Inkulturasi (Katolik)

Inkulturasi adalah sebuah istilah yang digunakan di dalam paham Kristiani, terutama dalam Gereja Katolik Roma, yang merujuk pada adaptasi dari ajaran-ajaran Gereja pada saat diajukan pada kebudayaan-kebudayaan non-Kristiani, dan untuk memengaruhi kebudayaan-kebudayaan tersebut pada evolusi ajaran-ajaran gereja.

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Kehidupan bersama antara paham Kristiani dan kebudayaan lain dimulai semenjak masa kerasulan. Yesus memerintahkan murid-muridnya untuk menyebarkan ajaran-Nya hingga ke ujung bumi (Injil Markus 28:28; 16; 15) sebelum kenaikan-Nya ke surga namun tidak memberi tahu bagaimana caranya. Khotbah Rasul Paulus kepada orang-orang Yunani di hadapan majelis Areopagus di Athena (Kitab Kisah Para Rasul 17:22-33) bisa dianggap sebagai usaha inkulturasi yang pertama. Pidato itu tidak diterima dengan baik, menurut ayat 32: "Ketika mereka mendengar tentang kebangkitan orang mati, maka ada yang mengejek." Pada atau sekitar tahun 50, para rasul bertemu dalam Konsili Gereja pertama, Konsili Yerusalem, untuk menentukan apakah akan menyertakan orang-orang non-Yahudi dan memadukan kebudayaan orang-orang tersebut. Di Konsili Yerusalem ini diresmikan bahwa orang-orang Yahudi dan non-Yahudi bisa diterima sebagai umat Kristiani.
Konflik-konflik kebudayaan antara umat Kristiani Yahudi dan umat Kristiani non-Yahudi terus berlangsung hingga agama Kristen masuk ke dalam kebudayaan Yunani-Romawi. Inkulturasi yang sama terjadi ketika Kekaisaran Romawi berakhir dan kebudayaan-kebudayaan Jermanik dan Abad Pertengahan menjadi dominan - sebuah proses yang memakan waktu berabad-abad. Para pelaksana pertama dari inkulturasi ini dalam sejarah penyebaran Injil diantaranya adalah Santo Patrick di Irlandia dan Santo Siril dan Metodius bagi orang-orang Slavia di Eropa Timur. Setelah terjadinya skisma tahun 1054, pengaruh Gereja Katolik Roma sebagian besar hanya terbatas pada bagian barat Benua Eropa. Telah terjadi berbagai usaha yang gagal untuk memperluas ruang lingkup pengaruhnya terhadap kebudayaan-kebudayaan Timur Tengah melalui Perang Salib) dan terhadap Kekaisaran Latin di Konstantinopel (1204-1261). Reformasi Protestan menyebabkan perpecahan di dalam Gereja Barat. Namun, di saat yang sama, penemuan-penemuan penjelajah Spanyol dan Portugis akan Benua Amerika, Asia dan Afrika memperluas hubungan dengan berbagai kebudayaan dan peradaban yang lain.

Inkulturasi setelah penemuan-penemuan

After the discoveries of new territories and the Council of Trent (1545-1563) the movement became more systematic, when the Roman Church had to ponder how and to evaluate elements of ancient non-Christian cultures. Notable figures were, among others, José de Anchieta for the indigenous people of Brazil, Roberto de Nobili in Southern India, Alexandre de Rhodes in Vietnam.

China

Matteo Ricci adalah seorang Yesuit, Adam Schall von Bell and others had successfully introduced Christianity to China. Ricci and Schall were appointed by the Chinese Emperor in Peking to be court mathematicians court astronomer and even Mandarin. The first Catholic Church was built in Peking in 1650. The emperor granted freedom of religion to Catholics. Ricci had adapted the Catholic faith to Chinese thinking, permitting among others the cultic veneration of ancestors, which he described as a mere cultural practice. The Holy See disagreed, deeming the veneration an act of worship and hence idolatry, and forbade any adaptation in the so-called Chinese Rites controversy in 1692 and 1742. The Chinese emperor felt duped and refused to permit any alteration of the existing Christian practices. The Church experienced missionary setbacks in 1721 when the Kangxi Emperor to outlaw Christian missions. According to Franzen, "The Vatican policy was the death of the missions in China."

Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII fostered inter-cultural diversity, leading to the reintegration of the Armenian Church into the Catholic Church in 1879. He opposed efforts to latinize the Eastern Rite Churches, stating that they constitute a most valuable ancient tradition and symbol of the divine unity of the Catholic Church. His 1894 encyclical Praeclara Gratulationis praised the cultural and liturgical diversity of expressions of faith within the Church . In Orientalum Dignitatis he repeated the need to preserve and cultivate diversity and declared different cultures to be a treasure. He opposed the latinization policies of his own Vatican and decreed a number of measures which preserved the integrity and distinciveness of other cultural expressions.

Benedict XV and Pius XI

Saat Pope Pius IX and Pope Pius X tended to be slightly more Latin oriented, Benedict XV was especially concerned with the development of missionary activities, which had suffered so much during World War One. Inculturation meant to him first of all the development of domestic clergy. On November 20, 1919, he appealed to the Catholics of the world, to support missions and especially the development of local clergy, favouring a de-Europeanization of the Catholic missions . Pope Pius XI followed suit, by promoting local clergy, the local cultures are better recognized. To this end he held an mission congress in Rome in 1922 and personally consecrated each year bishops from Asia, Africa and Latin America. At his death 240 dioceses and administrations were in the hands of domestic bishops.