one which is needed for the better process of inculturation.
The process of inculturation receives the life-giving power, sent by the risen Christ, of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit penetrates the multi-cultural situations of humankind and induces them towards union with Christ.(10) The Spirit comes with its own process of inculturation. It reveals Christ's mystical Body in the cultures in which the process of Word becoming flesh takes place. The Spirit gives validity to the plurality which exists within the unity of the Church; it testifies to her catholicity within the wholeness of a Church which is being realized in so many particularities.(11) The internal transformation of humankind and its cultures must be done in docility to the Holy Spirit, which is the principal agent of the process of inculturation. The Church as a whole is marked by the richness of the Pentecostal event, as it is the starting agent of all the dynamic process of inculturation. So all nations are united in the one faith to Jesus Christ, and all understand the Word of God according to their various linguistic abilities. Whenever God the Father, through Jesus Christ in His Holy Spirit, enters into human history as an individual or community, the richness of Pentecostal gifts manifests the unity that exists within the plurality. At the same time He transcends all particularity, even catholicity.
Each and every Church, in which the Church of Christ is truly present and operative, is an embodiment of Christ's mystical Body amidst the concrete conditions of people. There is an "epiphany" of the Universal Church which allows it that the local Church can live in her proper autonomy and freedom, exercising her responsibility, originality, creativity and inventiveness in docility to the Holy Spirit.
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It is important to note that our perceptions of the Church are vastly different from each other and that this fact can hinder our efforts to foster the process of inculturation.
Pope John XXIII saw the necessity of presenting the genuine and immutable doctrine of faith in accordance with the exigencies of our time. This concept was developed during Vatican Council II and it is the Church which should keep it "up to date". The Church, founded in Jesus Christ and inspired by His Holy Spirit in its human reality, should be realized according to the renewed image, as was proposed by Vatican Council II. LG 13 emphasizes the relation between the Universal Church and the local Churches by qualifying the meaning of the Church's universality. In AG 19, the term "implanting the Church" is to be considered in a socio-cultural context, and as an evident suggestion which is opposed to "transplantation". It describes an objective to be achieved: the Church, as the People of God, must be rooted in the social life of the people, must conform with the culture and must have a stable permanence equipped with its own indigenous bishops, priests, religious laity, institutions and ministries. Within a context of evangelization activity, it is possible for the local Church to achieve this using the principles of incarnation, "indigenousation", inculturation and localization.
The image of the Church which might be in synergy with the renewed concept according to Vatican Council II, as well as with the post-council period, could be described as follows:(12)
(1) It would have a concentric structure: all members would be centered on Christ as brothers and sisters. It would be different than a pyramidal structure, where the laity are regarded as the lowest members of the Church and an importance is given to the hierarchy.
(2) The social stratification of the Church would be considered as a community of brothers and sisters, a community in which there is no separation between the clergy and the laity. The relationship between them would be actualized with the spirit of communion and co-responsibility. They would make their decisions together. There would never be a situation in which the decision-maker comes from one side and the consultative member comes from the other side. The families, which are small communities, would be regarded as basic units for the realization of the Church; this is because without the basic unit of the family involved, a big parish runs the risk of becoming a structured institution rather than an interpersonal, living community. The organism based on the concept of the Church, as leaven of the world, is more important than organization or institution.
(3) The growth of faith would be regarded as being more important than a knowledge of the doctrinal principles of Christianity. The Church would accentuate the process of an internalization of the evangelical values of truth within the personality of every Christian. This would be done by favoring the sharing of faith as well as the sharing of existential and biblical experiences. The formation of faith would not be considered as being finished at the end of catechism; there would be an unending formation of Christianity.
(4) The liturgy would become the expression of a faith which is enriched by the inculturated expressions assumed from every cultural condition of the people; it would be lived through the participation of all members who offer their creativity. The liturgy, therefore, would no longer be mechanical and clerical, with an unchangeable uniformity, because it would accept the difference and richness of liturgical expressions. The sacraments would not be lived as ritual, but rather as an expression of faith based on the real disposition of the recipients.
(5) The formation of the ecclesial leader would not be accomplished only through an academic formation. The ecclesial leader would be required to realize an in-service training period within the community of the faithful: this would be accomplished through actions and through the realization of an ongoing formation of the living Church. The ministries of the Church would not limit themselves simply to the liturgical and sacramental aspect, but would be diversified according to the variety of involvement within the local Church, ad intra and ad extra.
It is the Church itself, therefore, which needs ongoing formation, as St. Ireneus said: "ecclesia semper reformanda". The reshaping process of the Church, as so many theologians have suggested, is a part of the living theology in which inculturation has its meaning. Based on religious experiences, every single Christian can contribute to this process. We recall the words which Peter said to Jesus: "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" (Mk 9:5). Being moved by the experience of God, the Church changes her life into a new "holistic" reality. An "epiphany" happens whenever God meets His people and they respond to God's revelation by expressing their experience with all their heart, soul, mind and strength (cf. Mk 12:30).
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Creativity, based upon religious experience, is a living process which can be as different as "a" is from "z", as the history of believers has proved. Msgr. Thomas Menamparampil, SDB, said: "It never ends, as long as there is life. It is because of the community. Experts may assist it in its processes, but it is the community itself that constantly seeks to express its faith and its love in renewed ways. If you are leader, follow its lead".(13) Therefore, unity in diversity, as part of our daily life, must occur as normally as every single Christian, together with the community, lives the inculturation as an "epiphany". The cultures, as expressions of these different religious experiences, become pluri-cultural and shape the reality of the Triune God into one humanity.
1. Cf. STOLK, HARRY C. , Inkulturasi; Menuju "epifani" Gereja Indonesia, in Bina Liturgia I (1985) pp. 61-74.
2. YVES CONGAR, Christianity as Faith and as Culture, in East Asian Pastoral Review XVIII (1981) pp. 301-319.
3. Cf. CD 11; LG 23.
4. Cf. YVES CONGAR, op.cit., p. 305
5. Cf. BANAWIRATMA, J.B., Menjernihkan Inkulturasi. Usaha Umat setempat untuk mengerti dan menghayati Injil, in Bina Liturgia, op.cit., p. 20.
6. Cf. ALESSI, A., Cultura ed esperienza religiosa. Principi di una criteriologia filosofica, in AMATO, A. (ed), Inculturazione e formazione salesiana (Roma, SDB, 1984), pp. 191-209.
7. The principle of incarnation: "The Word was made flesh", "the way of Logos" - Paul VI in Ecclesiam Suam; "according to the economy of salvation" - AG 22; "To incarnate Christianity in every country with respect to its own culture" - the African Bishops; "following the dynamic of incarnation" - Msgr. B. Yago; "inculturation as a practical consequence of the incarnation of the Son of God who assumes all culture" - P. Arrupe.
8. Cf. POUPARD, CARD. P., Theologia della evanagelizzazione delle culture, in Il Regno-documenti XXXI (1986) 546, pp. 152-153.
9. "Christianism" creates an extremely dubious perspective within other religions; one example being how our genuine intention to help our Hindu, Moslem or Buddhist neighbor is so often perceived as a tactic merely to convert them.
10. Cf. LG 16.32; GS 1.11; AA 29; UR 4.
11. Cf. LG 13.
12. Cf. TSUI, L. Some Main Points on the Training of the Laity, in East Asian Pastoral Review XXII (1985) p. 45.
13. MENAMPARAMPIL, THOMAS, The Challenge of Cultures. Cross-Cultural Relationship, Conflicts, Inculturation (Bombay, St. Paul, 1996), p.78.