ST.

BONAVENTURE COLLEGE

EVANGELII NUNTIANDI (ON EVANGELIZATION IN THE

MODERN WORLD)

Musaligalla Dhilip Kumar

DIRECTOR
Prof. Johnson M.V.

An Assignment
Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy

Peravoor
September 2022
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. A Brief Introduction on Evangelii Nuntiandi

1.2. The Meaning of ‘Evangelization’

2. The fundamental three questions regarding the mission and ministry

2.1 Jesus as the Evangelizer

2.2 Evangelization

2.3 Message of the Evangelization

2.4 Methods of Evangelization

2.5 The Beneficiaries of the Evangelization

2.6 The Workers of the Evangelization

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

i
 EVANGELII NUNTIANDI (ON EVANGELIZATION IN THE
MODERN WORLD)

Evangelii Nuntiande was primarily given to the Church in order to enrich and deepen
herself in the understanding of evangelization. It is probable to be an update regarding
the state of the Church after ten years of Vatican II council. It is especially on its call
for the renewal of the evangelization in the modern world. Pope Paul VI gave a very
clear emphasis on the importance of evangelization not as an optional contribution for
the Church rather as one of human’s role in its search for the truth

1. A Brief Introduction on Evangelii Nuntiandi

The Evangelii Nuntiandi is the apostolic exhortation was written by Paul VI. This
Apostolic Exhortation was the last and finest exhortation of his Pontificate. 1 It was
written, when the Church’s mission was being seriously questioned. This exhortation
is issued during the Synod of the Bishops in the year 1974 with the theme
“Evangelization in the modern world.” It was officiated after the careful listening to
the bishops of the Two Third World.2 It was promulgated after the ten years of
Vatican II council. It was from the Post Synodal Exhortation from the Third General
Synod based on the Evangelization in the modern world.3 1

1.2. The Meaning of ‘Evangelization’

The Evangelization is seen as an “operative before a person makes a commitment of

faith” it means the initial proclamation of the Good News which is directed toward the
conversion. In the broader sense, the evangelization is seen as “an ongoing activity of
the Christian community” that includes not only the initial proclamation but also
various pastoral ministries.4 It is also process that goes within the Christian

1
Chiemeka, Evangelii Nuntiandi as a Social Doctrine and its Relevance to Africa [Online].
2
Bevans, Church Teaching on Mission [Online].
3
Lewis, Evangelii Nuntiandi: A Living Document for Evangelization in the Digital Age [Online].
4
Thomas John, “Evangelii nuntiandi” and the Puebla “Final Document” [Online]
1
 2

community that “seeks to initiate people more deeply into the mystery of God’s love
as manifested fully in the dying and rising of Jesus.”5

2. The fundamental three questions regarding the mission and ministry

The apostolic exhortation articulates the three questions to answer. They are:

“(1) how can the hidden energy of the Good News have a powerful effect on the
human conscience?

(2) How and to what extent is that evangelical force capable of transforming the
people of this century?

(3) What methods should be followed in order that the power of the Gospel may have
its effect?”6

The first question “displays an awareness of a certain lack of fervor in spreading the
Good News.” Therefore, we need take the first step that is admitting that there is a
problem to be solved.7 The second question brings an awareness how the power of the
Good News can transform people in our own day, age and culture. And the final
question, gives us about the “most practical, tackling the logistics of how to
evangelize, asking about the methods that should be employed to the give the Gospel
message its full effect.”8

2.1 Jesus as the Evangelizer

The main concerns of this document are the Kingdom of God and the salvation. The
proclamation of the Good News of Christ Jesus is the purpose of the Evangelization.
The desire of the Church to evangelize is rooted in the Gospel. Thus, it promotes the
Heavenly Kingdom is the goal of life but not the Earthly Kingdom.9 If we look into
the life of Jesus, He was the Good News of the Father. He was the “first and the
greatest evangelizer.” Jesus proclaimed about both the Kingdom of God and the Good

5
Thomas John, “Evangelii nuntiandi” and the Puebla “Final Document” [Online]
6
Burrows, New Catholic Encyclopedia [Online].
7
Senz, Evangelii Nuntiandi: Evangelization in the Modern World (Part 2) [Online].
8
Senz, Evangelii Nuntiandi: Evangelization in the Modern World (Part 2) [Online].
9
Ragel, Emerzan. Evangelii Nuntiandi [Online].
 3

News through words and signs. He was the “perfect model and leader” for the
evangelization.”10

2.2 Evangelization

The “Evangelization is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her
deepest identity She exists in order to evangelize.”11 The primary of the Church is to
evangelize by her conduct and her life in the world. We can say that it is shown by
living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus in simply words the very witness of
sanctity.12 Every member of the Church has the divine obligation and duty to
evangelize through the members brings the transformative power of the Good News
into the every aspects of the humanity. In order to do this evangelization effectively
one has to evangelize oneself.13

2.3 Message of the Evangelization

The Evangelization is involved with the preaching of God’s promise, the preaching of
fraternal love for the humanity and preaching for the search for the divine. It is
incessantly relates the gospel to people authentic lives both as person and in the
society through which they deliver the message which is very much relevant in the
present society for instance we speak about the liberation.14

The Church through evangelization “understands the manner of working for the
human liberation.” Christ announced and brought the liberation to entire humanity by
his Passion and Death on the Cross.15

The Evangelization also includes the preaching of God’s promise about the hope in
the new covenant in Jesus Christ. The preaching about the brotherly love for all
people – the capacity of giving and forgiving, self-denial, helping one another for the
sake of God’s love which is the kernel of the Gospel. On the whole, the

10
Conlin, Summary of Evangelii Nuntiandi by Pope Paul VI [Online].
11
Lewis, Evangelii Nuntiandi: A Living Document for Evangelization in the Digital Age [Online].
12
Lewis, Evangelii Nuntiandi: A Living Document for Evangelization in the Digital Age[Online].
13
Conlin, Summary of Evangelii Nuntiandi by Pope Paul VI [Online].
14
Ragel, Emerzan. Evangelii Nuntiandi [Online].
15
Ragel, Emerzan. Evangelii Nuntiandi [Online].
 4

evangelization consists in the “implantation of the Church, which does not exist
without the driving force which is the sacramental life culminating in the Eucharist.”
(EN 28). The Evangelizing was indeed is the grace and vocation to the Church
through which she has her deepest identity (EN 14).

2.4 Methods of Evangelization

The Church proposes various means for the evangelization to her faithful. They are:
Bearing witness, Preaching, Catechetical instructions, Digital media and Self witness
of the faithful and popular devotions

Bearing witness: “Being Christian and being Church means being missionary.
Loving one’s faith implies bearing witness to it, bringing it to others and allowing
others to participate in it.” Our faith becomes stronger when we transmit it to others.16

Preaching: The first preaching was done by Christ through his untiring preaching
about the proclamation of Kingdom of God. (EN11). Later, the Church “has vivid
awareness of the fact that the Savior’s words” and “she willingly adds with St. Paul:
Not that I boast of preaching the gospel” because the preaching was duty that has
been laid upon on him (EN 14). The New Evangelization presents preaching and the
proclamation of the Good News is the mission of the Church and also it is the work of
the every individual member of the Church (EN 15).

Catechetical instructions: “It is a systematic course of religious instructions and it

should not be as intellectual exercise but Christian way of life. The instructions
needed to be given in Church, schools and Christian houses.”17

Digital media: Our present generation is characterized by “the mass media or means
of social communication, and the first proclamation, catechesis or the further
deepening of faith (EN 45).

16
Younan, New Evangelization: Course Reader [Online].
17
Ragel, Emerzan. Evangelii Nuntiandi [Online].
 5

Through this “the message of Salvation can be given to millions of people and vice-a-
versa. Church may preach upon the housetops through this media.”18

Self-witness of the faithful: It means the individual proclamation from one to

another. In the Gospel, “Jesus used this method to preach the Good News” He visited
the rulers, sinners, women, and so on met individually in His communication. Even,
we can also proclaim from the personal conviction on his or her faith experience.19

Popular devotions: It is the “evangelization through customs and cultures. The

faithful will understand through this method very easily, for example, Attributes of
God: His fatherly compassion, providence, benevolence, loving presence.”20 “Popular
piety manifests “a thirst for God.” “It makes people cable of generosity and sacrifice
even to the point of heroism, when it is a question of manifesting belief.” It enhances
the people to maintain interior attitudes like; “patience, the sense of the cross in daily
life, detachment, openness to others.” (EN 48).

2.5 The Beneficiaries of the Evangelization

The Evangelization brings ‘the benefit of the bigger communities, especially the
individual Churches. It wills a hope for the Universal Church.” The Evangelization
“seeks the nourishment in the Word of God.” It also avoids the “temptation of
systematic protest and a hypercritical attitude, under the pretext of authenticity and a
spirit of collaboration.” The Evangelization preserves a genuine communion with the
pastors whom the Lord gives to His Church, and with the magisterium which the
Spirit of Christ has entrusted to these pastors (EN 58).

2.6 The Workers of the Evangelization

The Second Vatican Council says the “whole Church is missionary and the work of
evangelization is the basic duty of the God” (EN 59). The Church mandates to
evangelize the world should awaken. The first mandate is the “evangelization is for no
one and individual and isolated act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial.” The individual

18
Ragel, Emerzan. Evangelii Nuntiandi [Online].
19
Ragel, Emerzan. Evangelii Nuntiandi [Online].
20
Ragel, Emerzan. Evangelii Nuntiandi [Online].
 6

“acts not in virtue of a mission whom he/she attributes by a personal inspiration, but
in union with the mission of the Church and in her name.” In this evangelization, “no
evangelizer is the absolute master of his evangelizing action” (EN 60).

The evangelization requires a serious preparation is needed for the workers. In this
preparation, “they devote themselves to the ministry of the Word” (EN 73).

CONCLUSION

The apostolic exhortation is purely telling us on how to evangelize or proclaim the

message of the gospel in the context with the present situation of the society and of
the world. It was like redefining the meaning of the evangelization in the present
context. The general perspective and purpose of the exhortation is the call for renewal
is extended not only for the ordained ministers but also to all believers in all forms of
the human society.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bevans, Stephen. Church Teaching on Mission: Ad Gentes, Evangelii Nuntiandi,

Redemptoris Missio and Dialogue and Proclamation 1 August
2022.https://www.cppsmissionaries.org/download/mission/Church_Teaching_
On_MissionBevans.pdf
Burrows,W. New Catholic Encyclopedia 1 August
2022.https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-
transcripts-and-maps/evangelii-nuntiandi
Chiemeka, Evangelii Nuntiandi as a Social Doctrine and its Relevance to Africa. 1
August 2022. https://frchiemekacmf.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/evangelii-
nuntiandi-as-a-social-doctrine-and-its-relevance-to-africa/

Conlin, Richard. Summary of Evangelii Nuntiandi by Pope Paul VI 14 August 2022.

https://prodigalcatholic.com/2021/11/17/summary-of-evangelii-nuntiandi-by-
pope-paul-vi/
Lewis, Jonathan. Evangelii Nuntiandi: A Living Document for Evangelization in the
Digital Age. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFHyoA3cLW8
Ragel, Emerzan. Evangelii Nuntiandi 14 August 2022.
https://www.academia.edu/40334390/EVANGELII_NUNTIANDI
Senz, Paul. Evangelii Nuntiandi: Evangelization in the Modern World (Part 2). 1
August 2022. https://ipreligioused.wordpress.com/2020/08/19/evangelii-
nuntiandi-evangelization-in-the-modern-world-part-2/
Thomas John, Scheuring. “Evangelii nuntiandi” and the Puebla “Final Document:
Their effects on the mission of evangelization with the poor. 1 August 2022.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/303843864
Younan, Andrew. New Evangelization: Course Reader 1 August 2022.
https://jpcatholic.edu/NCUpdf/New_Evangelization_Reader.pdf