Question: David Joseph

In my acquaintance with the Amazon Synod document, I have come across its emphasis on inculturation and interculturation. Is not the acceptance of indigenousculture and traditions through inculturation / interculturationharm our faith?

Answer: Saji Mathew Kanayankal CST

The term ‘inculturation’ is familiar for many of us because of its frequent usage, especially after the second Vatican Council. However, during the last few years it was silenced.In Amazon Synod, we see an attempt to regain the authentic sprit of Vatican II and to go further in developing our relationship with other cultures, traditions and practises.We have to understand inculturationas “the incarnation of the Gospel in native cultures and also the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church”(JohnPaul II, SlavorumApostoli,21). It includes the notion of growth, of the mutual enrichment of persons and groups, rendered possible by the encounter of the Gospel with a social milieu (InternationalTheological Commission, Faith and Inculturation, I,3). The extraordinary synod that convoked at the twentieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council spoke of inculturation as “the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their integration in Christianity in the various human cultures” (Extra Ordinary Synodal Report, 1985).

Interculturation is a term used to refine the concept of inculturation, since the latter does not fully take into account the complicated reality of the interaction between Christian cultures and other cultures and religions.It means that “diverse cultures with plural religious perspectives interact with each other for the betterment of humankind locally and globally” (Thomas Grenham, The Unknown God: Religious and Theological Interculturation, 2005, 69). With the objective of discovering the ‘intercultural face of God residing in the midst of diversely constructed human cultures and religious perspectives,’ interculturation helps us to understand the interaction between diverse cultures and between plural religious perspectives(The Unknown God, 69). This is not a blind practise of certain traditions or rituals nor the mimic of some kind adaptations in prayers, celebrations or liturgy, rather its goal is to promote harmony, justice, and peace in a society as the values of the reign of God proclaimed by Jesus Christ.

THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
These ideas anchor their theological foundation in the biblical narrations of creation and incarnation. As Nostra Aetate (1) teaches, “since God made the whole human race to live over the face of the earth, His manifestations of goodness and His saving design extend to all human beings.” When the Bible says that human being is created in the image and likeness of God, it affirms the equality of all human beings irrespective of ethnicity, race, religion or gender. Each human being shares in ‘humanity’ because they are created by the one and the same God. Therefore, humanity should not be separated into different groups, in the spheres of nationality, religion or ethnicity. Over and against the conceptualisation of the ‘particularist’, who considers himself or his own enclosed or tribal/racial circle to be the sole constitutive element and looks others as ‘barbarians’, ‘infra-humans’ or ‘sub-humans’, the biblical story affirms the primacy of ‘humanness’ before everything else, despite of all their coincidental, later historical and cultural differences. ‘Adam’ is not a proper name, but a generic name that refers to all human race, to which each and every being that is born as a human person simply belongs.  As their origin, “God made the whole human race to live over the face of the earth. Their final goal is same and His providence, His manifestations of goodness, His saving design extend to all humanity”(Nostra Aetate, 1). As we respect every human being, we have to respect his/her identity which is intermingled  with one’s unique culture. So, in a broader sense, respecting the individuality is simply respecting his/her entire environment which includes his/her socio-cultural milieu.

Another decisive moment of this expression of ‘human equality’ is the event of incarnation. With the incarnation,“Christ put aside His prerogative as God and became man in a concrete culture to identify Himself with the whole of humanity” (Amazon Document, 52,1). When God became man, God has also assumed “in a certain way, a race, a country and a time” (Faith and Incarnation, II, 18). Incarnation is not an abstract idea or a lofty inkling, rather it is a very concrete reality that has realised in a particular historical moment in a specified context, with its own socio-cultural environment. Therefore, we cannot think of incarnation, apart from a cultural context. It is a ‘cultural incarnation’.  As GaudiumetSpes(58), points out, “for God, revealing Himself to His people to the extent of a full manifestation of Himself in His Incarnate Son, has spoken according to the culture proper to each epoch.” Christ, while became human being, had adherent to certain social and cultural conditions of those human beings among whom he dwelt and his humanness is fully and historically realized. The thoughts of ‘inculturation and interculturation’ in Amazon Synod inviteus to make a conversion in our life, opening to certain new visions and attitudes.

LEARNING FROM THE OTHER
First and foremost,both inculturation and interculturation are a ‘a process of learning from the other.’ In the language of Amazon document, “we must make ourselves the other, learn from the other.” In this learning process, “we must be present, respect and recognize the values and culture of other people, and should live and practice inculturation and interculturality in our proclamation of the Good News” (Amazon Document, 41). It is an inspiration as well as a request to approach the ‘other’ with a sense of equality, respecting their history and cultures and valuing their ‘good living’ style.This vision is contrast to the Western colonialist view of evangelisation, which was infamous for its imposition of ‘specific ways’ upon other people, desacralizing their land, culture, traditions and ethos. Interculturation creates an attitude of openness by accepting the different spheres of reality. In this way, “to proclaim the Good News of Jesus implies to recognize the seeds of the Word already present in the cultures” (Amazon Document, 55). Therefore, the Amazon Synod suggeststo open research and pastoral centres by the Church in alliance with the indigenous peoples with the aim to study, compile and systematize the traditions of the Amazonian ethnic groups. Through such centres, the identity, culture and value of the Amazonian people must be protected and promoted (Amazon Document57).

In a broader sense, this idea of interculturationis applicable for all cultures and ethnicities. We also must learn to respect thebeliefs, aspirations, theneeds and hopes of people of different faiths and traditions. This vision of interculturally Church makes rather another revolutionary leap from the vision of Vatican II, for in Vatican II the Church was open to other religious traditions by saying that the Catholic Church does not reject what is true and holy in other religions. Accordingly, “she regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men” (Nostra Aetate, 2). Though the Church was open to receive the goodness in other religions, it was a bit dubious in learning from the other faiths. Moreover, it was also sceptical about the different ethnic groups and indigenous communities. However, in Amazon, the Church makes a further leap, telling, “the native peoples and those that arrived subsequently, who forged their identity in co-existence, contributed cultural values in which we discover seeds of the Word. In the jungle not only the vegetation is intertwined, one species sustaining another, the peoples also inter-relate among themselves in a network of alliances that brings everyone gain” (Amazon Document, 43). Thus, an intercultured Church not only respects the multi-cultural reality, but also is open to learn from them and to make an interaction with them more coherently and sincerely. Indeed, she continues to proclaim that Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), in whom humanity find the fullness of life and in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.

DO NOT BE PANIC, THE REALITY IS BEYOND YOUR HORIZON!
One of the fears that many sharesabout inculturation and interculturationis the possibility of losing faith and the inception of superstitions and practises of idolatry into our lives.  Sometimes people also think that by accepting the cultural rituals, our faith will be faded and we become the instruments of the evil! While the Church promoting the reception of good things in every culture, it warns against the superstitions and unethical practices. To proclaim Christ means, above all, to live like him in the midst of our neighbours of other faiths and ideologies, and to do his deeds by the power of his grace.

We should not forget that most of the rituals and practises which are still prevalent in the Church are not of its own, but are taken from the culture and traditions of local people. Before forming as a nation, the ancient Israel was born in a world which has given birth to many great cultures and progressed together with them and they have accepted many rituals, feasts and celebrations like circumcision, the spring sacrifice, the Sabbath rest etc., from other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Jesus himself was an ‘incultured being’ and the Church also is an incultured reality (Faith and Incarnation, I. 5). Relying on the conviction that “the incarnation of the Word was also a cultural incarnation”, Pope John Paul II affirms “that cultures, analogically comparable to the humanity of Christ in whatever good they possess, may play a positive role of mediation in the expression and extension of the Christian faith. (Faith and Incarnation, I. 5). In its beginning stage, the Church has adapted many practises, traditions and lessons from the Greco- Roman World (Gaudiumet Spes, 44). Later on, in course of history, the Church has undergone a lot of drastic and radical changes as per the diversity of the multitude of faithful.

In fact, the different kinds of religious experiences practised by different religions as well as indigenous people should be seen as responses to the encounter with the mystery of God, the ultimate reality. As the Amazon Document (44) underlines, “the thought of the indigenous peoples offers an integrating vision of reality, which is able to understand the multiple existing connections between all that is created”. Similarly, the “popular piety is an important means that links many peoples of Amazonia with their spiritual experiences, their cultural roots and their community integration. They are manifestations with which the people express their faith, through images, symbols, traditions, rites and other sacramentals” (Amazon Document, 53). Various kinds of religious practises and cultural frames are to be viewed as significant and positive elements in the economy of God’s design of salvation.The Church, being a pilgrim community, is not a static reality, rather it makes its journey with the Spirit to discover its path and the direction of its grace. In this journey we can observe a process of talking and listening, of giving and receiving, of searching and studying, for the deepening and enriching of its faith and understanding, especially in its relationship with other religions and traditions. By journeying with many other communities of believers who live and experience their own faith, Christian communities learn to listen to the Spirit at work in others and to learn to cultivate the attitudes of openness and sensitivity, honesty and humility of spirit, a sincere disinterestedness and fraternal love which holds the feelings of others in reverence.

In each stage of this progressive movement, the authenticity and sagacity of the Church is broadened and deepened. Inculturation is a meeting of the Spirit with the Spirit because God’s Spirit is present and active among different peoples and cultures beyond the boundaries of Christian faith and only by the ongoing historical process of inculturation and interculturation, the Church, with its universal face, will become an authentic local Church.The acceptance of certain practices and traditions which is well rooted in a culture and that do not contradict Catholic faith and do not hinder common good does no harm in practising our faith.