One Korean nativity tells the story of inculturation, the Gospel taking form in a real-life setting.
by Fr. Sean Dwan

The parish Sister, preparing the nativity scene for Christmas, decided it needed a Korean look. She and a parish committee, therefore, designed a traditional Korean scene, featuring a thatched cottage with stables against a background of rice paddies. Except for the three wise men, all the people in the scene looked Asian, and all the animals were familiar to any Korean.

Just a week later, I was surprised to discover the nativity scene dismantled and a new one being constructed. The new design had tall hotels, apartment buildings and office blocks — with glittery neon lights for cabarets, health clubs and bars. This was the background for a small shack made of wooden planks and cardboard. This was Jesus’ manger.

The Sister explained the change in nativity styles.

People had commented that the manger scene gave a snug, campfire feeling — it had not caught the right spirit of Jesus’ birth.

A Modern Manger
So, for the first time during the process, the committee decided to read the New Testament account of the nativity and became aware of issues such as exclusion and homelessness.

Then, as they modified the manger scene to reflect the true situation of Jesus and Mary, they realized that a thatched cottage was a romantic image of Korea — a postcard image for tourists, but not the Korea of the present day.

The back-alley scene, rather than the thatched cottage, according to the Sister, represented the contemporary reality of Korea and was a more credible setting for an encounter with our Savior.

This story nicely captures the dialectic pendulum swinging between gospel and culture. The event produced not only a deeper understanding of the meaning of Jesus’ emptying (kenosis), but also a greater insight into the true reality of the Korean housing culture.

This to-and-fro movement between understanding of the Christian message and the dynamics of the local situation is essential in every attempt at inculturation. Pope John Paul II has defined inculturation as “the incarnation of the Gospel in autonomous cultures and, at the same time, the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church.”

Inspiring A Culture With The Gospel
This Christmas story has some built-in limitations. It might wrongly suggest that inculturation is primarily about the visual features of the Church, such as rituals, vestments and buildings. Rather, inculturation is also concerned with less-visible features of the Church, such as social organization, ethics and catechetical materials. The Gospel must penetrate the values and criteria that inspire a particular culture.

The story might also wrongly suggest that inculturation is closely related to folklore revival. But modernity, too, is a culture the Gospel must penetrate. Modernity is based upon the principles and values of European Enlightenment. The Church, if it is not to be a ghetto church, must be in tune with the positive aspects of modernity.

In a world that values democracy, the Church cannot be authoritarian or strictly monarchical. Through some form of shared leadership, the Church must exert moral authority, not simply external authority. For some, the novelty of the term inculturation might suggest a passing fashion. Time magazine has referred to inculturation as “the current buzzword among Catholics for the process of adapting the Christian message to local traditions.”

The “in” of inculturation derives its meaning from incarnation, which is the first instance or model of all inculturation: the Word of God taking form in a concrete historical and geographical setting. This is not a recent phenomenon. John’s Gospel is an example of inculturating the message of Christ for people who knew little about the Old Testament.

Fr. Sean Dwan first served in Korean in 1970 and holds a doctorate degree from the University of Chicago. He is now involved in mission work in his native Ireland.