Inculturation Theology

« On ne s’attend pas à ce qu’un Chinois soit… Totalement humain » Pearl B., The Promise.

Sur le papier, une seule Chine: la République Populaire de Chine; un seul homme: Xi Jinping, qui contrôle le Parti, l’Etat et l’armée; une seule langue, le chinois ou putonghua, «la langue commune»; un seul peuple, les Chinois dont le nombre exact est toujours sous-estimé; une seule écriture bien distincte des systèmes alphabétiques; une seule histoire, celle d’un système impérial que chaque dynastie rénove; une seule philosophie, celle du maître Kong que mémorisent des générations de lettrés.

Dans la vie, mille Chines: la Chine pop, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapour, Los Angeles et Orange County, et toutes les Chinatowns de par le monde ; cinq cent millions d’internautes prêts à s’indigner et à contourner la censure du gouvernement ; des centaines de langues et de dialectes distincts, du mongol au zhuang, du hakka au shanghaien, du taïwanais au sichuanais, s’en compter le Hongkongais. Plusieurs langues standard en chinois: la langue classique de Confucius, le guanhua ou le mandarin des hauts fonctionnaires Ming et Qing, le guoyu de Taiwan, le hanyu de nos manuels scolaires, et le huayu de l’Asie du Sud-est. Trois religions traditionnelles et trois plus récentes : le (néo-)Confucianisme, le Taoïsme, le Bouddhisme (les «san jiao»), mais aussi l’Islam, le Christianisme et le Consumérisme. Une histoire de la diversité: le pays est resté scindé pendant des siècles, les derniers grands empereurs de la Chine, Kangxi et Qanlong étaient des bouddhistes mi-mandchous mi-mongols.

Entre le un et le multiple il y aurait mille, pas une de moins, façons d’être chinois. Comme pour la cuisine, il suffit de hacher, de faire sauter des concepts comme le peuple, les petites gens, le chef la lecture et l’écriture, les références littéraires, la révolution, les inégalités, le faux, et l’embrouille.

Sind die Sorben eine Musterminderheit?
Sie Autorin verifiziert in ihrem Beitrag die im Namen der Konferenz enthaltene These, aus der der vorliegende Bericht folgt. Indem sie die einzelnen möglichen Bezeichnungen der "Musterminderheit" erörtert, stellt sie diese der realen gesellschaftpolitischen Situation der Sorben gegenüber. Die Aussage über eine Mustersituation ist nach Meinung der Autorin insbesondere schwerig, wenn man die uneinheitliche (innere und äußere) politische Lage der einzelnen Gruppen der Sorben in Betracht zieht. Das vetrifft die Existenz zweier Normen der Literatursprache, die konfessionelle Teilung, die Unterschiede zwischen der Situation der Dörfer und Städte, die Zugehörigkeit zu zwei deutschen Bundesländern (Probleme der Koordination der Kultur- und Bildungspolitik). Die Autorin schätzt ein, dass dafür, um als ein "Muster" zu gelten (z.B. für andere Minderheitenvölker, sich die Sorben zu wenig aktiv um die sog. revitalisierung der Sprach bemühen, indem si nur defensive Methoden anwenden und übermäßig die Traditionen, darunter die Folklore, in den Vordergrund stellen.

The ethnographic theologian’s subject position in relation to the Christian communities she studies is fundamentally different from that of an anthropologist or sociologist in relation to his fields of study. Therefore, social science understandings of reflexivity cannot simply be imported and uncritically deployed in theological projects. This preliminary proposal,outlining and defining a method I call Reflexive Theology, rises out of this discrepancy between disciplinary subject positions. It re-interrogates the concept of reflexivity theologically through the context of my own field-work in the church where I was ordained. Through reflexive theological engagement with the multiple roles I played within my field of study, I demonstrate how Reflexive Theology draws on both everyday and academic theological discourses in ways that both produce fresh theological insights and open new possibilities for Christian living.

Edited by Richard Fox Young, Princeton Theological Seminary and Jonathan A. Seitz, Taiwan Theological Seminary

Drawing on first person accounts, Asia in the Making of Christianity studies conversion in the lives of Christians throughout Asia, past and present. Fifteen contributors treat perennial questions about conversion: continuity and discontinuity, conversion and communal conflict, and the politics of conversion. Some study individuals (An Chunggŭn of Korea, Liang Fa of China, Nehemiah Goreh of India), while others treat ethnolinguistic groups or large-scale movements. Converts sometimes appear as proto-nationalists, while others are suspected of cultural treason. Some transition effortlessly from leadership in one religious community into Christian ministry, while others re-convert to new forms of Christianity. The accounts collected here underscore the complexity of conversion, balancing individual agency with broader social trends and combining micro- with macrocontextual approaches.

An interpretative review is given of the recently published book by Lathrop, which completed his trilogy on liturgy. Lathrop succeeded in bringing two previously disparate themes, that is faith and cosmos, together in a cosmological liturgy. This review interprets Lathrop's exposition within a postliberal theological framework and seeks to add value to liturgy and our understanding of reality. A believer grows up under a “sacred canopy” of faith and values.

Four broad but overlapping areas of spirituality can be identified in Catholic life in New Zealand in the period between the two world wars: affective devotion to Christ and the saints; active social engagement, whether in the form of charity or the promotion of Christian values; Eucharistic piety, including the extra-liturgical cult of the Eucharist alongside increased reception of the Blessed Sacrament and greater participation in the liturgy; and the intensification of lay spirituality by imitating the religious life through third orders and retreats. Catholic spirituality was dominated by the clergy and based on international models, thereby promoting a distinct religious identity. Protestant antagonism towards Catholic spirituality was limited, however, and the Church’s leaders sought to avoid religious conflict, seeing secular indifference, rather than aggressive Protestantism, as the real threat to Catholic religious commitment and as the primary justification for introducing new forms of spirituality.

Hablar de complejidad sin sujeto es hacer una invitación a un cambio de paradigma;
el término de “sujeto” ha sido agregado como una manera de referirnos
ante los sucesos “externos” de nuestro natura, si bien hemos coincidido ante lo
natural por sus partes y formas mas no en su totalidad y congruencia, la complejidad
nos invita a ver las cosas de manera indeterminada, nos permite tener en
cuenta diferentes e infinitos procesos de relaciones y fluctuaciones en el cual el
hombre se puede mover en el mundo: no existe el “destino”, existen decisiones,
no existe el “azar”, entendidas como “una serie de procesos o sucesos en
los cuales se toman como independientes unos de otros”; existen probabilidades,
no existe “la esperanza”, existe la acción; no existen los “imperativos
categóricos”, existe el entender y querer hacer. Este documento intentará
generar una visión más amena frente a los diferentes términos que componen la
complejidad y su postura como forma alterna de concebir las mismas problemáticas
que albergan la humanidad.

The study draws two contextual circles in terms of the impending or even current ecological crisis, the Lynn White thesis and the response of Christendom.

These contextual circles offer the backdrop against which the researcher develops criteria for the evaluation of ecological liturgies.

In conclusion these criteria are used to evaluate suggested ecological liturgies for use in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa between 2001 and 2010 on Environment Sundays as well as during Seasons of Creation. The dissertation culminates in suggestions for liturgies to be used during the Season of Creation of 2012 (to be published in 2011).

In the context of modern Roman Catholicism, Marian apparitions are usually traced to that received by Catherine Laboure, a Parisian Sister of Charity, in 1830 (Zimdars-Swartz, 1991: 26). Until the mid-twentieth century, these apparitions grew in significance and were the medium for the transmission of increasingly apocalyptic messages. From the 1960s onward the Western world has become substantially secularised, with the influence of Christianity in public life being on the wane; and also re-enchanted by the rise in adherence to Eastern religions and esoteric traditions (Lambert, 1999). Marian apparitions continue to be an important part of Catholic piety, but some (such as Medjugorje, commencing in 1981 and continuing to the present) have attracted the attention of other Christians, pluralists and secularists, largely due to media coverage (Seward, 1993). The apparition of the Virgin Mary at Coogee, a seaside suburb of Sydney, was first revealed to the press in January 2003 by a local resident, Christine Cherry, of the Beach Street Gallery Laundrette. Throughout January and early February it drew increasing crowds. A crisis point was reached on Sunday 9 February, when it was discovered that during the previous night the fence that facilitated the appearance of Mary had been demolished by vandals. However, the fence was restored and the phenomenon continues. This paper considers modern Marian apparitions; traces the progress of the Coogee phenomenon; locates it in the context of other apparitions of the Virgin, including documented Australian cases; and makes some suggestions regarding the future of the Coogee apparition, which may be understood as a broadly spiritual phenomenon, open to all rather than confined to Catholics.

An area of religious expression in the late 20th and early 21st century that has received relatively little attention from scholars is that of Catholic private revelations. In this paper, a discussion is initiated which focuses on the new opportunities that the increasing speed of ...

The term 'inculturation' is becoming increasingly fashionable in church, and in particular Roman Catholic, mission circles. The popularity of the term is due to a heightened Christian self-understanding of the necessity of adapting the Christian message to its cultural environment. There is recognition that the implantation of European values in Africa, or in other parts of the world, is not necessarily desirous or successful as a mission strategy. African and other non-western criticisms of colonial hegemony, including a rejection of Christianity as currently taught and practised, have come from both within and outside the church, to the extent that some African Christian theologians are rejecting the 'Christ figure' alto­ gether.2 Christianity has failed to take root, often after centuries of evan­ gelisation, if one is to judge from phenomena such as the absence or scarcity of candidates for the priesthood, or the rejection of monogamy. A perceived threat to mission churches from African Independent and Western fundamentalist churches, as well as from Islam, also contribute to a sense of urgency in the search for new solutions. In this article I look first at some  of  the ways in which inculturation is being defined and at what have come to be regarded as some early experiments in inculturation, whether well received or finally rejected by church authorities and local Christians

The chapter looks at the experience of the Mill Hill Missionaries (Society of St Joseph) among the Bangwa and Mbo peoples of Cameroon, West Africa, from 1930s-1960s. Like other missionaries of the period, the Mill Hill Fathers faced the dilemma of how to form Christian families based on a Western model of monogamy in a society which practices polygyny.

The manner in which a religious culture is transmitted and internalised defies conventional ethnographic description. Exterior forms of behaviour, articulated expressions of motivation, observable rules and appearances can be described, but the interior, ascetic dimensions of the experience are less amenable to observation and analysis. In this study the author uses Mauss's notion of habitus, the learned bodily techniques that often appear natural, to discuss some of the ways in which the culture of the Focolare Movement is transmitted to its members. As a member of the Focolare, the author has internalised many aspects of Focolare religious culture, and uses reflexive experience to discuss the methodological issues surrounding spiritual relationships with informants. The article also discusses the importance of a gender-specific analysis and the consequences of doing 'anthropology at home' in a supposedly alien fieldwork setting, that of the Focolare permanent Mariapolis at Fontem in South West Cameroon.