"INCULTURATION"

‘ Inculturation’ as a concept, has very much concerned me. The idea that the Light of the Resurrection must enter into every culture is not just a question of using other cultures as a kind of sugar coating, so that Christian teachings can be inserted into a non-Christian world. Rather it is insights that come from other Religious traditions (I have talked about Buddhism, but not specifically mentioned Hinduism) which can enrich, and help widen the horizons of Christian art for the future. This two-way process, through art and the religious imagination, is for me hugely important. The image for example of the Nataraja, or God as a dancer, can be a new dimension to Christian iconography, as I have many times discussed. But this is often seen as simply "syncretism" or "relativism" which is just now a real problem for the Catholic Church. Efforts to link the life of the Church in Asia to systems of thought and meditattion that we find in Yoga, or Zen Buddhism have often not been favoured by the official Christian hierarchy.