Inculturation

Church Teaching on Inculturation

A. History
B. Definition and Its Implications
C. Background of the Definition
1. Gaudium et Spes
2. John Paul II

A. History

How and when the term inculturation was coined is

uncertain. The Jesuit J. Masson is credited by some as
having used it as early as 1962.

Cont.: A. History

Its public use can be traced to the 1970s, especially for

example during the 1974-1975 General Congregation of
the Jesuits, where Fr. Pedro Arrupe, then Jesuit
Superior General, was to insist: The need for
inculturation is universal.

In 1975, Pope Paul Paul VI issued Evangelii Nuntiandi,

rightly considered the Charter of Inculturation for the
Church, where he gave his typically incisive definition
of what evangelization implies: What matters is to
evangelize human culture and cultures.

Cont.

The first actual use of the term inculturation in an

official Church document came in the message of the
Fifth Synod of Bishops 1977.

Cont.

Pope Paul II has used the term in his 1985 encyclical

Slavorum Apostoli (in honor of the evangelizing works of
Saints Cyril and Methodius). The work of evnagelization
which Cyril and Methodius carried out contains both the
model of what today is called inculturation, i.e., the
incarnation of the gospel in native cultures, and also
the introduction of these cultures into the life of the
Church (SA 21)

Definition

As a term designating the process by which the Gospel

takes root in local values, discovering and

using their richness, as well as

purifying

their deficiencies.

Cont.: Implications of the

definition
1. Insertion of the Gospel within the very heart of culture

Cont. Implications of the

definition
2. Interaction between (at least) two cultures. It is not a
simple encounter between the Gospel and a culture,
because the Gospel comes to our times as already
embedded in a particular culture of the time of the
evangelists.

Cont. : Implications of the

definition
3. Process of Exchange. Not only is there giving to a
culture, but there should be receiving in return

Cont.: Implications of the

definition
4. Converting Encounter with the person of Christ. The
deeper the union with Christ the greater the urge to bring
him alive within ones culture

Cont.: Implications of the

definition
5. Process of Critical interaction. There will be rejection of
some cultural values, as well as acceptance of others- but
it has to be measured against Christ and his values.

Cont.: Implications of the

definition
6. Dialogue between a community of faith and of cultures.
Inculturation then cannot be designed by theological
experts and imposed from above(though it can be
inhibited by them). The task of experts is to help refine
what Christ and his Church would wish us to believe. It is
only when individuals and a community believe in the Lord
and act accordingly within this or that that inculturation
occurs.

C. Background of the
Definition
1. Gaudium et Spes
Relations Between Culture and the Good News of Christ
(58)

God spoke to the culture proper to the age

The Church has existed through the centuries through

varying circumstances and has utilized the resources of
different cultures in its preaching

Cont.

-Church is faithful to its traditions and is at the same time

conscious of its universal mission; it can, then, enter into
communion with different forms of culture, thereby
enriching both itself and the cultures themselves.

Cont.

The good news of Christ continually renews the life and

culture of fallen man; it combats and removes the error
and evil which flow from the ever present attraction of
sin.

The good news stimulates and advances human and civil

culture.

Cont.: Background
2.

St. John Paul II

In February, 1981, in an important message to the peoples of

Asia broadcast from the Philippines, he said:
Wherever she is, the Church must sink her roots deeply
into the spiritual and cultural soil of the country,

assimilate all genuine values, enriching them

also with the insights that she has received from Jesus
Christ Given the mission entrusted to it by our Lord, the
Churchs priority is always the evangelization of all peoples
and therefore of all cultures.

Cont.

Inculturation is a means of evangelization, being at the

same time its consequence.

Clearly, therefore, the key reference for inculturation

is not culture, but the Gospel itself.

Cont. JPII

elevation

acceptance of the Gospel implies an

of
traditional values or local customs, and where necessary
their

purification.

But the Saint JPII is also clear about the need to

critically

evaluate, and where necessary

regenerate, native values.

The Church comes to bring Christ; she does not come to

Evangelization
aims at penetrating and elevating cultures
by the power of the gospel. On the other
bring the culture of another race.

hand, we know that Gods revelation exceeds the

insights of any culture, and of the cultures of the world
put together ... Therefore it is clear, as I have stated
before, that the power of the gospel everywhere
transforms and regenerates. When that power enters
into a culture, it is no surprise that it
many of its elements.

rectifies

2. Aspects in Inculturation as
noted in the work of Saint JPII
a. the value of so many native and local traditions,
which therefore must not be lost (and, as he
frequently points out, they are being attacked by
alien influences);

b) the purifying and enriching effect of the gospel