Christian Interculturation: Between Alterity and Performance

Abstract

Attention is shifting in recent times from contextual theology to intercultural theology, from inculturation to interculturation. The
discourse on this practice is not new. About thirty years ago, in 1993, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger declared to the Bishops of Asia: “We
should no longer speak of inculturation, but of the meeting of cultures or of interculturality.” Acculturation, inculturation, enculturation, interculturation are words to describe various transformations which result from encounters between cultures. The question is not about the superiority or inferiority of one culture over others. It goes beyond the competition of positions and touches the common background of cultures, which makes the meeting of peoples possible. In a world increasingly conscious of religious pluralism and human differences, the phenomenon of globalization itself arouses reactions against any hegemonic position that obscures the demand for inherent truth in every human soul.