Theory And Practice Of Inculturation

This work undertakes a philosophical analysis and study of the thought of John Paul II on inculturation and evangelization. It investigates the development of the Pope's thought on inculturation and argues that inculturation is the central theme that unifies the Pope's encyclical. The relationship between inculturation and evangelization is argued for, with particular attention to the analysis of such themes as: creation as inculturation, incarnation as inculturation, and evangelization as inculturation. The text then argues that the relationships between these themes are not only reciprocal but hermeneutical. It also focuses on the relationship between hermeneutics and inculturation and argues that hermeneutics is the most rational foil for understanding the mechanics and the logic of inculturation. The text shows how inculturation, as proposed by Pope John Paul II, serves as a unifying principle that would usher in a new world order (intellectually and socially). Such world vision would allow for cooperation and unity between nations of varied cultures, and thus, allow for the development of a Christian and world community where peaceful co-existence would be a priority. This is the hope of the Pope's gospel of 'Evangelization 2000.'

What is inculturation? How is it practiced and what is its relationship to colonial and postcolonial discourses? In what ways, if any, does inculturation represent the decolonization of Christianity in Africa? This book explores these questions and argues that inculturation is a species of postcolonial discourse by placing it in the larger context of what has now come to be known as Africanism and by showing how the latter - and through it inculturation itself - fully participates in the history of postcolonial struggles for indigenous self-definition in Africa. The thirteen contributors to this volume represent a group of young scholars from the southern, eastern, and western regions of Africa. They come from different disciplines: theology, philosophy, and biblical studies. Although they take different approaches to the question of inculturation, the fact that they engage it at all is illustrative of the methodological significance of inculturation in African theology.

'Inculturation' is a word come only recently into theological language, having its origin and impetus in a revolution in the perception of Christian mission--even of Christian identity. 'Toward a Theology of Inculturation' is the first book to bring together the many strands of current and historical Catholic thought on what might be called a theology of a multicultural church. Inculturation, Shorter argues, is the recognition that faith must in effect become culture to be fully received and lived. In the course of a wide-ranging discussion, the author explores the intimate relationship between inculturation and theology, focusing in particular on scripture, the history of Òmissions (especially in Africa), and contemporary Catholic thought. Shorter concludes with an exploration of the future of the church--a multicultural church. 'Toward a Theology of Inculturation' offers a substantive explication of what inculturation is, what it is not, how and when it occurs, and what its limits are or should be.

In his quest to identify practices that strengthen the faith of African Christians, Magesa examines the nature of being church today in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The split between the Gospel and culture is without doubt the drama of our time," wrote Paul VI in 1975. Since that time there has been an increasingly urgent awareness that inculturation is an indispensable task of the church. But inculturation, the dialogue between church and cultures, demands first of all that we who would enter into the dialogue understand what "culture" itself means and what dialogue entails. To that end, cultural anthropologist Father Gerald Arbuckle gives us this important volume. He traces the history of the development of the concept of culture, and the too-often negative, rarely positive effects of encounters between church and culture. He explores how Jesus Christ approached the cultures of his time, and outlines the current treatment of culture and inculturation in church documents and in Catholic theology. He shows that modest progress in understanding has recently staled, and there are even forces working to turn that progress into regress. He concludes with a description of inculturation as it needs to happen 'and a sharp critique of those who resist. With a sense of prophetic hope, Arbuckle seeks to help us bridge the lamentable split between Gospel and culture, the drama that continues to unfold in our time.

At once prophetic, pastoral, and personal, this book applies the symbols of 'salt' and 'light' as ecclesiological images for reimaging the African Church for today and tomorrow. The proposal of this book is to reconsider the path towards abundant life for God's people in the challenging context of African continent, and through the agency of African Christianity. The contributors stress the necessity of de-Westernizing African Christianity and ask these fundamental questions: What is the face of Jesus inAfrican Christianity? What is the face and identity of the Church in Africa? What positive imprint is Christianity leaving on the lives and societies of African Christians? Does the Christian message have the potential of positively affecting African civilization as it once did in Europe? What is the relevance and place of African Christianity as a significant voice in shaping both the future of Africa and that of world Christianity?

Drawn from the Conference on World Christianity, this provocatively titled book, invoking images of “culture collision,” “particularity,” and the “global South”, prompts for profoundly new understandings of apparently polar themes: inculturation, universality, and world Christianity. Since the emergence of world Christianity is not an epiphenomenon, but central to the question of how the gospel is good news for today’s world, readers concerned about the theological issues related to the possibilities for a genuinely new evangelization will find this volume. It will also be of interest to students and scholars of African ecclesiastical history, world Christianity, and inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue. Cyril Orji is Associate Professor of theology at the University of Dayton, Ohio, USA. He specializes in systematic and fundamental theology with particular emphasis on the theology and philosophy of Bernard Lonergan, whom he brings into conversation with the works of the American pragmatist and semiotician Charles Sanders Peirce. Dr Orji also collaborates in inter-religious dialogue and the intersection of religion and culture – inculturation, post-colonial critical theory, and Black and African theologies – and engages in communal practices of communicative theology in the development of local/contextual theologies. He has published numerous articles in various peer-reviewed journals, and is the author of A Semiotic Approach to the Theology of Inculturation (2015), An Introduction to Religious and Theological Studies (2015), The Catholic University and the Search for Truth (2013), and Ethnic and Religious Conflicts in Africa: An Analysis of Bias and Conversion Based on the Work of Bernard Lonergan (2008).