A Reflection on Possible Evangelisation as Inculturation in the Context of Postmodern Culture

Ovim se člankom želi promišljati o mogućnosti evangelizacije kao inkulturacije u kontekstu postmoderne kulture, polazeći ponajprije od dvaju važnih crkvenih dokumenata u kojima se donekle dotiče ta problematika: pastoralne konstitucije Drugog vatikanskog koncila Gaudium et spes i apostolskog nagovora o evangelizaciji u suvremenom svijetu pape Pavla VI. Evangelii nuntiandi. Uz općenitije određenje kulture kao sveobuhvatnog i specifičnog agensa nekog društva, pitamo se o realnoj mogućnosti kršćanske inkulturacije u tzv. suvremenu postmodernu kulturu ukoliko ista biva obilježena otegotnom različitošću u odnosu na, primjerice, tradicionalne kulture kada je bila donekle moguća misijska inkulturacija (akomodacija) početkom XVII. stoljeća, kako su to radili misionari Robert de Nobili i Matteo Ricci u azijskom području. Ukoliko bi tzv. postmoderna kultura mogla biti obilježena i kao ne‑kultura, zbog njezine kriterijske pluralnosti i njezina nejasnog samovrednovanja nečega mogućega (i kulturalnoga) istinitoga, dobroga i lijepoga, što se ne mora autentično odražavati u zbilji (pače, sasvim suprotno), konstatiramo evangelizacijske poteškoće u pronalaženju spona zbiljske inkulturacije u postmodernom kontekstu. Zato nam se čini dragocjen doprinos pape Franje, koji u svojoj pobudnici Evangelii gaudium naglašava, suvremenoj otegotnoj situaciji usprkos, važnost zauzetoga autentično‑evangelizacijskog, osobnog i konkretnog djelovanja prema svijetu, koji i u postmodernom ozračju dinamično‑varijabilne društvene stvarnosti može iznjedriti tko zna kakve nove spone inkulturacijskog nadovezivanja kršćanske poruke.This article wants to reflect on possible evangelisation as inculturation in the context of postmodern culture by starting with two important documents that touch upon that issue: the pastoral constitution of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et spes, and the apostolic exhortation of Paul VI on evangelisation in the contemporary world, Evangelii nuntiandi. Apart from a more general determination of culture as an overall and specific agent in a society, the article poses the question of a real possibility of Christian inculturation into the so‑called contemporary postmodern culture, insofar as it is marked by the aggravating difference in relation to, for instance, traditional cultures that somewhat allowed the missionary inculturation (accommodation) at the beginning of the 17th century, as it has been done by missionaries Robert de Nobili and Matteo Ricci. If the so‑called postmodern culture could be characterised as non‑culture, due to its criteria plurality and its unclear self‑evaluation of something possibly (and culturally) true, good, and beautiful, that does not have to be authentically reflected in the reality (in fact, quite the opposite), the author argues that there are difficulties of evangelisation in finding links of true inculturation in the postmodern context. This is why the contribution of pope Francis is precious. In his exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, he emphasises, despite the contemporary aggravating situation, the importance of dedicated authentic‑evangelisational, personal, and concrete activity towards the world that, even in the postmodern atmosphere of dynamic‑variable social reality, can bring out who knows what kind of new links to which the Christian message might be attached in the sense of inculturation