Mission and "Inculturation"

From a Hindu point of view the way “inculturation” has been understood in the light of the Mission of the Church, has been problematic. If we mean by “inculturation” only the local Church’s assimilation, or accommodation of certain symbols that belong properly to other cultures and religions, in order to make the Christian Faith more understandable and acceptable to those who are outside the Christian world, then people of other Faiths feel that this is a wrong appropriation of their symbols. However, there have been Christians like Dom Bede Griffiths, Swami Abhishiktananda and others, who did not want to use Hindu or Buddhist symbols in this way. For them Hinduism, Buddhism, and other spiritual traditions in India have much to contribute to the future of the Church in Asia. This Church will not be a copy of the European or Western one. Rather it would be a new way of understanding the spirituality that we find in the Gospel of Jesus. The Light that we are all seeking, is also the Light which we share with people of Other Faiths

From a Hindu point of view the way “inculturation” has been understood in the light of the Mission of the Church, has been problematic. If we mean by “inculturation” only the local Church’s assimilation, or accommodation of certain symbols that belong properly to other cultures and religions, in order to make the Christian Faith more understandable and acceptable to those who are outside the Christian world, then people of other Faiths feel that this is a wrong appropriation of their symbols. However, there have been Christians like Dom Bede Griffiths, Swami Abhishiktananda and others, who did not want to use Hindu or Buddhist symbols in this way. For them Hinduism, Buddhism, and other spiritual traditions in India have much to contribute to the future of the Church in Asia. This Church will not be a copy of the European or Western one. Rather it would be a new way of understanding the spirituality that we find in the Gospel of Jesus. The Light that we are all seeking, is also the Light which we share with people of Other Faiths