Just my :twocents: (or tuppence or maybe two paisa?), but it seems to me that such “inculturation” may work (in limited degrees, anyway) for the Latin Church in India, but I am not at all able to see the point of how it applies to Syrian Christians in Kerala. They have been, from the start, both fully Syro-Christian and fully “Indian” (really Malayali).
malphono,
Eastern religions are different. They are not praying to any eastern Gods.They are 100% faithful to catholic church’s teachings.Christianity is absorbing the simple life style of eastern religions.Main essence of Hindu faith is Peace to whole world , Main essence of Islam is beleif in one God, Main essence of Budhism is Ahimsa (non killing) and Mercy, Main essence of Jainism is non violence and forgiveness.
I am a keralite. But Now I am living in Arabia
Perhaps so, but in any case, such “inculturation” must be taken in measure, else it can get into things like [thread=421684]this[/thread] and becomes a recipe for disaster.
Well, I’ve learnt a few things over the years.
Not to mention that there was an excellent [thread=585656]thread[/thread] about the SMC in this forum a month or so ago. FWIW, I’m particularly impressed with the Archdiocese of Chanangaserry. 
These monastries are established by Latin missionary societies such as Jesuits, Benedictains,Carmelites, Salessians, and SVD missionaries. Their main aim is to preach Gospel and reveal christ in eastern culture.
There is no new teachings about this.It does not teaches any new doctrines or theology. Only catholic faith.Healthy mingling with regional cultures are to be encouraged and blind imitation of other religions rituals (Eg: imitation of Hindu Poojas in holy mass, Using of word OM in catholic prayers) without any rational judgement should be discouraged. If you want to know any thing more about inculturisation , it is advisable you to visit any catholic ashrams near by.
Well, I don’t think I said we shouldn’t “worry” but worry isn’t a good thing anyway!
has to do with the fact that Asian culture, especially when intermixed with Catholicism, is indeed quite different from ours.Orthodox churches in india are also in the path of inculturisation. We can see priests wearing saffron coloured dressess. Earlier orthodox churches in india are known as syrian orthodox churches as they are closely related to syrian christian traditions in syria. But now they like to know as Indian Orthodox Church (Keeping 100% faithful to their syrian traditons).Well, I don’t think I said we shouldn’t “worry” but worry isn’t a good thing anyway!
I’m not Indian or Asian so I don’t swim in those cultural waters. We can compare what this process of inculturation there is about with what our own tradition has historically done, in my case, the Ukrainian/Ruthenian tradition of Kyivan Rus’. I see many points of similarity in that respect and our own feelings of “Oh my gosh, what is that all about?”
Certainly, there are dangers in all this. But it is up to the Indian Christians “on the ground” so to speak to study the traditions of India and make the necessary links with Christianity. So did the Cappadocian Fathers and St Thomas Aquinas.
As for Dom Bede Griffiths, he is well respected by both the Catholic and Orthodox as well as Protestant communities in India, not to mention the non-Christian communities there. I don’t pretend to fully understand his thought and contributions, but I tend to trust that he, in his vocation and many life achievements, made headway in his missionary undertakings when, historically, European Christianity simply failed for refusing to distinguish between what is “Christian” and what is “European.”
European Christians committed the idolatry of seeing European culture as the only valid medium by which Christianity is to be communicated, very much like the early Christians who were Jews and expected other Christians to be circumcised etc.
As for yoga and even Zen meditation, these practices can be, and are, Christianized. In Japan, for example, there are Christian Zen temples. I once took a yoga course in a church hall where the focus during the exercises was on the large Crucifix on the wall. Prolonged periods of concentration and silence like that with a focus on Christ on the Cross is a very spiritually refreshing experience.
In North America, we pray far too quickly to “get through” the Office, the Rosary etc. I’m not against fulfilling a certain quantity of prayer each day, God forbid! But we need to balance our North American need for “achievement” and “quantity” with silence and an enhanced quality in our spiritual meditation, reading and prayer.
Hindus wear a three-banded cord like sash over their shoulder. Fr. Roberto DiNobili SJ adopted this practice and said that the three bands represent the Holy Trinity. The Celtic missionaries adopted much of the pagan Celtic traditions, simply “saining” them with the Sign of the Cross and changing their meaning. The Cross of Christ transforms culture and that is our calling in India as well as in North America where, as far as the latter is concerned, a new kind of paganism has gripped our culture here.
Again, ashrams and such aren’t my “cup of tea” because I am not Indian nor Asian. Eastern Christianity as we know it through the Eastern Catholic Churches of Europe are very much part of the European heritage, even though they derive from the Indo-European cultures.
What is “Byzantine” is not “Eastern” in the Asian sense, in fact Byzantine is “New Roman” and when the Oriental Orthodox saw the controversy over icons in the 8th century, they regarded it as a problem in the “Roman province of the Church” meaning both Old and New Romes taken together. So we’re not that far East.
Let’s leave the inculturation of the Asian Christian traditions to those who are dedicated to its study and practice. It will seem foreign to us, to be sure. That shouldn’t raise red flags for us or make us uneasy. North Americans who think they can practice Asian traditions like yoga and zen freely and without guidance are under a strange delusion given the immense cultural gap between them and Asia.
I’ve said enough and those are my thoughts on the matter!
Cheers,
Alex
Popes wore the mitres of pre-Christian Roman priests, and they took the name “Pontifex Maximus” (the high priest of ancient Rome) and intermingled elements of Greek philosophy into Christianity.Griffiths wore the saffron robes of a Hindu monk and he took the name Swami Dayananda and intermingled elements of Hinduism and Catholicism in his celebration of the Mass.
thanks for the reply. well I guess it depends, are they just using the language etc? or are they using aspects of spirituality, worship, doctrine? (the latter would be incorrect imo)
Griffiths activities are blind imitations of hindu rituals without any rational judgement. This is not the real inculturisation. It creates irritation in the minds of both hindus and christians.Griffiths wore the saffron robes of a Hindu monk and he took the name Swami Dayananda and intermingled elements of Hinduism and Catholicism in his celebration of the Mass.
It involves using of regional Languages , arts, musics, dances, dressess and cultural traditons. Presenting christian teachings through these to people of those regions. Blind imitations of another religions rituals is not good. It will be a disaster for christians and irritation for other religions (For eg: Indian Mass- a holy mass style which was a blind imitation of hindu pooja, I dont know , but to the best of my knowledge and belief that it was discouraged and banned by vatican). Those inculturisations which lacks to convey the message of christ is also not ideal and useless. The main aim of inculturisation is to give birth to a new christian culture in the east. It should be both eastern and christian. Those eastern traditions which seems to be not suitable for christianity is rejected and those which is suitable for christian faith is accepted. Your protest is same like the protest of Jewish christians (at the time of apostoles) who were against to take Europeans into christianity and accepting European culture. Now European christians stands in the position of jewish christians. They cannot accept new cultures of christianity as it is strange to them. Main thing is that we should not deviate from our catholic faith. We should be 100% faithful to Holy Roman Catholic Church and its teachings.
Now that would be for another thread…eh?