Intercultural Theology: An Approach to Theologizing in the Context of Pluralism and Globalization

Abstract

This study proposes intercultural theology as an appropriate method of doing theology in the present context of globalization and pluralism. Considering the limitations of contextual theologies, especially in balancing particular-universal tension innate in the understanding of the church and its theology, the thesis heralds the need for an urgent methodological change in theologizing. As an approach to doing theology, intercultural theology can be seen as a response to the post-colonial and post-Vatican II developments in the world and in the church respectively. The process of ‘interculturation’ of intercultural theology is presented as a dynamic notion that broadens the concepts of inculturation and contextualization due to its emphasis on mutual reciprocity. The study ascertains that the identity of the church as catholic becomes more vivid through a process of dialectic interaction (interculturation) balancing particularity and universality. Similarly, the mission of the church is enhanced by the same process leading to communion in ecumenism, and to interfaith interaction in interreligious dialogue. Is there a perennial theological method amid the rapid changes in the world? Since interculturation is analogous with the current social process of glocalization, one can view intercultural theology as a theological method for the future. Its inherent vitality of ongoing mutuality tries to avoid every tendency of fragmentation and longs for a dynamic wholeness.

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