LITURGICAL INCULTURATION: An Ongoing Process in the Multi-Religious, Cultural Context of India
01. INTRODUCTION
The Second Vatican Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church declares liturgy as, "the source and summit of the Christian life" (LG 11). The Council also affirms the reform of the liturgy, “she respects and fosters the qualities and talents of the various races and nations" (SC 37). It is evident since the Vatican Council II, that the Indian Church has undergone many changes in the liturgy. It is also to be admitted that it has not yet mastered the process of liturgical reform, and so, it faces difficulties in the task of liturgical inculturation. This paper attempts to highlight the ongoing process of liturgical inculturation from a theological perspective.
02. UNIFORMITY VS INCULTURATION
“Uniformity in liturgy” through Latinization, advocated by the Tridentine Council has no significance today. Rather Vatican Council II deliberates clearly, “in the liturgy, the Church does not impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not involve the faith of the good of the whole community” (SC 37). The Church also boldly acknowledges, “the radical adaptation of the liturgy” (SC 40). Therefore the fullness of Christ is realized in a new community through diverse forms, and not through the uniformity in liturgy, language, and worship.
03. LITURGY, CULTURE, AND INCULTURATION
Liturgy is the celebration of the salvation history of the faithful in space and time. Liturgy has to be constantly inculturated, in order to make it relevant to the people, because the signs, symbols, gestures...used in the liturgy are dynamic in nature.
Culture is a way of life of a community. It is a dynamic reality. Therefore, it keeps on updating itself with reference to space and time. Pope John Paul II in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia brings out this dynamics as: “Culture is the vital space within which the human person comes face to face with the Gospel. Just as a culture is the result of the life and activity of a human group, so the persons belonging to that group are shaped to a large extent by the culture in which they live. As persons and societies change, so too does the culture change with them. As a culture is transformed, so too are persons and societies transformed by it” (EA 21).
Inculturation is the process of faith becoming part of a given culture, so to be relevant and meaningful to people of any culture. Hence it is the task of the Church in the multi-religious, cultural, and linguistic context, because it is ‘through inculturation the Church, for her part, becomes a more intelligible sign of what she is, and a more effective instrument of mission’ (RM 52).
04. BIBLICAL FOUNDATION FOR INCULTURATION
Inculturation is a scriptural phenomenon, which has a strong biblical foundation. This is expressed in the project of salvation history. Let us view here some of these elements.
4.1 Divine Communication
The whole of Old Testament is an example for us to understand the relevance of inculturation better. God of the Old Testament constantly spoke to the people of Israel, in signs, symbols...that they could understand. God of Abraham asked his only son to be sacrificed – perhaps such a practice was common. The God of Moses gave ‘Decalogue’ to the people of the covenant, in their language. Thus, there are solid foundations in the scripture, for God adopting himself to the signs, symbols...of the people in the Old Testament.
4.2 Incarnation
For Christians, the peak of God’s revelation in human history is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The mystery of the incarnation would explain the importance of the incarnation. God does not wish to give anything in the “fast-food-style”. Rather God desired to send his only son to be incarnated in a particular society and culture. It was the free choice of God that Israel was chosen that does not mean others are rejected.
Jesus, being the Son of God under goes the pains and sufferings of the human beings. This is beautifully explained in Phil 2:6-8 - “Though he was in the form of God, did not count equally with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto the death, even death on the cross”. The Gospels elaborately portray the episodes of the brokenness of Christ – he had no decent place to be born (cf. Lk 2:7); no reputable place to live and work (cf. Jn 1:46); no honourable place to die (cf. Lk 23:23); no place of his own to be buried (cf. Mt 27:59). Thus, the son of man adapts the human situation.
4.3 Reign Of God
Reign of God is the essential theme of the Gospels, summarized in the Nazareth Manifesto (Lk 4:18-19), and repeatedly emphasised through the parables (cf. Mt 13:3-8; 24:30-33, 44-50). Jesus discards any idea of ‘ready-made-kingdom’ coming down form somewhere. So he says, “...the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Lk 17:21). Therefore, the Kingdom of God is already existing in the world, and not yet fully actualized at the same time. So, in Christ, we share in his redemptive mission, for the fullness of the Reign of God.
4.4 The Eucharistic Meal
The prototype and the center of all Christian liturgy is the last supper - the Eucharistic meal. Jesus confines himself to the signs, symbols, and customs of the Jewish Community. Like any other Jew, he also makes use of the common food like bread and wine for the farewell meal (cf. Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22; Lk 22:9; 1 Cor 11:23-24). It is from this Eucharistic meal, the whole liturgy gets shape, where Christ breaks himself as a host, and those who take part - the guests, share in the mission of Christ by breaking themselves.
05. INCULTURATION A STANDSTILL?
M. Amaladas, a theologian, reviewing the Indian situation, twenty years after the Second Vatican Council observes, “the movement towards Indian Liturgy came to a standstill some years ago, for various reasons”. Here are few reasons.
5.1 The Task of Translation
It was the immediate need of the time since Vatican Council II, that most of the time and energy have been spent on translation of the text - Missal, prayers, songs, Bible, catechetics... and implementing those. Moreover, very often inculturation was considered, and reduced to the translation of the text. So when such a task is completed, the need for further development was not felt, and eventually it has come to a standstill.
5.2 Sanskritisation
Sanskrit was considered as a model culture for adaptation in the Indian context. Sanskrit Language was believed to be divine, and so prayers, bhajans...were translated into it. Its signs and symbols were held high. Thus, a sort of “uniformity in liturgy” through Sanskritisation was tried by taking up the lingual, cultural and ritual forms of Sanskrit. Therefore the nature of inculturation was questioned, and consequently such efforts were looked at suspiciously. As far as the Tamil Church is concerned, such an attempt was viewed as "the re-entry of a irrelevant and inhuman culture of caste, purity, race... in religious disguise". Therefore the nature of inculturation was questioned, and consequently such efforts were looked at suspiciously.
6. AN ONGOING PROCESS
Inculturation is a form of ongoing process. It is on going because culture is not a static reality. However, it is dynamic and so, is shaped in space and time. Learning the drawbacks, from the history, the need is felt to relaunch it with vigour, and a new vision to make the Christ event, relevant and meaningful to our time. Here let us view three important elements.
6.1 Cultural Discernment
Inculturation imply a cultural discernment. This is possible only by a competent analysis and critique of both of the tradition and modernity. Which means several forms - signs, symbols, gestures,...are possible in the liturgy, even with in a diocese. Because, in our multi-faceted society, one's cultural expression could be alien to the other. For example few parishes in the Archdiocese of Bangalore have culturally distinct groups especially Tamil, Konkani, Kannada. Though many things are viewed as common, each group has its own unique cultural elements, which need to be fostered. Therefore, several cultural forms of worship is possible even with in a diocese. Other wise, we are likely to make our liturgy, a museum of outdated cultural forms either, or impose the cultural elements peculiar to one, on the others.
6.2 Worship and Existence
Liturgical inculturation cannot be taken in isolation. Worship is a way of life that expresses life, and shapes the life. Therefore, the concern of life has to be reflected in our liturgy. It implies that the Church by inculturating itself involves in the life realities of the people by participating in their historical search for meaning. However, our minds are tuned to confine worship with in the temple walls, the worship continues by changing the location - from the worship place to the market place, where the vast majority of the nations confront the day-today-existence. Therefore, an authentic liturgy needs to emerge from the real life situation.
6.3 Theological Reflection
It is observed that one of the reasons for the halt in the liturgical reform is that too often, the efforts at liturgical inculturation have not been the fruit of adequate theological reflection. Theology can never be imported. Because the faith expression of a particular society cannot be imposed on the other. Rather it has to emerge from once own context. Hence as Felix Wilfred, a theologian, thinks, “different theologies” are possible, because the socio-political, educational-economical, religio-cultural context of a community is different from the other. Hence, it is the need of the time, to give due importance to "regional" and "indigenous" theologies. Our theologians are encouraged by the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia to develop an inculturated theology (cf. EA 21). It also positively notes saying: ‘this theologizing is to be carried out with courage, in faithfulness to the Scriptures and to the Church's Tradition, in sincere adherence to the Magisterium and with an awareness of pastoral realities’ (EA 22).
07. CONCLUSION
Liturgical Inculturation is an ongoing process and it can never come to a stand still, because the culture keeps on evolving, and the signs, symbols, take constantly different shades of meaning. Liturgy, in order to be truly incarnate, has to be inculturated - the signs and symbols of a particular culture; the words and silence of a particular people; the music and dance; the forms of prayer; the attitude to life; theology and thought of a particular community... should be taken in, and integrated into the liturgical celebrations, so that the people who celebrate will find the incarnate God among them.
08. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aloysius PIERIS. "Does Christ have a place in Asia? - A Panoramic View". In Concilium, 1993/2.
Austin FLANNERY. (ed.). Vatican II: The Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Documents. St. Paul's, 1999.
JOHN PAUL II. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia. Mumbai: Pauline Publications, 2001.
Jose M. de MESA. "Some Description of What Liturgy is". In East Asia PastrolReview, Vol. 33, Number 1-4, 1996.
Subash ANAND. "The Inculturation of the Eucharistic Liturgy". In VJJR 57 (1993)
G. Robert John Kennedy, III Theology
G. Robert John Kennedy, III Theology
* This was published in Missionary 2002-2003, St Joseph’s Seminary, Mangalore.
No comments:
Post a Comment