(Prefect of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City)
"The Synod documents treat inculturation within the framework of a theology of the incarnation" (Position paper no. 16). For an adequate understanding of inculturation, a correct and complete theology of incarnation becomes necessary. The New Testament show us three fundamental dimensions of incarnation: it is above all an historical event, unique and unrepeatable: the Son of God became incarnate once for all time in a determined place, at a determined time of history and he remains eternally this determinate man, Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, died and resurrected in Jerusalem. The incarnation implies, therefore, a permanent tie with this history, with this biblical word, with these sacramental signs, stable presence of the "flesh" of Christ.
But, incarnation - second level - is not an end to itself, it is finalised by the Paschal Mystery, the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ. Incarnation is a way towards purification, transformation, renewal and tends to transfigure, towards a new life. The Paschal Mystery, with its purifying force, is thereby a determining factor for the way of inculturation as well.
In the light of this, one may understand the third dimension of the mystery of incarnation, the pneumatological one, expressed by the Lord in the words: "and I, when I am lifted up from this earth, will draw all men to myself" (Jn. 12,32). The flesh transformed by resurrection is the open place of the Mystical Body of Christ, capable of drawing to itself, of uniting and reconciling all the richness of the human being: thus, incarnation grows towards "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4,13): to find their true measures, cultures need this encounter with Christ and Christ awaits this encounter, because only through this that the event of incarnation attains its fullness. The linking force of the unique historical event, the Paschal transformation (the law of the seed of grain which falls on the earth) and the universality of the Resurrected seep into the concept of incarnation and thus define the way of inculturation.
Original
text: Italian
