EVANGELIZATION AND CULTURE: THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH

Introduction

The gospel mandate of Christ in Mt 28:19 has from the earliest Christian time been a clarion call which invites all men to conversion to His very salvation and restoration of their being. By the virtue of this great mandate, the gospel of Christ has struck all parts of the world and all tiers of men; as the joy of discovering God is not an ornament not to be adorned by only a person. Through evangelization, the world has been drawn to the very image of God as Christ willed. Man on the other hand is a product of his nature and is by nature tied to his practices and ways of life. Man’s culture hence is the sum and totality of his ways in his interaction with his environment and his interpretation of the immediate world he perceives. As evangelization cuts across all men of all nation with various and diversified ways and modes of survival and existence. The question of how the task of evangelization could be carried out in the awareness of these human cultures is a very reoccurring question which is paramount. The question of the stand of the Church in evangelization of various cultures of people still perdures. It is to this that this write-up is meant to bring an exposition of the stand of the Church in evangelization of human cultures.

Towards an understanding of Culture

Culture has been understood and expressed in various ways. The most important element which is common in all various understanding is the fact of it is being man’s way of life in its totality. A culture is a particular way of being human, of understanding the world and of structuring human existence, which is shared by a group of people. It expresses itself through a complex symbolic system in which language plays a central role, through a set of institutions and through ritualized behavior. It is adaptable to changing circumstances and transmitted is from generation to generation. An element which is closely allied to culture is religion which is an intimate fabric of a people's way of life. It is to this that culture is identified by the Church a particular way in which persons and peoples cultivate their relationship with nature and their brothers and sisters, with themselves and with God, so as to attain a fully human existence. (Cf. Gaudium et Spes, 53). Hence it is important to note that the Church keeps in mind the cultural dimension of the person and of human communities

The Pontificial Council for Culture holds that all culture is an effort to ponder the mystery of the world and in particular of the human person: it is a way of giving expression to the transcendent dimension of human life. The heart of every culture is its approach to the greatest mystery: the mystery of God. Evangelization is therefore geared towards exposing man to the very salvific ways and culture which transcends the human person.

Shades on Evangelization

“God….. Desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tim 2:4)

Evangelization can be plainly understood as the process, content and context, through which the Church brings the good news (the gospel message) of Christ into all aspects of human life and endeavors, in order to influence its transformation intrinsically. It is to this that Hunter K. R offers that evangelization is acknowledged as the major reproductive mechanism for the church. Evangelization is about people and their way of life, that is their culture. It is a process of religious education which seeks to transform adherents of the Christian faith, whether new or old members, into persons who are Christ-like. The two subjects of evangelization are the people and their culture.

On the position of the Church in Evangelization and Culture

The Church has not been silent in the discourse of evangelization and the culture. From the early beginning of the Church, the cultured man has always been in consideration. Several Church documents have extensively dealt on this, The Second Vatican Council, particularly the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World and the Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity, the Synods of Bishops on the evangelization of the modern world and catechesis in our times, extended by the Apostolic Exhortations Evangelii Nuntiandi by Paul VI and Catechesi Tradendae by John Paul II, offer precious teachings in this respect.

Recent post-synodal apostolic exhortations have cued into the fact that evangelization is a hard task, coupled with the problems of the modern world. For Pope Paul VI

“What matters is to evangelize [human] culture and cultures (not in a purely decorative way, as it were, by applying a thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots) … always taking the person as one's starting-point and always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God “(1975, 20).

The Gospel, and therefore evangelization, are certainly not identical with culture, and they are independent in regard to all cultures. Nevertheless, the kingdom which the Gospel proclaims is lived by men who are profoundly linked to a culture, and the building up of the kingdom cannot avoid borrowing the elements of human culture or cultures. Though independent of cultures, the Gospel and evangelization are not necessarily incompatible with them; rather they are capable of permeating them all without becoming subject to any one of them.

From the 1994 document of the world bishops' synod on Africa, titled Ecclesia in Africa, promulgated by Pope John Paul in 1995, there emerge five dimensions of the church's agenda for mission: proclamation, social justice dialogue, inculturation and social communications. Inculturation stands out as the most viable means of retaining good elements of man’s culture, and this is where the Church at most pitches its tent as it stands out to be the most debated theme in the Synod of Africa, as Africa is a witness to the aftermath of an evangelization achieved by the imposition of a foreign cultural framework, methodology and ways as the utmost concern of the early missionaries was the implantation and propagation of the Church in African soil, without taking into account African ways of life. This neglect has been the source of a lack of integration between the Church's life and the needs of African Christians - an uneasiness which causes deep pain. It is important to note that the meeting of faith and culture is a meeting of things which are not of the same order. The inculturation of faith and the evangelization of culture go together as an inseparable pair, in which there is no hint of syncretism.

Thus, Pope Saint Johnpaul II in his Pastores Dabo Vobis (pg55) offers that inculturation seeks to obey Christ's command to preach the Gospel to all nations even unto the ends of the earth. Such obedience does not signify either syncretism or a simple adaptation of the announcement of the Gospel, but rather the fact the Gospel penetrates the very life of cultures, becomes incarnate in them, overcoming those cultural elements that are incompatible with the faith and Christian living and raising their values to the mystery of salvation which comes from Christ» (Pastores dabo vobis, 55)

Inculturation is the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person, another culture, etc. “Through Inculturation, the church makes the gospel incarnate in different cultures and at the same time introduces peoples, together with their cultures into their community. The church transmits her values, at the same time taking the good elements that already exist in them and renewing them from within.” (Redemptoris Missio, No. 52). John Paul II (1995) defined inculturation as “the incarnation of the gospel in native culture and also the introduction of the culture into the life of the church” (as cited in Uchem 2001, 149). He also referred to it as “a movement towards full evangelization” (John Paul II, 62)

Inculturation is a movement towards full evangelization. It seeks to dispose people to receive Jesus Christ in an integral manner. It touches them on the personal, cultural, economic and political levels so that they can live a holy life in total union with God the Father, through the action of the Holy Spirit (John Paul II, 62).

The fact that evangelization loses its efficaciousness and effectiveness if takes no consideration of the actual people of whom it is addressed to, make use of their symbols and language, if it makes no attempt in proffering answers to their questions and has no evidently concrete impact in their lives cannot be denied. Hence through inculturation, the church or even the people of God who propagate the gospel message does not take away the temporal welfare of any people or culture, rather, the Church fosters and takes to herself elements of culture, resources or customs of people insofar that they are good in themselves and in so doing strengthen, promotes and elevates them. Through inculturation, the Christian life and doctrine is reformed into the thought pattern of every people, this will make Christian convert feel at home with the message of salvation. Christ message is brought home for all to accept in their own ways, and people can receive, celebrate, live and translate its faith into its own culture.

Challenges of Inculturation

The human culture has various components. These could range from rituals, entertainment, sexual practices, festivals, marriage system, social group system etc. Inculturation is posed at incorporating positive and good elements of a particular culture in the evangelization of the culture and man himself.

Conclusion

The Church in its strive towards evangelization of man is not an enemy to the cultures of man. For even the evangelizer is a product of culture and born into a culture. The position of the Church in evangelization remains on in incorporating good elements of a culture in order to strengthen then, hence the Church in its bid to evangelize has man’s culture in mind. The gospel message is a message of conversion and interior transformation of the person, it is to this that the goal of evangelization is to bring man to the consciousness of his creator and to share in this image for the good of the human society and person.

By 

Benjamin Onuze