The great paradigm of the Gospel
enculturation in the early times of the Church
By Júlio Fontana*
The enculturation great paradigm appeared when
the Church announced the faith to the Hellenist cultural universe in compatible terms with its capacity of
understanding and it was then molded by that culture. Nowadays this process has consciously started in
several places of the world.
We cannot talk to others if the religious language used by
us is totally foreign to them: the theology that we employ
in our ministry cannot ignore the perspectives of the modern critical questions in whose milestone we also live1.
Haight says that “as it occurred with the Hellenization process, the effort to dialogue with the contemporary intellectual culture also will have to influence the
language through which we understand our own faith2.
Today the enculturation in Latin America, Asia and
Africa is being debated, however our purpose here is
to verify how the enculturation of an essentially Judaic and rural Gospel took place in the Hellenistic
and cosmopolitan environment.
Defining enculturation
First of all we should define what enculturation is3.
According to Roger Haight,
enculturation is viewed as the incarnation of Christian
faith and way of life in the sphere of the human experience diversity codified in languages, ideas, values and
patterns of behavior that constitute a culture or subculture. […] Enculturation does not mean to accommodate
the Gospel message to human culture but to allow that
the Gospel substance assumes the shape of the local
culture4.
To enculturate the Gospel means allowing God’s Word
to exercise a power within peoples’ lives without, at
the same time, imposing extraneous cultural factors that
would hamper the true reception of this Word5.
In which categories did the Gospel
enculturate itself in the Hellenistic
environment?
First of all we must define in which categories the
Gospel enculturated itself in the Hellenistic environment for any deficiency in this definition could cause
big distortions in the final result of the work. Nietzsche, for example, in his prologue of Beyond good
and evil, says that “the Christianism is the Platonism
for the masses”. Therefore, for the philosopher, Paul
would have translated the Gospel preached by Jesus
under Platonic categories, philosophy that Nietzsche
aspired to destroy with his program of “transmutation of all values”. As we are theologians we cannot
commit this mistake, thus we affirm that the Gospel
preached by Jesus was enculturated in the Hellenistic
environment according to Gnostic categories.
The Gnosticism
The sources
Many people ignore what Gnosticism is, however they know some of the texts produced by these
groups. There are a lot of controversy and fascination
when one talks about the writings found in Nag-Hammadi, in Upper Egypt (1945-1946). These writings belonged to a large Gnostic library. Among them are
all those texts called apocryphal, doctrinal writings,
epistles and apocalypses. Their greatest utility is not,
as many think, to reveal the face of a historical Jesus. No, this is not the usefulness of the Gnostic texts.
They partially reveal to us the earlier Christianism
that was not satisfactorily known. This Christianism
is the Gnostic Christianism. These writings also demonstrate how the Gnostic-Christians tried to present
a Gnostic interpretation of the Gospel by stressing the
perfect knowledge as the path to salvation. Because they are exclusively Christian writings they do not
allow an immediate elucidation about the form of the
pre-Christian Gnosticism. However the abundance of
texts enables a comprehensive and deep perception
of the Gnostic communities to the extent that now
they talk to us directly and not through the holy Fathers’ controversial citations.
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The genesis of Gnoticism
Since the Church’s earlier times the phenomenon of the Gnosticism has been highly discussed.
The Church’s Fathers engaged in polemics with the
Gnostics who supported an unearthly doctrine, a
kind of mythological speculation and, many times, a
freethinking ethics. They were accused of separating
the Old Testament God from Jesus Christ’s Father and
adulterating the Christian preaching. The Gnosticism
seemed to be a group of heretics that should be removed from the Church. Thus for a long time the scholars considered the Gnosticism an intra-clerical phenomenon that was born by the meeting of the earlier
Christianism and the Hellenistic world and which belonged to the history of the Christian sects. However
this view of things changed when the origins of the
Christian church started to be investigated from the
perspective of the history of religions. Along this research work it was demonstrated that the Gnosticism
cannot be considered exclusively a religious group
within the ancient Church but that it always represents
a movement in the Hellenistic world widely ramified.
This movement received influence from several religions and spiritual currents and it spread before and
during earlier Christianism. Soon after it was in many
ways linked to Christian elements and resulted in a
greater number of Gnostic Christian communities6.
What does the Gnostic term mean?
C. H. Dodd shows that the terms “Gnostic” and
“Gnosticism” are used by modern writers in a perplexing variety of meanings. Etymologically it means the
belief that the salvation comes through knowledge. In
case one chooses this meaning the orthodox Christians (such as Clement of Alexandria and Origenes),
the Hellenizing Jews (Philo) and the pagan writers
(such as the Hermeticists) should be called Gnostic.
This definition, as Dodd remarks, is very much employed by recent authors especially in Germany7.
Sometimes the old writers use the term “Gnostic”
as the name of some sects or schools of thought while
others seem to use it vaguely and sarcastically.
Lohse gives us a very coherent definition:
The word “gnosis” means knowledge. Here however it
is not to be understood as the knowledge in the Greek
philosophy which is achieved through scientific research and critical reflection. Neither does it refer to the
correct knowledge which offers an understanding of the
connections of the history divine plan as in the Judaic
apocalyptic nor to the true knowledge of the divine law
as in the Qumran community. On the contrary kno-
wledge is received through revelation that conveys to
the human being the knowledge of God. According to
the concept definition of gnosis given by Teodoto, the
Valentine Gnostic, this knowledge comprises the following contents:
Who we were, who we became;
where we were and to where we were thrown;
where we go and from what we are saved;
what is birth and what is rebirth
(excerpta ex Teodoto 78).
The syntactic order of the phrases in pairs refers
to the Gnosticism dualistic character. The first two
pairs describe the descending movement that occurs
from the human beings’ original homeland towards
the world into which they were thrown. The last two
pairs, on the contrary, refer to the liberation question
through which human beings are rescued from prison
and guided to redemption. If they do not achieve this
knowledge they are inexorably lost because they neither become aware of the prison nor they are able to
know the way to freedom.
Dodd evades the definition of Gnosticism and
thinks that it is better to ask: “Do the Gnostic view
themselves as Christians?”
For some of them, the answer can be affirmative;
for others, negative. Two opinions have been supported. On one hand the typical Gnostic systems are
considered different attempts by the people to accept,
at least in intention, the Christian fundamental dogmas and of developing, completing and reinterpreting
such dogmas in acceptable terms for the intellectual
religious audience of the time. On the other hand the
Gnosticism is considered a religious movement, more
ancient than Christianism and originally independent
from it, that has had since the beginning a syncretic
character and that promptly accepted the Christians
ideas in its systems when such beliefs became known
by the public.
However Dodd explains that “there is no known
Gnostic document that shows any probable clue to
be dated, at least in the only form that we have of it,
before the period of the New Testament”8. Secondly,
all typical Gnostic systems combine, in several ways
and varied proportions, ideas originated from the Christianism with ideas that are fully derived from – or at least have affinity with – other religious or philosophical
traditions. They derive from Greek religion and philosophy, Judaic scriptures, probably from Iranian tradition
and other oriental traditions. When compared with those of the Hermetic writings, or even Philo, generally the
Gnostic systems show a less Hellenic tune, more oriental, and certainly much more inclined to mythology.
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Thirdly the several Gnostic systems differ widely
as to the way of introducing and combining these different elements and each system has to be considered separately for what it is in itself”.
Taking into account all these factors, Dodd concludes that it is not possible to give an exhaustive
answer to the question: “What is the relationship between Gnosticism and Christianism?”9
Lohse has a similar opinion and declares that “in
spite of the research intense efforts to clarify the origins of Gnosticism there are not secure information
about its uprising yet”10. However the Biblicist affirms
that “nowadays the pre-Christian origin of Gnosticism
is generally acknowledged as an extensive movement
that accompanied the earlier Christianism and was
linked to it in many ways”11
The Gnostic doctrines
For the Christian mission the Gnostic movement
meant the most serious and dangerous competition
and this resulted from a deep affinity because the essence of gnosis is not its syncretic mythology12 but, on
the contrary, its self-understanding and its new vision
of the ancient world and making use of mythology
just as a form of expression.
The Gnostics’ world
While the world for human beings in Ancient times was the homeland, for gnosis, as for Christianism,
there was for the first time awareness of a fundamental difference between human beings’ existence and
that of all mundane beings, and that is why the world
became a foreign land for the human “ego” and even
a prison for gnosis.
The decisive knowledge
The gnwsij (gnosis), after which the Gnostic movement was named, is the knowledge of the celestial origin of the “ego”, the knowledge of the world’s foreign
character, the divine origin of the “ego” and the way
for liberation in relation to this world. The redemption
would be granted to the Gnostic that arrived to the
knowledge of the “ego”, of its celestial home and the
way for it when at death the “ego” would be separated from the body and soul and ascend free to the
enlightened celestial world.
Awareness of his superiority in relation
to the world
Gnosis provides to the Gnostic the awareness of his
superiority in relation to the world. He, in whom the
celestial spark is alive, is the pneumatic who looks at
others from top to bottom with disdain, at those that
do not carry in themselves the spark and which are
mere psychic, physical (sárquico) and astral (hílico).
One who knows to be already free through his gnosis,
shows this freedom either by ascesis or by libertinism
and perhaps also for a combination of both. In meditative absorption, which culminates into ecstasy he
can already enjoy the enlightened world happiness
in which he will go into after death and he is capable
of demonstrating the strength of the pneuma (pneuma)
alive in him through miraculous feats.
The history of each “ego” as the history
of the whole cosmos
The history of each “ego” is inserted in the history of the entire cosmos. Each individual ego is just
a light spark, a particle of the light treasure captured
in the world by its demonic dominators and its redemption is just a partial liberation process of all the
chained light sparks here in prison, which are united
among themselves and originated from substantial
syngenesis. The individualistic scatology, that is, the
doctrine of the individual “ego” liberation at death
and its journey to heaven is part of the cosmic scatology context, that is, the doctrine of the liberation
of all light sparks and their conduction to the world
of light after which this world, a mixture of light and
darkness, will dive again into the original darkness
chaos when the world’s demonic dominators will receive their judgment.
The cosmic drama
The Gnostic myth describes the drama of how the
chaining of the light sparks happened and will come
to an end through their liberation that has already
started. The beginning of the drama, the tragic event
of primitive times, is told differently in several variations of the myth; however the idea is the same: the
demonic powers seized a light character from the celestial world, either the light character being seduced
by its foolishness or overcome in a fight. The pneuma-
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tic individual “egos” are just the pieces, splinters of
that light character and therefore they constitute in its
complex this character – many times imagined as the
primitive human being – and which must be liberated
and “reunited” for their redemption as a whole. Since
the world structure of the demonic powers shall tumble down when the light sparks will be taken away
they watch zealously the prey and try to anesthetize,
enrapture and paralyze the individual “egos” by this
world’s tumult and inebriety so that they forget their
celestial homeland.
The Redemption
The redemption is brought from the celestial world
sent by the Supreme God, another light character comes down from the world of light, the Son of Almighty
God, His image (eivkw,n) and He brings the gnosis. He
“awakens” the asleep or inebriated light sparks and
“makes them remember” the celestial homeland. He
taught them about His superiority in relation to the
world as well as the attitude they should have towards
him. He established the consecrations by which they
are purified and they stir up or invigorate the strength
of the spent or faded lights by which they “are born
again”. He instructs them about the journey to heaven that they must do after death and transmits them
the secret formulae to pass safely through the different stages of this journey – by the demonic watchers
of the stellar sphere. And going ahead He opens the
way that is redemption for the Redeemer himself too.
Because He did not appear on earth as a divine character but disguised as a human being so that He is
not recognized by the demons. Thus He assumed all
blemishes of the human existence and He has to suffer disdain and persecution until He takes leave and
is elevated to the world of light.
The Gnosticism in relation to
Christianism
As I stated in the beginning of this article, the Gospel was enculturated in accordance with Gnostic categories. This was the terminology used so that the
Hellenists could understand the Gospel. Bultmann
explains it better:
The gnosis and its myths provided a terminology that
was known to a wide circle and was adequate to express
convincingly its scatological meaning as such to the
Hellenistic audience as well as its inherent dualism13.
With this information we get to the core of our
article: how the Gnostic thinking, its myth and ter-
minology could influence Christian thought and how
did they contribute to the unfolding of the Christian
theological language?
a) Firstly, in the terminological development of the
scatological dualism, when this dualism was
taken from the dimensions of a historical-salvation promoting thought to the dimensions of a
cosmologic thought. The hope in the future had
already assumed cosmic dimensions in the Judaic scatology under the influence of the Iranian
and Babylonian mythologies, which had been
the sources of the gnosis mythological thought.
From these influences derives the distinction
yet foreign to the Old Testament of this and that
aeon. The powers that at present threaten Israel
are only apparently the foreign peoples or the
world powers; behind them there are demonic
powers, there is Satan. Consequently the historical revolutions will not bring the salvation times
but a cosmic catastrophe and the turning point
will bring the resurrection of the dead and the
world judgment – the world judgment is a judiciary act while for the Old Testament thought the
trial by ordeal happens through historical events
– with exception of Daniel where for the first time
the ideas of cosmic scatology appear as in the
late excerpt of Is 24-27. The character of the king
David of the salvation times had been more or
less superseded by the character of the Man’s Son
as judge and holder of salvation coming from the
heaven14. At the time of salvation the colors of the
national-political ideal were more or less faded.
The judgment had spread out in the present world
as a Satan sinister space and his demonic hordes
– still unknown by the Old Testament in this role.
To support the belief of the world’s creation by
God in order to follow the Old Testament’s tradition represented some inconsequence. And if in
the apocalyptic a certain balance was established
by attributing to Adam’s fall – something still foreign to the Old Testament – the meaning of having brought on the Adamic humankind and the
present aeon the sin malediction, of the suffering
and death, certainly in this the Gnostic thought
influence is already present.
Under the Gnostic influence such conceptions
would be necessarily better developed in the
Hellenistic Christianism. This is already very evident in Paul; however it is not possible to verify
how much was brought already from the Judaic
past and to what extent the Gnostic thoughts influenced him further later on.
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b) The Gnostic mythology composed the background of the phrase about the creation’s fall in
Rom 8, 20 and ensuing, which only gives hints
thus making it difficult to give a detailed explanation and according to which creation is subject to
futility, servitude of perishing and bitter laments
while awaiting liberation. In Rom 5, 12 and ensuing, Adam’s fall, which caused humankind’s (sin
and) death is entirely interpreted in the Gnostic
sense; yes, in 1Cor 15, 21.44-49, the definition
of Adamic humankind is derived from Adam’s innate qualities as a psychic and telluric without
taking altogether into consideration his fall. The
psycho-spiritual antithesis to designate two categories of persons distinct by principle, a contrast
that is not understandable either starting from the
Greek linguistic usage or the Old Testament but
only as from the Gnostic anthropology, is a very
clear indication of the fact that Paul’s anthropologic concepts are coined by influence of gnosis. It
is also to think in Gnostic terms when in Jo 8,44
the enmity against Jesus is due to the descending
of the demon’s unbelievers, the arch liar.
Therefore the Gnostic mythology is useful to characterize the situation of the human being in the
world as a life that due to its origin is doomed to
perish, it is dominated by demonic powers. Yes,
in the controversy with the Judaic legalism, Paul
even dares to use the words of the Gnostic statement that previously the law was granted by the
subordinated angelical powers (Gal 3, 19), thus
contesting his conception manifested elsewhere
that the law derives from God (Rom 7, 12.14).
Correspondingly the parenesis terminology is to
a large degree Gnostic when it says that – in connection with the terms light and darkness – human beings are lost in sleep or inebriety so that
they must be awakened and become temperate.
The hymn in Ef5, 14 was written entirely in Gnostic language:
Wake up O sleeper,
rise from the dead
and Christ will shine on you.
c)
However the Gnostic terminology served above all to display clearly the event that promotes
salvation. According to it the Redeemer appears
as a cosmic character, as the pre-existing divine
being, the Son of the Father, Who came down
from heaven and assumed the character of a human being, Who from His earthly activity was
taken to the celestial glory and Who conquered
the domain on the spiritual powers. It is in these
terms that the Christian pre-Pauline hymn cited
in Phil 2,6-11 exalts Him. A brief reference to
the myth is also found in 2Cor 8,9. The Gnostic
thought that the earthly character of Christ was a
disguise due to which the world dominators did
not recognize Him – because had they recognized Him they would not have conjured their own
downfall through His crucifixion – forms the background of 1Cor 2,8.
Eph 4,8-10 is about the Redeemer’s descent and
ascension. The descent to the lower earthly regions does not, for instance, mean the descent to
hell, but it corresponds to the ascending, to the
descent of the pre-existing to earth. And He overcame the hostile spirits through His ascension to
heaven, what the author finds reading Ps 68, 19.
Col 2,15 also says that the Exalted conquered the
domain of the cosmic powers kingdom. And further, according to 1Pd 3,22 Christ’s ascension to
heaven is at the same time an act of submission
of the world’s demonic dominators; and 3, 19
and ensuing where, according to the original meaning, the descent to hell is as little mentioned as
in Eph 4, 9, it follows the Gnostic myth according
to which the deceased’s prison is not inside the
earth but in the region of the airs, where stellar or
firmament powers keep them confined. In Jo 12,
31 we have a very brief reference to the cosmic
event: now is the judgment of this world, now the
ruler of this world will be cast out. Jesus says these
words when he prepares to meet the Passion, what
means that His being will be exalted and glorified.
Thus the whole cosmos has to worship the Exalted
(Phil 2, 10 and ensuing). With this God ended the
cosmic disorder (which resulted from the original
fall) and through it “He reconciled the universe”, as it reads the hymn at the basis of Col 1, 20
which the author better adapted to the Christian
tradition by his editing work. In Christian terms
even more radical, Eph 2, 14 and ensuing interpret in ecclesiastic terms the cosmic peace that
was established through the work that promotes
salvation and interprets the parting wall that according to the Gnostic myth separates the earthly
world from the celestial world not only when referring to the enmity between Jews and gentiles
but also related to the friendship between God
and the human beings. Also Hebrews follows the
Gnostic redemption myth: the pre-existing, who
is here nominated, in terms of the Gnostic thought image as resplendence of glory and precise
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impression of His being (of God), abased Himself
in the incarnation for later be exalted above the
angels. However in the sense of the Judaic Christian scatology the picture was changed by the
fact of the submission of the entire cosmos being
postponed until the coming parousia. The myth is
also contained in the phrases of 1 Tm 3, 16 hymn:
However it comes back in a new version in John
where the believers are considered the incarnated Logos’ children, that calls them close to Him,
they hear and know its voice (Jo 10) because they
are “of the truth” (18, 37).
e)
He was manifested in flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels…
taken up in glory.
d) For the believers Christ’s cosmic victory means
the liberation from the world’s demonic dominators, from sin and above all from death, so that the
phrase “the resurrection has already occurred” is
intelligible. And for that one resorts to the Gnostic thought that the Redeemer by His ascension
opened the way to the celestial world by means
of the spheres of the spirits’ powers. The Exalted
will attract his followers close to Him (Jo 12, 32);
He Himself is the way (Jo 14, 6). Hebrews expresses this by employing the term “author, founder”.
Christ is the “guide” to heaven; being the consecrated, He is at the same time the consecrator for
His followers. With this Hebrews gave another
meaning to the Gnostic idea of “ego” ascension
to the celestial rest, associating it to the pilgrimage of God’s People on earth towards the celestial
homeland.
The Gnostic doctrine of the Redeemer’s and redeemed syngenesis by virtue of the celestial origin
of both, was so much modified by Hebrews that
the redeemed become the Redeemer’s brothers
(2, 11 and ensuing, 17), who however can be called His children because He has the priority. In
the same sense the Exalted is the first born among
many brethren in Paul (Rom 8, 29). Paul above
all expresses Christ’s importance as the Redeemer when he draws a parallel between Him and
Adam, the original (fallen) human being, as being
the last Adam. As much as the Adamic humankind
is determined by him in its earthly-psycho being
and in its submission to death, also who believes
in Him is determined by Christ and, concurrently,
by the Spirit and the life.
The Gnostic conception of the souls’ pre-existence and, associated to this, the idea of the saved
by nature, that is, the idea that the salvation is
grounded on the Redeemer’s and redeemed singenesis that precedes the faith decision, was totally abandoned by the Christian communities.
Hebrews links the Gnostic unity thought, in which everyone of the world’s separated pneumatic
are united among themselves, to the idea of the
Old Testament Judaic tradition of God’s People.
On the other hand, Paul expresses the internal
unity of the believers among themselves and with
the Redeemer through the Gnostic concept of
Christ’s body by determining in absolutely necessary terms the formation of the Church’s concept.
The authors of Colossians and Ephesians, encouraged by Paul, but simultaneously they themselves under the influence of the Gnostic tradition,
caused the idea to yield good results. And in Colossians it is especially evident the character originally mythological or cosmologic of the body’s
concept. In 1, 15-20 the author relied on a hymn
that initially praised Christ’s cosmic position and
viewed as body, whose head is Christ, the cosmos, while the author interprets the body as the
Church, however giving as such to the Church a
character of cosmic greatness.
The same thing is perceived in Ephesians. However, here not only the head’s concept is used to
designate Christ’s relation with the Church but
also the Gnostic idea of “syzygy”: the Church is
Christ’s bride or wife.
f)
To come from the polytheism to the faith in an
only true God meant to arrive to the truth’s knowledge – liberating knowledge was something that
Christians and Gnostics had in common -- and
the Christian preacher could speak in Gnostic
terminology: and you shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free (Jo 8, 32). Instead of
faith, Paul could speak of knowledge that overcomes everything that long ago was considered
profit, the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus
Christ (Phil 3, 8), and propose it as target: to be
found in Him and to know Him and the power of
His resurrection (Phil 3, 9 and ensuing). It is no
wonder that the Christian and Gnostic searches
for knowledge were united and that in Corinth an
enthusiastic search for “wisdom” broke out (1Cor
1, 18 and ensuing); it is no wonder that pride
flourished “because we all have the knowledge”
(1Cor 8, 1 and ensuing), that awareness of the
separation from the world and of the superiority
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over unbelievers assumed the Gnostic form of a
spiritual being by virtue of the superior nature and
to be able to despise the psychic and weak; even
less wonder is why the Christian felt himself in
possession of the Spirit by virtue of the baptism.
This awareness did not only manifest itself in the
community meetings, the enthusiasm and ecstasy
phenomena but above all in the authentically
Gnostic affirmation of freedom and authority due
to which the pneumatic despises the link with
the real ecclesiastic communion (1Cor 8, 1 and
ensuing) and thinks to be beyond the moral pledges (1Cor 6, 12 and ensuing; 10, 23). In the fight
against the false masters the accusation of immorality and want of love became so much stereotyped that not always one can be sure that it is
a libertinism with authentic Gnostic fundament;
however it is precisely from the stereotypy that
one deduces that this libertinism was supported
by the Christian circles. 2Cor 10-12 show how
the Gnostic awareness intensifies towards a certain growing proud (1Cor 4, 6; 18 and ensuing;
5, 2; 8, 1), a certain boasting that views oneself
entitled to judge others with arrogance and that
finds in the pneumatic power manifestations a
superiority in relation to the apostle who executes his work in weakness.
But also Paul himself clearly views the Gnostic
terminology as an adequate form of expression
for Christian comprehension of being not only
when speaking of gnosis which supports it. On
the contrary he also thinks that as spiritual he
himself relies on a certain “wisdom” that penetrates the mysteries of divine wisdom in God’s
deepness (1Cor 2, 6 and ensuing). He knows that
he is beyond reach of others’ judgment while it
is incumbent upon him who is in possession of
Christ’ spirit to judge everybody else (1Cor 2, 15
and ensuing). Not only he accepts the phrase “all
of us possess knowledge” (1Cor 8, 1) but also “all
things are lawful for me” (1Cor 6, 12; 10, 23) --although with a specific Christian correction. He
is proud of his freedom and authority as much as
the Gnostics – being however aware of the paradoxical feature of this freedom (1Cor 9, 1-23).
Her affirms “I am not in the least inferior to these
super-apostles (2Cor 11, 5; see 10, 3-5, 8; 13,
3-10) – although clarifying the paradoxical sense of boasting oneself as Christian (2Cor 11, 16
and ensuing; 12, 1 and ensuing). He is among the
perfect (Phil 3, 15; see 1Cor 2, 6) – affirming however at the same time that not as if he had already obtained or were already perfect (Phil 3, 12).
Conclusion
The New Testament writings corroborate the confrontation between the Gnosticism and the Christian
kerygma in several places in the second half of the
first century A.C. The birth of the Simon’s doctrine in
Samaria, found soon later in Rome too, the Baptist origin of the Mandeans, the phenomenon of the prideful
enthusiasm in the communities of Corinth and Philippi and the conflict with Gnostic doctrines in Asia Minor and Syria still belong to the first century A.C.. But
we cannot forget that the meeting with the Gnosticism forced the discernment and a decision about the
objective and correct expression of the Christian message. It was necessary to preach in the form of current
words and ideas to make the Gospel understandable
as answer to the human beings’ open questions about
the meaning of life and redemption. But the use of
these words and ideas should not result in a change
or adulteration of the Christian kerygma. In real circumstances it was difficult to say in advance how somebody could become Jew for the Jews and Greek for
the Greeks without affecting the Gospel’s truth. Very
often this could only be decided after lengthy and,
sometimes, hard reflection. The Gnosticism challenge
required from the earlier church intense efforts for the
correct comprehension and interpretation of Christ’s
message that was due to all human beings – Jews and
Greeks. Therefore this essay shows that as many think
Christianism is not a “pure religion” and that it underwent the influence of the world and the religions
at the time of its birth and it has been like this all
along its history. It is not now in the 21st century that
we are going to stick to the Church’s medieval traditions. The Gospel must enculture itself in order to
surviving, it did so when it was in the Hellenistic environment, when it became the official religion of the
Roman Empire, when it met the barbarians after the
fall of this Empire etc until today. This misoneism that
predominates in the Church is groundless. However
we should also take into consideration equilibrium.
To enculture too much is to loose identity.
Version by Cacilda Rainho Ferrante
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Notes
Associated researcher to the Associação Paul Tillich do Brasil, he writes for the journals Inclusividade,
Ciberteologia and Religião e Cultura.
1
Our mission and culture. In MCCARTHY, John l. (ed.), Documents of the thirty-fourth general congregation
of the Society of Jesus. St. Louis, Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1995, § 3, p. 59.
2
HAIGHT, Roger. Op. cit. p. 12.
3
See in http://www.missiologia.org.br/artigos/15_incult.php a good explanation of the term enculturation by
Faustino Teixeira.
4
HAIGHT, Roger. Jesus, symbol of God. São Paulo, Paulinas, 2003, p. 11.
5
Documents of the thirty-fourth general congregation of the Society of Jesus, cit., p. 50.
6
LOHSE, Eduard. Context and environment of the New Testament. São Paulo, Paulinas, 2000, p. 243.
7
DODD, C. H. Interpretation of the fourth gospel. São Paulo, Teológica-Paulus, 2003, p. 137.
8
DODD, C. H. Op. cit. p. 138.
9
Idem, ibidem, pages 138 and ensuing.
10
LOHSE, Eduard. Op. cit. p. 244.
11
Idem, ibidem.
12
Gnosticism was a movement that accepted influence from several religions and spiritual currents. We call
syncretism this “fusion of different cults or doctrines with the re-interpretation of their elements”.
13
BULTMANN, Rudolf. Theology of the New Testament, p. 218.
14
Idem ibidem, pages 91-96.
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