Preface

Summary

When I asked an Indian student some years ago why he wanted to write a paper on the “Indian Jesus,” he answered: “Because I'm afraid.” When I inquired further, he told me that he lived in an area in which Muslims and Christians had suffered a great deal at the hands of the so-called Hindutva movement, a nationalistic Hindu movement whose motto is: “India for the Hindus.” He recounted bloody attacks on Christians and Muslims. He wanted to equip himself for dialogue with Hindus by means of his paper and show that there was also room for Jesus within Hinduism. Thus, he wanted to indicate, in the most literal sense, that there should also be room for him and his fellow Christians.

It cannot be made any clearer than this example that something is at stake in the question of inculturation, in the question of how a religion is related to a certain culture. The issue here is not only the very concrete question of living space; it is also a matter of identity, of the self-image, of non-Western Christians. And then the question becomes very important. I can still hear a Korean doctoral student saying: “Western theologians used to have us study primarily their own theology. Now the same theologians are telling us that we should not study their own theology in particular (any more). They are still telling us what we should do.” The inculturation question is therefore also a power question.