Chapter II. The Contemporary Missiological Thought of the Church

Postmodernism and Mission. An Attempt at Synthesis — Chapter II. Quotations from the documents of the Church are given in their official English translations; quotations from Polish-language scholarship in the translator's rendering; bibliographical references retain their original form.

Introduction

The second chapter will show the path of development which the concept of mission has undergone since the beginning of the twentieth century. The principal theological currents shaping reflection on the missionary idea which arose in this period will be presented. Particular emphasis will be given to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on mission and to the post-conciliar documents of the Magisterium Ecclesiae concerning this question. The principal contemporary approaches expressing the missionary mandate of the Church will also be characterised.

1. The Concept of Mission in Pre-Conciliar Theological Reflection

Although the missionary activity of the Church has existed from its very beginnings, many centuries had to pass before reflection on this reality became a distinct theological discipline. The very object of study bore various designations. Up to the seventeenth century one may find a great many terms for the reality of mission. The diversity of these definitions conditioned the understanding and defining of the Church's missionary character⁶⁸.

The turn of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth bore fruit in a flowering of the missionary movement in many Churches and ecclesial communities⁶⁹. This phenomenon arose also in the Catholic Church, and it contributed to the development of theological reflection on the question of mission. In the Catholic milieu of this period one may distinguish four significant schools which elaborated this question extensively: the Münster school, whose principal representative is Joseph Schmidlin; the Louvain school, in which the leading role was played by Pierre Charles; the Spanish school, gathered around the person of Cardinal Juan Benlloch; and the French school, whose principal representatives are André Glorieux, Henri de Lubac and Alexandre Durand⁷⁰. All these centres presented differing distributions of emphasis concerning the understanding of mission, which will be briefly presented below.

1.1. The Münster School

The conception represented by the school in Münster, whose leading representative was Joseph Schmidlin (1876–1944), stood under the significant influence of Protestant approaches (represented chiefly by Gustav Warneck). It is characterised by the exposition of a personalist accent in missionary activity, emphasising as its principal aim the salvation of souls (salus animarum)⁷¹.

Joseph Schmidlin, in speaking of the justification of missionary activity, based it on the fact of the superiority of the Christian religion over other religions. He maintained that the proclamation of the Gospel brings to the pagan peoples spiritual goods not yet possessed by them, among which the most important are the knowledge of the true God and the gift of redemption⁷². He also took into account, however, other goods which missionary activity brings to the pagan peoples, counting among them civilisational values such as culture, morality, and intellectual, social and economic development⁷³.

Not following fully the line of understanding of mission presented by the Code of Canon Law of the time, or by the pronouncements of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and the eminent Catholic theologians of the period, who defined missions broadly, he himself inclined towards a narrower conception: "Missions called foreign or external concern those who do not belong to the Christian faith and the Christian religion"⁷⁴. In this conception he saw the mission of the Church as apostolic activity directed towards particular groups: naming in the first place the nations holding polytheistic and pantheistic beliefs, but also indicating, in a further place, mission among the followers of Islam and among the Jews. He noted, however, that the addressees of missionary activity may also be heretics and lukewarm Catholics. These activities may be called internal missions, since in origin and aim they are joined to missionary activity⁷⁵.

In justifying the missionary mandate of the Church, Joseph Schmidlin pointed to its biblical foundations, appealing to the words of the Johannine Gospel: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you"⁷⁶. Referring to the words of Jesus sending His disciples out into the whole world⁷⁷, he held the position that missionary activity is rooted in the conviction that God Himself is its principal source⁷⁸.

Joseph Schmidlin distinguishes three stages which take place in the missionary activity of the Church. The first embraces the proclamation of the Gospel among those who do not believe in Christ. The second stage concerns the interior conversion of the person to whom the Good News is proclaimed, which leads to exterior conversion, manifested in incorporation into the Church through the reception of holy baptism. In the third stage there follows the organisation of the structures of the Church through the creation of a community of believers. The end of the last stage is reached when the Church already possesses its own hierarchy and is self-sufficient in personnel as well as materially, and the people as a whole has accepted faith in Christ⁷⁹.

An important conception of the missionary activity of the Church, inscribed in the continuation of the reflection undertaken by the Münster school, is the theological reflection proposed by Thomas Ohm (1892–1962). He undertook the attempt to develop and complete the theological conception initiated by Joseph Schmidlin.

Thomas Ohm carried out a further clarification of the concept of missions. Noting the significant spread of the use of this term among Christians, he undertook an attempt to systematise its meanings. The concept of missions, according to him, had in the 1950s the following meanings: the sending of missionaries to particular territories; the activities undertaken by those missionaries; the geographical territory in which those activities were conducted; the institutions sending the missionaries; the non-Christian world; the centre from which the missionaries acted upon the mission territories⁸⁰. He pointed out at the same time that the contemporary meaning of the term missions departs far from its original sense. Ancient and medieval times know no such application of the concept of missions: up to the sixteenth century the word mission was used with reference to the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity, when speaking of the sending of the Son by the Father and of the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father and the Son. He demonstrated that the first to use the term missions in the sense of the expansion of the Christian faith were the Jesuits⁸¹.

Ohm also undertook an attempt to grasp the question of mission by appealing to the tradition contained in the Old Testament, for it was in that context that Jesus of Nazareth was born and grew. He showed that the Old Testament tradition contained references to, and an orientation towards, a salvific universalism which was to reach the whole human race. This orientation was to attain its fullness in the teaching of Jesus, and especially at its centre, which is the teaching on the Kingdom of God⁸²: "This Kingdom is not a political or national kingdom (…), but a purely religious, supranational one (…). It has an interior and spiritual character; it exists in this world, but it is not of this world"⁸³.

1.2. The Louvain School

The most characteristic feature in the understanding of mission by the school of Louvain is the formulation of the thesis of the planting of the Church (plantatio Ecclesiae). Among its leading representatives declaring for such an understanding is the founder of the school, the Belgian Jesuit Pierre Charles (1883–1954). He was a propagator of the position that the aim and the formal object of missionary activity is "the planting of the visible Church in countries where such does not yet exist"⁸⁴.

This view rests on the theological assumption which holds that God wishes to save the human being not singly but in the community of the Church. What is more, the mission of the Church is not directed solely and exclusively towards the pagans, but towards every group where its visible structures do not exist. Missionary work is the development of the Church, which is to grow towards complete maturity in a particular territory and in a particular group. The activity undertaken for the missionary work is not founded on obedience to Christ's missionary command, nor does it flow from concern for the salvation of souls, but grows out of the very nature of the Church, which will attain its full identity only when it is present in every corner of the earth⁸⁵.

Missionary activity which rests solely and exclusively on the desire to save souls is therefore imperfectly motivated, since the sole raison d'être of missions is the establishment of the visible Church throughout the whole world. Where it is already established, there the missionary work has come to its end: "the planting of the visible Church where it is not yet planted is the bringing of the means of salvation (faith and the sacraments) within the reach of all people of good will. In many countries this task is already completed. There, missions no longer exist"⁸⁶.

In this theological conception the planting of the Church is strictly bound up with the theory concerning processes of adaptation. For the conversion of particular persons within a given culture is insufficient; what is necessary is the penetration of that culture by the evangelical message from within, which will lead the given culture to transformation. In the authentic planting of the Church, which is to become a mature community, adaptation to the culture of the concrete people is indispensable and required⁸⁷.

1.3. The French School

Modern theological thought on mission was born in France on the ground of a movement initiated at the end of the nineteenth century, which took as its aim the re-Christianisation of those who, as a result of the French Revolution and of the cultural-social changes brought about by industrialisation, had lost the gift of the Christian faith. Such an aim — to make our brothers Christians anew — guided Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard, Archbishop of Paris. He initiated the existence of the movement Mission de France, which was to form clergy destined for a special task: work in those areas of France which were the most de-Christianised⁸⁸. In time this movement came to be popularly called the movement of the worker priests. A great inspiration for the Cardinal's activity in this field was the publication by two French clergymen, France, pays de mission?⁸⁹ This book, describing the situation of the France of that time, advanced the postulate of creating a missionary movement in the French Church. It was to be directed towards the missionising of the pagan groups of the French proletariat, since, as the authors maintained, the French parishes in their traditional structure were not capable of undertaking this task⁹⁰.

At a later time an important contribution to the development of theological thought on mission was made by such French theologians as Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, Jean Daniélou, André Glorieux and Alexandre Durand. What particularly distinguishes the French missiological school is the attempt to redefine the conception of missions according to sociological conceptions, where the then widespread understanding had a chiefly geographical dimension. It also emphasised the necessity of the missionary character of every local Church, and not only of the young Churches planted in non-Christian cultures. An important aspect of this school was likewise the emphasis on the incarnational significance of missionary activity, which should lead to the permeation of every culture with the Gospel⁹¹.

1.4. The Spanish School

To the development of the Spanish missiological school Cardinal Juan Benlloch contributed considerably; encouraged by Benedict XV, he founded a seminary educating clergy for work in the mission countries: Latin America, Asia and Africa. He collaborated closely with the Jesuit José Zameza, who undertook the development of the theological thought on mission presented by the Cardinal in his pastoral letters, written in the years 1919–1920. Through these letters Cardinal Benlloch sought to awaken missionary zeal, both in his diocese of Burgos and throughout Spain⁹².

The representatives of this school developed their theological reflection on mission on the basis of the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ. They were convinced that the missions of the Church are contained within the process of the growth of this Body. This takes place through the assimilation of elements which do not yet belong to it. This unceasing development of the Body takes place on the basis of pagan elements, which through missionary activity are assimilated and transformed into ecclesial reality. Emphasising in particular the truth of the Mystical Body of Christ and of the communion of saints, the Spanish school brought out two essential ecclesiological elements in missionary activity. The first concerns the aforementioned truth of the development of the Mystical Body, which through missionary activity constantly acquires and orders its vital forces for further growth. The second points to the social dimension, which manifests itself in this, that the members of the Church, moved by the love of God, desire to share in spiritual goods with all people, in the present life as well as in the future one⁹³.

2. The Missionary Idea in the Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Teaching of the Magisterium Ecclesiae

The period of the Second Vatican Council and the following decades abounded in several significant pronouncements of the Magisterium Ecclesiae devoted to the understanding of the missionary mandate of the Church. Below, the following documents will be characterised: the Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church Ad gentes divinitus, the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI Evangelii nuntiandi, and the Encyclical of John Paul II Redemptoris missio.

2.1. The Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church Ad gentes divinitus

The Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church is sometimes called a milestone in the contemporary understanding of mission⁹⁴. It belongs to those conciliar documents whose fortunes during the conciliar deliberations were very turbulent and marked by intense discussions over the direction to be taken in formulating the most important theses concerning the understanding of mission and its realisation by the Church. In its conception of the missionary idea, the commission engaged in the redaction of the text of the documents drew upon the existing reflection on this subject, coming chiefly from the centres in Münster and Louvain. In undertaking to define mission, the attempt was made to grasp both positions harmoniously in one coherent formula. Much was also drawn from the papal documents issued from the beginning of the twentieth century. In the elaboration of the decree use was also made of the abundant conciliar achievement already worked out, and in particular of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, which brought a new self-understanding of the Church⁹⁵.

The document begins by showing the source of the missionary sending of the Church, which has its beginning in the Holy Trinity itself: "The most essential thing in the decree is its concentration on the Trinitarian sources of the Church's mission. It is the prolongation and historical realisation of the 'missiones' within the divine Communion of Persons. (…) Particularly precious is the emphasis in this field on the role of the Holy Spirit. Hitherto the mission of the Church had been contemplated almost exclusively in the context of the sending of the Son"⁹⁶.

Passing in its further part to more concrete considerations of the missionary activity of the Church, the decree formulates a definition of that activity. It joins the idea of the planting of the Church and the idea of the proclamation of the Gospel of salvation as one and the same task of the missionary work. It reads as follows: "Generally speaking, 'missions' is the term usually given to those particular undertakings by which the heralds of the Gospel, sent out by the Church and going forth into the whole world, carry out the task of preaching the Gospel and planting the Church among peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ. These undertakings are brought to completion by missionary activity and are mostly exercised in certain territories recognized by the Holy See. The proper purpose of this missionary activity is evangelization, and the planting of the Church among those peoples and groups where it has not yet taken root"⁹⁷.

The decree also shows the various contexts in which the missionary activity of the Church takes place, and presents the particular stages of its development up to the attainment of its proper maturity. It likewise sees missionary activity itself as a dynamic process, which may pass through periods of arrest or regression, and even of complete collapse and of being undertaken anew. It also clearly separates missionary activity from the ordinary pastoral care of the faithful and from ecumenical efforts⁹⁸.

According to the document, the missionary work realises God's plan of salvation and itself possesses at once a Christocentric and an ecclesial dimension: "Missionary activity is nothing else and nothing less than an epiphany, or a manifesting of God's decree, and its fulfillment in the world and in world history, in the course of which God, by means of mission, manifestly works out the history of salvation. Missionary activity makes Christ present, the author of salvation, through the word of the Gospel and the celebration of the sacraments, whose centre and summit is the Most Holy Eucharist"⁹⁹.

2.2. The Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi

The next document of the Magisterium Ecclesiae in which the theme of the missionary idea was taken up was the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi of Pope Paul VI, issued in 1975 as the fruit of the Synod of Bishops devoted to the theme of the evangelisation of the modern world. This document concentrated above all on the concretisation of the official conciliar teaching. It also undertook the attempt at those clarifications which were indispensable in the face of excessive reinterpretations of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council¹⁰⁰.

The document is a rich and profound reflection on the reality of evangelisation. The very concept of evangelisation was at that time fresh and not yet fully made precise; it was only then penetrating into Catholic theology. Among Protestant theologians the reflection on evangelisation was far richer — there, too, it found its genesis¹⁰¹. The exhortation defines it in the following manner: "evangelization can be defined as showing Christ the Lord to those who do not know Him, as preaching, catechesis, conferring Baptism and the other sacraments"¹⁰².

Writing of the aim of evangelising activity, it is stated that this aim is the interior renewal of the world through the carrying of the Good News to the whole human race. This proclamation should bear fruit globally in the birth of a new humanity — which, however, must first come into being in renewed individual persons, through baptism and a life according to the Gospel¹⁰³.

It must be clearly stated that the concepts of missions and evangelisation presented in the exhortation are not identical concepts. Evangelisation appears as a considerably broader concept, concerning the whole of the activity and existence of the Church: "Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize"¹⁰⁴. The role of missionary activity is brought out when the exhortation names the recipients of evangelising activity. Among the many circles to which it is directed, the document names those to whom the first proclamation of the Gospel refers. It sees in them above all the followers of non-Christian religions, towards whom missionary activity is directed. One of the sources which causes the continual direction of missionary activity towards people belonging to other religions is the awareness that the Christian religion is the highest and most perfect form of relationship with God that exists in His plan of salvation¹⁰⁵: "For this reason the Church keeps her missionary spirit alive, and even wishes to intensify it in the moment of history in which we are living. She feels responsible before entire peoples. She has no rest so long as she has not done her best to proclaim the Good News of Jesus the Savior. She is always preparing new generations of apostles. Let us state this fact with joy at a time when there are not lacking those who think and even say that ardor and the apostolic spirit are exhausted, and that the time of the missions is now past. The Synod has replied that the missionary proclamation never ceases and that the Church will always be striving for the fulfillment of this proclamation"¹⁰⁶.

The document, in speaking of the missionary work, contains two important statements. First, it emphasises that no one may conduct this activity as an individual initiative, but that it is always the work of the Church, flowing from her mandate; it should therefore always be carried out in unity with her pastors¹⁰⁷. The second important emphasis made by the exhortation is the reflection on the result which the proclamation of the Gospel brings — namely, the Church coming to birth, which, remaining in communion with the universal Church, should be rooted in the given human community together with its culture, its past, its manner of feeling. Only such a Church will be properly alive, and the evangelisation it conducts will be far more fruitful¹⁰⁸.

2.3. The Encyclical Redemptoris missio

On account of the substantive richness of its theological reflection on the missionary idea, this document occupies a very particular place in the contemporary Magisterium Ecclesiae¹⁰⁹. From among the broad problematic taken up in Redemptoris missio, an attempt will be made below to show how the papal document conceives missionary activity with reference to its addressees.

To the questions connected with missionary terminology the Pope devoted the fourth chapter of the document, signalling the difficulties which exist in the Church as to the understanding of mission: "Some people wonder: Is it still appropriate to speak of specific missionary activity or of specifically 'missionary' areas, or should we speak instead of a single missionary situation, with one single mission, the same everywhere? The difficulty of relating this complex and changing reality to the mandate of evangelization is apparent in the 'language of mission.' For example, there is a certain hesitation to use the terms 'mission' and 'missionaries,' which are considered obsolete and as having negative historical connotations. People prefer to use instead the noun 'mission' in the singular and the adjective 'missionary' to describe all the Church's activities"¹¹⁰. As can be seen, the document does not share that understanding of the realisation of the Church's mandate as a state of mission on six continents — an understanding which became quite popular after the Second Vatican Council and which penetrated into the Catholic Church from Protestant circles¹¹¹. The Pope clearly emphasised the continuing validity of the mission ad gentes, as well as of the specific lifelong missionary vocation with which God endows certain members of the Church¹¹².

Meeting the existing difficulties and misunderstandings concerning the understanding of the Church's missionary activity, the encyclical proposes a clarification of the concept of missions, to which attention is devoted in the fourth chapter of the document. In it the Pope makes a distinction between missionary work and the ordinary pastoral activity of the Church, as well as activity within the framework of the new evangelisation. Although all these dimensions of the Church's activity flow from her one mandate, the distinction is made on account of the circumstances in which it is realised¹¹³.

Attempting to define the addressees of the Church's missionary activity, the document does so in the following words: "Missionary activity proper, namely the mission ad gentes, is directed to 'peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ,' 'who are far from Christ,' in whom the Church 'has not yet taken root,' and whose culture has not yet been influenced by the Gospel. It is distinct from other ecclesial activities inasmuch as it is addressed to groups and settings which are non-Christian because the preaching of the Gospel and the presence of the Church are either absent or insufficient. It can thus be characterized as the work of proclaiming Christ and his Gospel, building up the local Church, and promoting the values of the Kingdom. The specific nature of this mission ad gentes consists in its being addressed to 'non-Christians'"¹¹⁴.

As can be seen, the document clearly states that the addressees of the Church's missionary activity are the non-Christian peoples. In defining the addressees, the encyclical attempts to determine the criteria permitting one to define the context and space in which the mission ad gentes comes about. The Pope makes a distinction between criteria: geographical, sociological, and cultural — the last of which he called areopagi¹¹⁵.

Taking up the theme of the aim towards which the proclamation of the Gospel is directed, the encyclical treats the problematic of Christian conversion, which means adherence to Christ through faith. This conversion is a gift which the Holy Spirit offers to the human being. It is bound up directly with the reception of baptism, which is not merely a practice established by the Church, but comes from the will of Christ Himself and belongs to the apostolic Tradition¹¹⁶.

The encyclical upholds and recalls the existing teaching of the Magisterium Ecclesiae on the direct aim of missionary activity: "The specific purpose of missionary activity is establishing Christian communities and developing churches to their full maturity. This is a central and determining goal of missionary activity, so much so that the mission is not completed until it succeeds in building a new particular church which functions normally in its local setting"¹¹⁷.

The Pope also takes a position towards the trend in contemporary mission theology which omits this supernatural aim of missionary activity, narrowing it only to the horizontal, temporal dimension: "Nowadays the call to conversion which missionaries address to non-Christians is put into question or passed over in silence. It is seen as an act of 'proselytizing'; it is claimed that it is enough to help people to become more human or more faithful to their own religion, that it is enough to build communities capable of working for justice, freedom, peace and solidarity. What is overlooked is that every person has the right to hear the 'Good News' of the God who reveals and gives himself in Christ, so that each one can live out in its fullness his or her proper calling"¹¹⁸.

3. Contemporary Theological Tendencies in the Understanding of Mission

The continually deepened theological reflection, and the attempts undertaken to actualise the understanding of missionary activity in the contemporary, dynamically changing world, bear fruit in the development of the understanding of missionary activity and in the broadening of the conceptions which have already appeared over the course of time. The present point will be devoted to a short characterisation of the tendencies and theological conceptions which are being developed today within reflection on missions.

From among the many directions in which reflection on the missionary activity of the Church is conducted, those have been selected which Redemptoris missio showed — alongside the already existing forms — as the missionary paths of the contemporary Church¹¹⁹. They are the following: dialogue with the religions, activity for human development, and the inculturation of the Gospel together with the associated question of the creation of local contextual theologies.

3.1. Interreligious Dialogue

The path of dialogue with other religions was initiated by the pronouncements contained in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, though it should be mentioned that in parallel, during the conciliar deliberations, this question was also taken up by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical Ecclesiam suam¹²⁰. Among the conciliar documents one must name chiefly the declaration Nostra aetate, which states: "The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ 'the way, the truth, and the life' (Jn 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself. The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men"¹²¹. An important contribution to the understanding of the reality of other religions was made also by the statements contained in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium¹²², in the Decree Ad gentes¹²³, and in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes¹²⁴.

Dialogue with the followers of other religions in the teaching of the Magisterium Ecclesiae preserves the unchanging Tradition, which affirms the irreplaceable role possessed by Christ, the sole Saviour of the world and Mediator between God and humanity, and the function performed by the Church, and belonging to her, in the experiencing of this salvation¹²⁵. The Church does not understand the path of dialogue as a replacement of missionary activity in the proper sense of the word. Both these paths should preserve a close bond with each other, but also their distinctness: "these two elements must maintain both their intimate connection and their distinctness; therefore they should not be confused, manipulated or regarded as identical, as though they were interchangeable"¹²⁶.

Entering upon the path of rightly understood dialogue requires consistency towards one's own religious tradition and one's own religious convictions, while preserving openness and understanding towards the followers of other religions: "Dialogue does not exclude witness, but presupposes it. He who knows how to listen will find a hearing among others. He who is ready to let himself be enriched by others will find a hearing, provided only that he communicates himself on the basis of his own experience and his own fullness. Only when the heart is prepared by dialogue is proclamation in the specifically Christian sense possible. We should not fear that we shall give ourselves away in dialogue with others. Dialogue will be a danger only for the one who is himself weak in faith. Dialogue should not, however, be merely a rational exchange; it should be accompanied by prayer and by trust in the Holy Spirit who works in us and in our partner"¹²⁷.

3.2. The Inculturation of the Gospel

The question of the inculturation of the Gospel and of the Church in local cultures is not something entirely new and hitherto unknown in the theory and practice of the Church's missionary activity. It was expressed under various concepts, which however contained within themselves different aspects of the same reality: the integration of cultures and of the Christian understanding of the faith, so that the Christian message — which encountered already formed religious and moral representations — might be articulated in a manner comprehensible to its addressees¹²⁸.

The process of inculturation rests its deepest theological foundations on the event of the Incarnation of the Word of God, which took place in concrete historical-cultural conditions. Relying on this fact, the process of inculturation conditions the mutual interpenetration of culture and the evangelical message, so that the Gospel, permeating a concrete cultural milieu, makes it possible for the people rooted in it to accept Christ¹²⁹.

Inculturation is not a process concerning external forms and means of expression, but "means the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their integration in Christianity and the insertion of Christianity in the various human cultures"¹³⁰. Its indispensability is felt especially when the first proclamation of the Gospel takes place in a concrete cultural milieu, and also when the process of the formation of concrete local Churches begins. Thanks to inculturation the Church becomes, in a given context, an ever more legible sign, becoming an ever more effective instrument of mission. It must be remembered, however, that this is a very laborious and long-lasting process. For it may not violate the specificity and integrity of the Christian faith. It should be conducted under the guidance of the pastors, to whom belongs the task of discerning the proper directions of its realisation¹³¹.

3.3. Promotio humana

A particular role in which the missionary activity of the Church is realised takes place at the level concerning the development of the human being and his liberation from various forms of oppression and enslavement. It does not concern solely and exclusively external factors (though it does not exclude activity for the liberation and valorisation of the human person in that dimension), but touches chiefly the interior planes of his being, which, transforming the human being from within, lead to the transformation of the external factors¹³².

The weight of this dimension of the Church's missionary activity gradually gained significance from the time of the Second Vatican Council. The continually growing and scandalous gulf between the rich north and the poor south of the globe contributed to this. The problem was also vividly considered by the Church in Latin America, especially at the conferences of Medellín (1968) and Puebla (1979), and it likewise found a place in the post-conciliar Magisterium Ecclesiae. Despite the important connection which the socio-economic and political problematic has with the transmission of the evangelical message, the mandate of the Church and its realisation cannot be reduced to a purely sociological dimension. The realisation of the Church's activity for the promotion of the human person and for liberation must bring out the particularly religious dimension, and this carries with it the eschatological perspective¹³³: "Through the Gospel message, the Church offers a force for liberation which promotes development precisely because it leads to conversion of heart and of ways of thinking, fosters the recognition of each person's dignity, encourages solidarity, commitment and service of one's neighbor, and gives everyone a place in God's plan, which is the building of his kingdom of peace and justice, beginning already in this life. This is the biblical perspective of the 'new heavens and a new earth' (cf. Is 65:17; 2 Pt 3:13; Rev 21:1), which has been the stimulus and goal for mankind's advancement in history. Man's development derives from God, from the model of Jesus, God and man, and must lead back to God. That is why there is a close connection between the proclamation of the Gospel and human promotion"¹³⁴.

3.4. Contextual Theologies

The development of contextual theologies followed with the post-conciliar reflection on the question of mission and is strictly bound up with the question of inculturation. The novelty of this conception distinguishes it from the hitherto prevailing manner of conducting theological reflection, which was founded on the deductive method: it set out from principles in order to arrive at concretised conclusions. "The point of departure of this method was the data of revelation; then their meaning was analysed, and the manner of their understanding in the various periods of history — through the tradition of the Fathers of the Church and the councils, the theological schools and later authors"¹³⁵.

The method employed in contextual theological reflection, by contrast, is inductive. It takes as its point of departure the currently lived situation of the given community in which theological reflection is undertaken: its concrete facts and existing problems. Setting out from this position, it seeks a Christian answer, in the light of Revelation, to the questions existing in the given context¹³⁶. "A theology which is contextual takes into account the concrete culture, history and contemporary forms of thought as things necessary to be considered together with Sacred Scripture and Tradition as essential sources of theological expression. We speak today, therefore, of a theology having three sources (loci theologici): Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and concrete human experience — the context"¹³⁷.

The process of shaping contextual theology (also called local theology) is a necessary condition for the transmission of the Christian message to be received in local cultures in the forms and concepts proper to them. Yet in this process appropriate conditions must be preserved, which will permit the avoidance of the danger of creating a theology which becomes contradictory to Christian doctrine in the name of an unconditional reference to the local culture and the values it carries. Among these conditions are, inter alia: internal coherence; the capacity to express the given theology in worship (the constant reference to the principle lex orandi, lex credendi); openness to a critical view on the part of other theological conceptions, as well as to corrections on the part of the Magisterium Ecclesiae. This will permit the given theological thought expressed in a given context to show the living and transforming power of the Gospel¹³⁸.

Summary

The chapter presented the contemporary understandings of the question of the missionary activity of the Church as developed over the last century. In this period one may observe a very lively development and deepening of the understanding of mission. This is bound up also with the violent transformations to which the contemporary world is subjected — a world ever more changing its face with respect to cultural and religious diversity as well as with respect to the development of peoples.

In this development of the understanding of the missionary idea, and of the various ways in which missionary activity is realised, it is worth emphasising that the content of the evangelical message remains unchanging: its centre is Jesus Christ and His salvific message offered to every human being through the Church — "whose presence in the world can only be missionary, for so indeed does the Spirit act and spread. From its beginnings the Christian people has well understood the importance of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus to those who did not yet know it. In recent years the anthropological, cultural, social and religious face of humanity has changed; today the Church must take up new challenges and is ready for dialogue with other cultures and confessions, seeking to shape, together with every person of good will, the peaceful coexistence of peoples. The scope of the mission 'ad gentes' is today considerably broadened, and cannot be defined by geographical criteria alone. In reality it is not only the non-Christian peoples and distant lands that await us, but also socio-cultural milieux, and above all human hearts — to which the missionary activity of the People of God is truly directed"¹³⁹.

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Notes

⁶⁸ Cf. K. Müller, *Teologia Misji*. *Wprowadzenie,* Warszawa 1989, p. 35. ↩

⁶⁹ Cf. F. Fernández, *Historia misji w Afryce*, [in:] *Kościół Misyjny. Podstawowe studium misjologii*, R. Dziura i A. Halemba (ed.), Warszawa 1997, p. 215. ↩

⁷⁰ Cf. L. Nemer, *From Missions to Mission*, Australia 2006, p. 1. ↩

⁷¹ Cf. W. Kowalak, *Misje*, [in:] *Stałem się sługą Ewangelii*, E. Śliwka (ed.), Pieniężno 2001, p. 127. ↩

⁷² Cf. K. Müller, *Teologia Misji...*, op. cit., p. 72. ↩

⁷³ Cf. F. Oborji, *Concepts Of Mission*, Rome - Lagos 2005, p. 95. ↩

⁷⁴ J. Schmidlin, *Katholische Missionslehre im Grundriss*, Münster 1923, p. 34. ↩

⁷⁵ Ibid., p. 34-35. ↩

⁷⁶ J 20,21. ↩

⁷⁷ *"Then Jesus approached and said to them: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”"* (Mt 28:18–20). ↩

⁷⁸ Cf. F. Oborji, *Concepts...*, op. cit., p. 93. ↩

⁷⁹ Cf. K. Müller, *Teologia Misji...*, op. cit., p. 42. ↩

⁸⁰ Cf. D. Bosch, *Transforming Mission*, New York 1993, p. 1. ↩

⁸¹ Cf. T. Ohm, *Machet zu Jüngern alle Völker*, Freiburg 1962, p. 37-39. ↩

⁸² Cf. F. Oborji, *Concepts Of Mission*, Rome -- Lagos 2005, p. 98. ↩

⁸³ T. Ohm, *Machet zu Jüngern alle Völker*, Freiburg 1962, p. 247. ↩

⁸⁴ P. Charles, *Missiolgie*, Paryż 1939, p. 59. ↩

⁸⁵ Cf. F. Oborji, *Concepts...*, op. cit., p. 116. ↩

⁸⁶ P. Charles, *Missiolgie*, op. cit., p. 65. ↩

⁸⁷ Cf. F. Oborji, *Concepts...*, op. cit., p. 117-119. ↩

⁸⁸ Cf. G. Bedouelle, *History of the Church,* London - New York 2003, p. 182. ↩

⁸⁹ See H. Godin i Y. Daniel, *La France: pays de mission?*, Paris 1943. ↩

⁹⁰ Cf. G. Horn, *Western European Liberation Theology:* *The First Wave (1924-1959),* ↩

⁹¹ Cf. L. Nemer, *From Missions...*, op. cit., p. 1-2. ↩

⁹² Cf. J. López-Gay, *Benlloch y Vivó, Juan,* [in:] *Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions,* ↩

⁹³ Cf. L. Fąs, *Misyjność Kościoła w przedpoborowych dyskusjach misjologicznych*, „Nurt" 2005 no. 2,  s. 122-123. ↩

⁹⁴ Cf. H. Bettscheider, *Przyszłość misjologii z perspektywy Instytutu Misjologicznego Werbistów w  Svol. Augustin*, [in:] *W trosce o głoszenie Ewangelii*, J. Pawlik (ed.), Warszawa 2002, p. 37. ↩

⁹⁵ Cf. J. Maria i G. Lopetegui, *Duch misyjny. Vademecum,* Warszawa 1991, p. 40-44. ↩

⁹⁶ R. Skrzypczak, *Kościół misyjny według Jana Pawła II*, Lublin 2005, p. 39. ↩

⁹⁷ DM 6. ↩

⁹⁸ Ibid. 6. ↩

⁹⁹ Ibid. 9. ↩

¹⁰⁰ Cf. L. Luzbetak, *Kościół a kultury*, Warszawa 1998, p. 125-126. ↩

¹⁰¹ Cf. H. Rzepkowski, *Komentarz do adhortacji Evangelii Nuntiandi*, [in:] *Misje po Soborze  Watykańskim II*, W. Kowalak et al. (ed.), Płock 1981, p. 306-309. ↩

¹⁰² EN 17. ↩

¹⁰³ Ibid. 18. ↩

¹⁰⁴ Ibid. 14. ↩

¹⁰⁵ Ibid. 53. ↩

¹⁰⁶ EN 53. ↩

¹⁰⁷ Cf. R. Skrzypczak, *Kościół misyjny...*, op. cit., p. 41. ↩

¹⁰⁸ Cf. EN 62-63. ↩

¹⁰⁹ Cf. K. Müller, *Die Enzyklika Redemptoris Missio Presentation und Kommentar,\ ↩

¹¹⁰ RMis 32. ↩

¹¹¹ Cf. W. Kluj, *Teologiczne podstawy misji według Jana Pawła II*, Warszawa 2008, p. 41. ↩

¹¹² Cf. RMis 32. ↩

¹¹³ Cf. RMis 33. ↩

¹¹⁴ RMis 34. ↩

¹¹⁵ Cf. RMis 38c. ↩

¹¹⁶ Cf. RMis 47. ↩

¹¹⁷ RMis 48. ↩

¹¹⁸ RMis 46. ↩

¹¹⁹ Cf. RMis 52-59 ↩

¹²⁰ See Paweł VI, encyklika *Ecclesiam suam,* 6 VIII 1964. ↩

¹²¹ DRN 2. ↩

¹²² *"Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience."* (LG 16). ↩

¹²³ *(...) wiadomymi tylko sobie drogami może Bóg doprowadzić ludzi, nie znających Ewangelii bez własnej winy, do wiary, bez której niepodobna podobać się Bogu (...)* (DM 7). ↩

¹²⁴ *"The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on lighvol. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear."* (GS 22). ↩

¹²⁵ Cf. F. Oborji, *Concepts...*, op. cit., p. 48. ↩

¹²⁶ RMis 55. ↩

¹²⁷ K. Müller, *Nowe tendencje w misjologii*, trans. R. Malek [in:] *W trosce o głoszenie Ewangelii*,  J. Pawlik (ed.), Warszawa 2002, p. 195. ↩

¹²⁸ Ibid., p. 190. ↩

¹²⁹ Cf. F. Oborji, *Concepts...*, op. cit., p. 46. ↩

¹³⁰ Nadzwyczajny Synod Biskupów 1985, *Relacja końcowa*, II.D.4., Catholic Svol. Michael\'s Cyberspace  Scriptorium and Library \[online\], dostęp: 2010-16-06 \. ↩

¹³¹ Cf. RMis 52. ↩

¹³² Cf. SRS 41. ↩

¹³³ Cf. F. Oborji, *Concepts...*, op. cit., p. 51. ↩

¹³⁴ RMis 59. ↩

¹³⁵ H. Szymiczek, *Kontekstualny wymiar misji -- od teologii powszechnej do teologii lokalnych,* [in:]  *Misjologia XXI wieku.* *W 20 rocznicę śmierci ojca Feliksa Zapłaty SVD - twórcy misjologii w  Polsce*, A. Miotk (ed.)Warszawa 2004, p. 92. ↩

¹³⁶ Ibid., p. 93. ↩

¹³⁷ S. Bevans, *Models of Contextual Theology,* Manila 2003, p. 3-4. ↩

¹³⁸ Ibid., p. 23-25. ↩

¹³⁹ Benedykt XVI, *Kościół nie narzuca, lecz ukazuje światu Chrystusa*, „L\'Osservatore Romano" wyd. polskie 2010 no. 7, p. 27. ↩