Abstract:
Although the intimate bond between Church and culture was realised
quite early on, it only became a theological issue after missionaries like
Xavier, Ricci and DeNobili experimented with accommodation and adaptation
in the East. In the 20th century their ideas surfaced again in the
concepts of indigenisation and inculturation, that is, of Church and theology
amongst peoples and cultures of the Third World. This development
led Western theology to realise how historically and culturally contextualised
Western ecclesiastical, doctrinal and theological traditions
actually were. This in tum led to a fundamental rethinking on Church
and culture, and again, on contextualisation; indigenisation and inculturation
as missionary principles.
