INTRODUCTION Inculturation in Mission History The

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Inculturation in Mission History

The relationship between religion and culture is a central issue for missionary movements of all religions. It has been a primary concern for Christian missions since the early beginnings, when Christianity spread to cultures in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and later to the Americas. In Eastern Asia, for example, the fascinating religio-cultural encounter that took place when Roman Catholicism was brought to China and Japan through early Jesuit missions is often referred to. The Jesuits were leading missionary agents at that time, promoting the expansion of Christianity to new cultures.1 The words ‘adaptation’, or ‘accommodation’ (used mostly in Catholi- cism), or ‘indigenization’ (used mostly in Protestantism) have described the missionary approach to culture. Whatever term is used it generally involved three core elements:2

1. The translation of Christian terms into the local language (such as love, God, and salvation). 2. A strategic presentation of Christianity, whereby some elements are emphasized and others marginalized. For example, the theology of the cross was not preached widely in Japan during the early Jesuit mission, rather an emphasis was placed upon the resurrection of Jesus and the powerful, almighty God. 3. An understanding of Christianity in the light of indigenous spiri- tuality, culture, and faith. For example, the Jesuit Francisco Xavier (1506–1552) ﬁ rst translated the word ‘God’ as Dainichi, the Buddhist concept of the supreme.3

1 Neil 1964/90: 120–150. 2 Cf. Elison 1991/98: Chapter 3 for the methods of the Jesuit missionaries, Matteo Ricci, Roberto Nobili, and Francis Xavier. Also, Neil 1964/90: 129, 151–167. 3 After 1859 the religiosity of Honen and Shinran also inﬂ uenced Protestant leaders in a similar way. In modern Japan, Christian leaders have also engaged with religious 2 chapter one

In Protestant circles the term ‘indigenization’ is frequently used.4 It often appears in modern missiological thought but presupposes a static or stable indigenous culture.5 Later the term was replaced by words such as ‘inculturation’, a concept which allows for a Christian encounter with a culture undergoing change.6 The need for a more dynamic concept became particularly important as modernization began to impact on indigenous cultures and religions. There is, however, a new concept currently used to express the relation between Christianity and culture: ‘contextualization’. This implies that Christianity needs to be understood in relation to the ‘context’, a word which widens and transcends the concept of culture.7 This question of terminology is a very sensitive issue. I prefer the term ‘inculturation’ for two reasons. First, the term focuses on culture. This is particularly relevant to Endo’s work, where he analyzed the cultural features in which the gospel took form. Second, while ‘accommodation’, ‘adaptation’, and ‘indigenization’ emphasize the perspective of those who are the ‘givers’ in the process, ‘inculturation’ highlights the perspective of the ‘receiver’. Here the Japanese people and culture are the ‘receivers’ of Christian teachings. However, to receive should not be understood as representing a passive attitude but as an active part of the missionary process; it is a creative reception, a dynamic reinterpretation of the transmitted faith. Therefore, I believe that the term inculturation, although narrower than contexualization, carries a wider meaning and dimension to it than ‘adaptation’, ‘accommodation’, or ‘indigenization’. Inculturation implies reinterpretation, and it presupposes active participation by persons within the culture itself. In

elements such as Bushido, Samurai spirit, and ancestral veneration. Ref. Nitobe 1938/97 and Uemura 1979: 189–194. 4 Bosch 1991: 294, 448. 5 Takeda 1967. 6 J. Masson fi rst coined the phrase Catholicisme inculturè, ‘inculturated Catholicism’, in 1962. It soon gained currency among Jesuits, in the form of ‘inculturation’. In 1977 the Jesuit superior-general, Pedro Arrupe, introduced the term to the Synod of Bishops; the Apostolic Exhortation, Catechesi Tradendae (CT ), which fl owed from this synod, took it up and gave it universal currency (cf. Muller 1986: 134; 1987: 178). It was soon accepted in Protestant circles and is today one of the most widely used concepts in missiological circles.” Bosch 1991: 447. 7 The concept of contextualization is debated and clarifi ed particularly by American missiologists. Bevans 2000.