Intercultural Hermeneutics Understanding Culture And Religion

New hermeneutical challenges abound within the process of globalisation especially as they pertain to culture and religion. Consequently, a new form of hermeneutics approached from an intercultural perspective is needed. This requires, if not a new set of hermeneutical tools then, at least, a serious, profound and critical analysis and constructive adaptation of the already available set of hermeneutical tools. Intercultural hermeneutics in the understanding of religion and culture and among cultures and religions is being proposed here as this new form of art or science of understanding. Chibueze C. Udeani is of Igbo origin and currently professor of missiology and dialogue of religions at Julius Maximilian's university Würzburg, Germany.

Christianity is not only a global but also an intercultural phenomenon. The diversity of world Christianity is evident not merely outside our borders but even within our own neighborhoods.M Over the past half century theologians and missiologists have addressed this reality by developing local and contextual theologies and by exploring issues like contextualization, inculturation, and translation. In recent years these various trajectories have coalesced into a new field called intercultural theology. Bringing together missiology, religious studies, social science research, and Christian theology, the field of intercultural theology is a fresh attempt to rethink the discipline of theology in light of the diversity and pluriformity of Christianity today. Henning Wrogemann, one of the leading missiologists and scholars of religion in Europe, has written the most comprehensive textbook on the subject of Christianity and culture today. In three volumes his Intercultural Theology provides an exhaustive account of the history, theory, and practice of Christian mission. Volume one introduces the concepts of culture and context, volume two surveys theologies of mission both past and present, and volume three explores theologies of religion and interreligious relationships. In this first volume on intercultural hermeneutics, Wrogemann introduces the term "intercultural theology" and investigates what it means to understand another cultural context. In addition to surveying different hermeneutical theories and concepts of culture, he assesses how intercultural understanding has taken place throughout the history of Christian mission. Wrogemann also provides an extensive discussion of contextual theologies with a special focus on African theologies. Intercultural Theology is an indispensable resource for all people—especially students, pastors, and scholars—that explores the defining issues of Christian identity and practice in the context of an increasingly intercultural and interreligious world. Missiological Engagements charts interdisciplinary and innovative trajectories in the history, theology, and practice of Christian mission, featuring contributions by leading thinkers from both the Euro-American West and the majority world whose missiological scholarship bridges church, academy, and society.

Renowned missiologist Henning Wrogemann has written the most comprehensive textbook on the subject of Christianity and culture today. In three volumes his Intercultural Theology provides an exhaustive account of the history, theory, and practice of Christian mission. Volume 1 focuses on hermeneutical theories, concepts of culture, and contextual theologies.

Recent years have seen a paradigm shift in Christian self-understanding. In place of the eurocentric model of »Christendom«, a new understanding is emerging of Christianity as a world movement with considerable cultural variety. Concomitant with this changing self-perception, a new theological discipline begins to take shape which analyzes the inter- and transcultural character and performance of global Christianity: Intercultural Theology. Judith Gruber discusses this nascent theological approach in two parts. She first gives a critical analysis of its historical development – in the first part of the book, two theological sub-disciplines of particular relevance are analysed: (1) missiology and its reflection on the encounter of Western Christianity with other cultures in the context of colonialism; (2) contextual theologies which focus on the particularity and dignity of the diverse cultural contexts of theological practice, but fail to sufficiently integrate the universal dimension of Christianity into their theological reflections. Secondly, this study offers a constructive theological approach to intercultural theology. It does that by bringing systematic theology into conversation with cultural studies. This interdisciplinary approach adds significant complexity to existing reflections on Intercultural Theology: Re-reading the theological history of Christianity within the critical framework of cultural theories exposes a host of disparate and conflictive Christianities underneath its dominant master narrative, and, moreover, it no longer allows a recourse to essentialist concepts of Christian identity, with which previous approaches to Intercultural Theology have mitigated this unsettling cultural plurality of Christianity: After the »Cultural Turn«, which has made a metaphysical epistemology untenable, new ways for thinking the unity and universality of Christianity have to be paved. The book draws on Paul Ricoeur's and Michel Foucault's concept of the event and on Michel deCerteau's proposal of a »Weak Christianity« in order to develop such a post-metaphysical framework, which allows to conceive of the unity and universality of Christianity without concealing its cultural plurality and contingency.

Despite the present-day democratic government's commitment to human rights, socio-cultural and religious clashes still pose a threat to Nigeria. As a panacea a split according to ethnic and religious boundaries has been suggested; on the other hand upholding the different strands might spell greater benefits for the country's development. The basic assumption of both views is that ethnic and religious pluralism have led to conflicts, but that they are fuelled by politics, inequitable distribution of economic goods and the negative forces of globalization. In this project, examining these conflicts and the efforts made to resolve them, particular attention will be paid to dialogue and reconciliation. The key practice suggested is convivence: a symbiosis of interactive and interpenetrative approaches, based on intercultural and interreligious hermeneutical perspectives.