Preliminary communication

The Church (Theology) and Culture in Dialogue

Ivan Karlić orcid.org/0000-0002-7550-0857 ; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Catholic Theology, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

What is to be expected from an encounter and dialogue between culture and the Church (theology, faith)? The starting point of this paper is the novelty introduced by the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican; culturally speaking, it represents an event with which the artificial obstacles between culture (the world) and the Church (faith, theology) were pulled down. It seems that it was this event precisely that fully opened the doors to the encounter and dialogue between the Church (theology) and the cultural environment which the Church is also part of.
The Church and theology’s advocating of dialogue with contemporary culture must, according to the author, meet a number of requirements or presuppositions not only for this dialogue to be conducted without unnecessary difficulty, but also for it to be fruitful for the world and humanity. One of the first presuppositions is sympathy (which can also be critical) in relation to both the world and times we live in; this first step is essential in the Church’s (theology) making “first contact” with culture. The second presupposition pertains to a more potent valorisation of the role of local churches (either nationally or continentally speaking), which seem (in relation to the universal Church) to be more appropriate subjects to be able to more easily locate connection points between universally human questions and the culturally elaborated annunciation of faith. Furthermore, those who should have an increasingly more important role within the Church itself in leading this dialogue with contemporary culture are worshiping laymen, i.e. men and women who have been deeply and greatly involved in the various universal (cultural) fields of life, such as politics, economy, health services, etc. Within the Church the so-called ‘Benedictine spirituality’, which privileges authority (auctoritas), should be merged with the so-called ‘Franciscan sensibility’, which is more directed towards a brotherhood/sisterhood (fraternitas) not only between people but also with all that is created. Finally, the difference between faith and theology (which is a ‘culture of faith’ according to its nature) must not be forgotten either: this difference, which does not imply a strict division, creates space for the faith in Jesus Christ to be professed in the different ways of the cultures and environments that people live in.

Keywords

Church; theology; culture; dialogue; investigation; Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican

Hrčak ID:

36900

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/36900

Publication date:

18.2.2009.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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