Monday, August 9, 2021

Deception and Multigenerational Inculturation Strategy of the Church to Convert Hindus

 "INCULTURATION" is an (Christian) evangelist policy to keep the native culture but replace the native religion with Christianity.” – Rajeev Malhotra

 

The term was first used to describe efforts to indoctrinate and proselytize societies outside the Jerusalem–Rome axis. Rather than risk replacing an entire way of life with another, missionaries cunningly allowed the natives to retain their cultural identities and practices while replacing their deities with Jesus and asserting that the Church was the ultimate authority on spirituality. Inculturation is well accepted in the Catholic tradition as a strategy for gaining entry into regions outside the West. Inculturation makes concessions to the target native culture for the sole purpose of spreading Christianity and not out of any genuine respect for difference. The Catholic Church in Latin America uses it to convert natives, and it has also been used successfully in Africa and India. It is a way of 'tolerating' differences ostensibly while paving the way for the elimination of difference through conversion.

For centuries, church theologians and officials have debated and adjudicated hundreds of specific cases of inculturation experiments by enterprising missionaries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. They determined what to allow and what to ban. These rulings have official authority and are important in understanding how Christians must compete and expand market share through constant adaptation and self-correction.

The inculturation process works in stages. At first, the native tradition is honoured by the missionaries. Some of the natives' practices and symbols are superficially adopted to make them feel proud that their heritage is being appreciated. The short-term intention is to make Christianity seem less alien and hence attractive to the natives. In the long term, however, the indigenous peoples are weaned away from the core of their religious identities. Their traditional identities eventually become innocuous husk, their very meaning transformed into a pale reflection of Christianity. Once the new member is firmly placed in this ambiguous or hybrid religion, has burnt bridges with native traditions and become dependent on the church, the proverbial knife is twisted. In the case of Hinduism, the Hindu aspects are downplayed and the Christian aspects emphasized. This is done carefully after ensuring that the link with Hinduism is sufficiently softened and that the person's dependency on the missionaries is sufficiently softened and that the person's dependency on the missionaries is strong. Hinduism is not yet denigrated openly, but caste, dowry, female 'abuses' and other examples of 'backwardness' are emphasized as the defining qualities. In the final stage, Hinduism is openly blasted, and the person is turned into a solid Christian. It is only after analysing the long-term implications of this transformation that the treachery becomes apparent.

The most notable pioneer and prime exemplar of Christian inculturation was the Tuscan Jesuit missionary Roberto de Nobili (1577–1656), who came to south India in 1608. He proudly documents that he presented himself first as a sadhu, and when that was found to limit his access to householders, he adopted the guise of a Kshatriya in order to win peoples' trust. After a series of false starts and further experimentation, he assumed his most effective role, that of a Brahmin, complete with dhoti and three-stringed thread, which he said represented the Christian Trinity! He assiduously studied Sanskrit and Tamil, publicly adopted the rigorous lifestyle and simplicity of a Brahmin ascetic, and taught the Christian gospel dressed in words and ideas that were Hindu equivalents or approximations to Christianity. He succeeded in converting a large number of Hindus, even from the highest and most learned castes. During his life, the Vatican frequently disapproved of what is considered to compromise with pure Christianity and closely followed his movements, but today his work is lauded by the Church as a role model for inculturation – even though it involved deception.

In addition to wearing wooden sandals to conform to the Brahmin custom of avoiding leather shoes, he adopted Hindu symbols and customs such as the water pot, vegetarianism, the shaved head except for only a tuft of hair, and so on. He did so in order to enter into the hearts of Hindus with ease. Known as the 'Roman Brahmin', de Nobili had no qualms about faking his personal genealogy to bolster his authority – even to the point of claiming direct descent from Brahma! He even produced an authoritative 'fifth Veda' in which he proclaimed the truths of Christianity. By associating his Christianized Hinduism with the colonizer's supposedly superior civilization, he gave his converts the impression that they were embracing an improved version of their own traditions. Roberto de Nobili is mainly responsible for the present-day use of Hindu terms and personal names by south Indian Catholics, especially in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. He adopted words like kovil (temple) in place of the church, 'prasadam' (food offering) for communion, 'aiyar' (Shaiva brahmin) for a Catholic priest, 'vedam' (Vedas) for the Bible, and 'puja' (worship) for mass. In imitation of Christ's twelve apostles, he claimed to have acquired twelve eminent Brahmins as his disciples. Ultimately, the only real obstacle that remained was his white complexion.

Over time the Catholic Church expanded its policy of inculturation to accommodate not just non-Christian cultural symbols but also non-Christian religious sentiments. For instance, in 1939 Pope Pius XII reversed a long-standing Vatican injunction against the Chinese Christian custom of ancestor worship, declaring that this was not superstition but an honourable way of remembering ancestors. This type of inculturation pretends respect for other faiths while in fact seeking to prepare them for conversion.
In the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), the policy of inculturation was modified to encourage Indian Christians to pose as being faithful to local beliefs and sensibilities and declare the 'hidden Christ' at the right moment so that heathens would want to convert. Inculturation even led to the building of Hindu temple-like churches wherein Hindu symbols and paraphernalia were used. Christian priests roamed around in the guise of sadhus.

In the 1960s and '70s, dharma began to influence the popular imagination of westerners, and while some American fundamentalists believed then (as they do today) that yoga and meditation undermined Christianity, other Christians responded in a more opportunistic fashion. In the Western home market, the approach was to assimilate selectively those elements that could boost 'liberal' Christianity, which in effect meant mapping Indian spirituality onto biblical religions. This is, in effect, domesticating the pagan in order to remove the threat. At least a hundred quotations from the Vedas, the Yoga Sutras and the Upanishads have been incorporated into the 'Indian Bible' published by the Roman Catholic Church in 2008. Breaking away from the Jesus who suffers, this Indianized Jesus is portrayed as assuming the tribhanga pose characteristic of Lord Krishna playing the flute. The pain and trauma on Jesus' face have been replaced by the ecstasy and joy normally associated with Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or Nataraja. Jesus is shown surrounded by Hindu musical instruments traditionally used in 'bhajans', along with a 'tabla' (drum) and 'jalra' (cymbals) at his feet. The words 'He is dancing with joy' appear on the facing page. Such portrayals have the effect of making Indian Christians feel proud of their inherited cultures. On a more practical level, it provides continuity in their relationships with Hindu friends, relatives and neighbours.
 

Book – Being Different: An Indian Challenge To Western Universalism (page no 30-33)

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