The need of acculturation in the process of inculturation

The article intends to convince that acculturation should be distinguished in the process of inculturation. First, the author defines the term “inculturation”, according to the teaching of the Church. Next, he gives some biblical examples of inculturation. It has been stressed that the process of inculturation must be bidirectional (incorporating the Gospel into the culture and adopting these cultural elements which are not in contradiction with the Gospel). Both the Bible and the Church indicate that a properly conducted process of inculturation is the condition which must be met for the target culture to accept the Gospel. In the last paragraph, the author singles out the conditions to be met by inculturation. Another process, namely acculturation which aims at depriving the Gospel of its cultural conditions, needs to be added to the list. Two writers have noticed the need of doing so: Anna Wierzbicka, the linguist, and Fr. Arkadiusz Baron, the patrologist (transl. by Zygmunt Kostka)