Kargador at Dawn

Kargador at Dawn
Work in the Vineyard

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Mission and Cultures


MISSION AND CULTURES

By Prof. Eliseo R. Mercado,Jr.,OMI
Notre Dame University – Graduate School
San Beda University – Graduate School of Laws
 
  I.  Introduction:
       
            No doubt, one of the sources of polarization in the churches today is the encounter between Christianity and the diverse non- European cultures.  There are many encounters in Asia, Africa and the Americas that have resulted to “ethnocide” (the eradication of peoples' cultures and identities as they embraced the Christian message).  Vatican II reforms have, since the mid - 60’s, accepted the pluralism of cultures and they need not be sacrificed in the work of evangelization.
       
             This affirmation has re-opened the burning issue of evangelization in a non-western cultural setting, particularly in Asia and Africa.   The problematic issue is a comprehensive reality that includes theology, liturgy, and spirituality but inter and intra relationships between peoples, nations and communities as well.  The latter touches among others the national and world order.
       
             There have been several attempts made to articulate the problem as well as the paths being charted by various local and national churches since the mid 60's in Asia, Africa and the Americas.   While there are similarities, particularly in terminologies, the specific contents and contexts of every attempt is unique to the concrete people and place undergoing the experience of renewed evangelization in the midst of diverse non-western cultures.
       
             This paper hopes to contribute in clarifying both the efforts and the processes involved in the several attempts to grapple with the issue that results from the encounter between the Christian message and non-western cultures.

II.  Cultures and Mission
       
             In the past, the problem of Cultures and Mission was situated where Christianity came into contact with a culture. It was a problem of Christianity that was very identified with Western culture vis-à-vis non- western cultures of Asia and Africa.
       
             Today, the question is about the place of Christianity in the midst of diversity of cultures.  This implies the search for a Christian cultural identity in the midst of  "non-Christian” cultures. 

            Pope Pius XII articulated that " whatever is good and human, and in agreement with the nature of man as created by God, the Church accepts, further develops, elevates and sanctifies… unless these are obviously opposed to religion and good morals.”  Similarly, the Propaganda Fide articulated the need to study the local cultures.    “For what is more absurd than to bring France or Spain or Italy or any part of Europe into China?   Admire and praise what deserves to be respected."  (Collectanea, Propaganda Fide: Rome, vol. 1 no. 135, p.42).
 
III.  Cross-Cultural Models
       
             1.  The Translation Model.
       
             The most common and the earliest model is that of translation (trans-latio) which includes two steps.  In the first step, the Christian faith is detached as much as possible from its cultural embodiment in the Western tradition.  This is done by applying a cultural critique of the European tradition, and a return to what is seen as the essential elements of the biblical tradition.  In the second step, the Christian faith is translated into local cultural categories.  This approach is typical of the earlier efforts of Protestant missionaries to translate the Bible into the local language, and to look for equivalents to the biblical concepts of God, sin and salvation.  In the Catholic Church, this attempt to translate community celebrations was one of the major reasons in the liturgical renewals and adaptations in non-European countries. 
       
             The weakness of this model is that it presumes that the Christian faith can be detached from cultural traditions like the kernel from the husk, and it assumes that there always are parallels either in concept or in symbol in other cultures.   Experience shows that liturgical symbols, once translated into apparently similar categories, very often lose the power of association binding a community to its tradition.   For example, in replacing bread and wine by rice and tea, as what happened in certain Asian countries, the symbol of a family meal and communion is enhanced, but the idea of Christ’s sacrifice and the Exodus of the Jewish people is lost.  The question is: are cultural symbols transferable, and can it be done without altering the deeper meanings and patterns that support those symbols?
       
             2.  The Adaptation Model.
       
             The second model is that of adaptation.  It tries to avoid the weaknesses of the translation model and seeks a more fundamental encounter between the Christian faith and other cultures.  One way of applying this model is to construct a philosophical system similar to those of the West but using categories from the local culture as a support for local theologies.   For example, Chinese theologians in the first half of this century tried to develop a theology based on neo-Confucianist categories using a Kantian framework.   On the ecclesial level, there have been efforts to form an indigenous clergy without changing the fundamental structures of the Christian church.   This is the result of many selections and interpretations.  It also fails to see that using the concept of "person" to understand God and the Trinity is so bound to one culture that any expression of the same dogma in another culture would be totally different.   But most important of all is the question whether the understanding of history as a linear development can be reconstructed to translate concepts and symbols, in a culture that has a different attitude towards time and process?       

            3.  The Inculturation Model.
       
             Since Vatican II, the term "adaptation" has been replaced by that of "inculturation" both in theological circles as well as in Church official declarations.  FABC in 1974 called for a  "Church indigenous and acculturated".  The Synod of Africa and Madagascar declared that the theology of adaptation was completely outdated.  Paul VI's Evangelium Nuntiandi (1975) speaks of an evangelization of cultures "not only in a way as it were by applying thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots" (EN no.20).  The fifth Synod of Bishops  (1977) was the first official church document that explicitly used the word  "inculturation” in its message to the universal church.  Inculturation's use of the prefix "in" adds a theological insight and suggests that a seed is sown, takes roots and flourishes in a soil.  The evangelization process brings into being as goodness, truth and beauty.   Evangelization strives to assimilate and to develop all these values:  to live them with magnanimity and joy and to perfect them by the mysterious and ennobling light of revelation" (SA, 18).
       
             The latest document on Mission is John Paul II’s encyclical letter, Redemptoris Missio.  This document tries to synthesize the Catholic Church's missiological teachings of recent times.  It, too, addresses the problem that results from the encounter between mission and cultures.   John Paul II reiterates that "the process of the Church’s insertion into peoples’ cultures... is not a matter of purely external adaptation.  Inculturation means the intimate transformation of authentic values through their integration in Christianity and the insertion of Christianity in the various human cultures" (RM, 52). 
       
             The change in vocabulary signifies a deepening of understanding of the cultural process.  "Adaptation" still suggests a ready-made Christianity that does not change anything in substance, and does not suggest an equal relationship of reciprocity in its contact with other cultural traditions.   "Inculturation", on the other hand, signifies the insertion of the Christian message, analogous to Christ's incarnation in human history.   It recognizes the responsibility of local churches to shape the future of the Church in their own part of the world and the enrichment the universal Church is to gain from this experience.  “For full Catholicity, every nation, every culture has its own part to play in the universal plan of salvation.  Every particular tradition, every local church, must remain open and alert to the other churches and, at the same time, to universal and catholic communion" (SA, 27).
            
             4.  The Contextualization Model.
       
             Vatican II opened the Church to the richness of the humanistic and scientific progress of the world in our time, but it also pointed to the structural injustices and cultural alienation inherent in the process.  The separation of the gospel and modern culture was the principal concern of Vatican II's Pastoral Constitution on the Modern World.  It is in itself a positive step towards a new kind of pastoral presence.  On the other hand, the Church has suffered a serious crisis of identity.
       
             Moreover, there is a trend that encourages the development of theology in indigenous cultural categories with special attention to the socio-political context.  The primacy given to the biblical word, and the secondary importance given to liturgical and sacramental life are probably part of the reason for calling this effort contextualization" rather than "inculturation.
       
             This trend has paved the way for the  "Contextual” model which covers mainly the theologies developed in Latin America and other third world countries, as well as by ethnic or social minorities in industrialized societies.  As the word  "context" suggests, the importance is given to the social or cultural milieu of the receiver as the locus of faith reflection.   It begins with the needs of a people in a concrete place, whether it is the search for a new cultural identity or for fundamental changes through liberation.  Although the word "context” conveys the idea of a situation rather than the process, there is a common emphasis on change in both these approaches that recognize that the world is undergoing continuous social transformation and cultural traditions are no exception to the rule.
       
             Another common emphasis to the contextual model is the role of grass-root peoples as the subject of theological construction.  While the former models mainly describe how theologians work in academic institutions, the contextual theologians work as partners in life communities.  Their criteria are  "relevance” and "verification in experience/praxis" rather than the pursuit of scientific knowledge, or dialogue with tradition, and the resulting product is often a new creation.
      
             It can be said that this model stretches the possibilities of existing ways of thinking about the Christian faith to its limits, and is willing to venture into the unknown, with all the ambiguities and risks it implies.  It is perhaps this model that is the most fruitful framework for understanding the problem faced by Christian communities in many third world countries and the attempts of their theologians to relate the Christian faith to their situation.      
  
     V.  Conclusion
       
             There is no doubt that the mystery of Jesus must find home not only in our individual and communal lives but also in our concrete cultural milieu.  This is not a matter of purely translation or inculturation or contextualization but the intimate transformation of life, cultural values and the very world through their being assumed in Christ.  For what is not assumed in saved.
       
             In missiological circles, this process is described as the two-fold journey: the journey to the hearts of people/nation and the journey to the heartland of the place.  Both journeys are painful and entail the process of death and resurrection, of donning on and donning off, of dying and of re-birth.
       
             Yes, there are no short cuts in this journey.   Missionaries have to live the pains as well as the difficulties.   The only guarantee given is the promise that the Spirit is with us.  He is our light and strength.   This is the same Spirit who was at work in the Incarnation and in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and who is at work now in our incarnation and in our life, death and resurrection.  We are called to have the same faith in the Spirit, to have the same readiness and courage as Jesus who became like us in all things but sin.
       
             In the final analysis, is this not the meaning of the saying:   "the old gives way to the new and death leads to life".  Here lies the challenge for all of us as we MAKE the Message our own!

#Badaliyya-Philippines
February 17, 2019


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