Global Christianity - Essay Example

Global Christianity The principle of translation could mean the effort to bring the Christian content into other languages. The prime intention would be to spread Christianity and God’s love and liberty beyond the western Christianity to various social horizons and different cultures. Translation could mean far from word to word technical message correspondence to the target language but also to promote the understanding of the biblical stories (Woodhouselee 13). The role of translation would contain; accurately represent faithfully, the meaning of a given text, helps to communicate to the intended audience the meaning of the given text for them to understand. Finally, it ensured that the text to be translated reaches the receptor language without compromising the validity (Woodhouselee 22). Global Christianity could be considered as the uniform and the universal declaration of different religions including the Islam (Jenkins 4). Christianity could be as a result of Holy Spirit within the intellectual and verbal forms of the area considered being far from civilization. The development and growth of global Christianity could be enhanced through the principle of translation, development of culture of dialogue, inculturation, adaptation and interfaith dialogue. The translation process of the Gospel could be continued in the inculturation process of Christian mission (Jenkins 8). Inculturation Inculturation could refer to a task of all faithful where official church leaders consider it as accurate process, which could be taught protected and guided. The tight grip to the leader has rendered people to count and value concepts taught to them by the church leader, for example, the Kayombo of Tanzania could have learned the church teaching, therefore, be passive recipients and not active participants (Magesa 8). In Swahili from Tanzania, the term inculturation would be translated as utamadunisho meaning the condition or situation of acting. The term would also mean culture in common Swahili. The church leaders referred to the inculturation as leaving a message of the Gospel. This would mean that people understand the word of God where they use it in their everyday life. The inaculturation description from the leaders shows that it could be the relationship between culture and the Christian faith. Culture would be understood as people’s way of life (Magesa 11). The Catholics in responding about the inculturation conceived the idea such that it is an understanding of the faith and ensuring that the modern world gets the Christian message. This would require churches becoming truly African and Christian faith livelier. Ordinary Christian understood the term inculturation as use of artistic elements such as drums, ululation (vigelegele), singing and proverbs in the teaching of Christian life (Magesa 14). In some areas, the term could be highlighted as people solidarity, respect for ancestors, healing, rites of initiation, respect for the elders, naming ceremonies and generosity would be regarded as the element of inculturation (Magesa 16). Creation of Culture of Dialogue in Religious Institutions Dialogue could be commonly understood as situations where religious leaders together with scholars meet to make pleasant, alter the controversial frequently asked the question and also make a positive statement. In short the idea would be that religious leaders typically have interreligious tea party (Thomas 3). The Catholic Church urges Christian that they should be committed in the interreligious dialogue. This means that every faithful member and the community of Christians should practice dialogue which may not be comparable to one another or in the same degree. The dialogue would continue with followers of other religion in spreading to the world the Gospel (Thomas 5). This would be a replication of how Christ had significant responsibility for the sick, oppressed, poor, victims of injustice and the hungry. This would explain the Christian faith and that the notion of faith among the Christians. Dialogue would, therefore, represent proclaiming Christian faith to a large number of people in the world who would be seeking God and to live according to His will, find the meaning and reasons for their everyday situations. Christians under the mission to spread the Gospel around the world would also face millions of people with different religious perception, for example, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and even the traditional religion (Thomas 8). The Christian could be recommendations to convince them that God’s spirit could be guiding them to live in accordance with God’s moral choice and also inspiring them to get generosity, self-sacrifice and service for others (Thomas 9). The Roman Catholic Church helps the Christian to convey the interreligious dialogue with those with different religious perception. The dialogue as produced by the Vatican council not only comprise of the talk by the four components of interreligious encounter, which include; the dialogue of life, theological exchange, cooperation in social responsibility and sharing of religious experience (Thomas 12). The four components should be ways in which Christians interact with followers of other religion. Dialogue with Proclamation Dialogue with proclamation could be understood to answer questions such as, whether Christian should differentiate their faith from other religions and assign in preaching the Gospel or should they consider the confidence of followers of other religions. Christians should share life in that living in harmony, helping the needy and poor despite their religious divine. For example, mother Teresa testified that the Gospel should provide the disadvantaged a situation where they could die with dignity (Thomas 15). She also proclaimed that one should follow entirely the hope of one’s own religious divine, for example, Christians should be more Christian while Muslims should be better Muslims. Culture Dialogue Culture of dialogue would cause a dialogue where group of believers could demonstrate an obligation in their religion. Every person should ensure full participation for openness to the group and also willingness to engage in dialogue (Thomas 18). The commitment to the dialogue could be in term of funds, time and planning future projects, for example, two Catholic Churches could engage in culture dialogue where they would apply Christian movements or organizations to commit themselves in nation building through interreligious approach. Other example of culture dialogue could be among the Muslim, where a partnership known as Turkish Scholar Fethullah Gulen that would consist of the inspired Muslim (Thomas 21). Interface Dialogue Interface dialogue entails different ways in which human interact, for example, the range of activities and relationships among people of diverse faith. It should face to identify a dialogue where only forms of the dialogue could limit the richness of what should be hoped for. Interface dialogue could occur in a different part f the world some example would be like the establishment of MuCARD (Thomas 22). This could be due to interreligious tension that happened in the Southern Philippines in the early 1970s. There existed outbreak of conflicts between Christians and Muslims. This resulted to the large and extreme killings, kidnappings, church and mosque burning, destruction of villages which resulted to distortion of social services and widespread displacement of hundreds of people from both sides. The reason of war could be due to social and economic problems as well as cultural bias and cultural differences (Thomas 24). The MuCARD which meant Muslim and Christian Agency for Rural Development was a partnership composed of village organizations from both Muslims and Christians. The associations enhanced working together of both divine religions to ensure local village development (Thomas 26). The MuCARD could be aimed at interreligious dialogue where Muslims and Christians worked together for unity and better understanding through cooperatives ventures. Its inception was not the material progress like other secular Non- Governmental organizations. Some of the projects undertaken by the MuCARD include; collection of funds for the purchase of trucks, these would be used in transportation of farm products to the market, running of day-care programs, arrangements of aged institutions where adult literacy could be taught and also hosting seminars where farmers could be taught new methods of livestock rearing and growing rice (Thomas 28). The Development of Christianity in North America The development of Christianity among the African American could be traced as the eighteenth century ends and the beginning of the nineteenth century. When people became rooted in Christianity, the black church emerged. The black church provided spiritual comfort to thousands of the enslaved people in the South (Sensbach 2). The congregation of the black church multiplied with millions which enhanced the church to protest against discrimination and violence that the Black Nationalism faced through slavery. Early nineteenth century, Christianity became entrenched by the African American Society and would be fuelled by Protestantism and the biblical revivals which ensured freedom of the black community from slavery. The second half of the nineteenth century, the blacks and whites, worshiped together through interracial congregations (Sensbach4). The Development and Spread of Christianity in Asia The belief in most part of the Asia could be overwhelmingly composed of the Muslim where the Christians could be the minority. For example, in Pakistan, Christians constituted only two percent of the total population of which from the humblest classes. They often fall victim to legal penalties due to the accusation of blasphemy and apostasy (Jenkins 15). Their religion divine would cause them to face death or confinement due offences such as lack of respect to Holy Prophet Mohammed. Christian has also been noted in Indonesia where they constituted 9 to 10 percent of the total population. The Christian community in the country concentrated in different regions as ethnic groups. They have crisscrossed boundaries to the Chinese communities where they could be scattered in regions across the eastern half of the island nation in places like the Philippines (Jenkins 18). Christians around the eastern regions such as the Philippines and Indonesia could be massacred, killed and expelled by the government and various groups of the Muslim community. For example, the violence that occurred in Maluku in 1999 and 2000 where five thousand Christians lost their lives due to civil war (Sensbach 20). The violence could be conducted by the Muslim paramilitaries with the support enhanced by Indonesia armed forces. The Maluku Christian both men and women could be circumcised and forced to change in public ceremonies to Islam. The Development and Spread of Christianity in Europe The European could be dominated by Christians, Muslims and Jews regions. This could have resulted to the interreligious conflicts such as the Muslim-Christians war in Balkans. The religious rivalries could have played significant assignment in the creation of social tension among the Western European Nations (Jenkins 24). The religious grievances in the west could be opened up or became evident when the Iranian regime proclaimed a death sentence against Salman Rushdie. This resulted to campaign that mobilized thousands of Muslim demonstrators from different parts of Europe, they includes; the Britain, Belgium, Germany, France and Netherlands. The interreligious violence results to the outbreak of Europe itself due the Muslim paramilitary who proclaimed the Germany and French Soils as jihad (Jenkins 26). The interfaith controversies debate on immigration could have changed the face of Western European Nations. Traditionally, the debate could be presented though racial terms (Jenkins 27). The existence of faith which could have entered the picture would need to be addressed. Some Europeans suggested that the government should support Christian immigrants into the continent to address the problem of Islamic influence. The Italians suggested that the immigrants with Catholic environment should be given priority over the other Christians with different background (Jenkins 29). The Development and Spread of Christianity in Africa In Africa, the development and expansion of Christianity would be emphasized though the fullness of life. Life would be regarded as the best present in Africa, and it could be portrayed through energy, humor, creativity and culture of the people (Healey 6). In the transition of life on earth where death could also be part of living many proverbs, songs, myths and folktales would be told. Presence of God could be felt through their lives, which would be positive. The fullness of life could be significant among the African Christianity, various parts of Africa the word Jesus would be used as Proto-Ancestor, meaning the One Whom all life Flows. This would include the living generation, the dead and the future generation. This showed how life could be valued (Healey 10). The African Christians also emphasized the importance of personal relationship which in this case could be the Family. Churches could be as families since they composed of sons and daughters of God. They believed that universal family would be made up of the ancestors, the living and the subsequent generation that incorporated all ethnic groups and all races. The African Christian extended family would be composed of God the Father as the Chief Ancestor, Christian’s ancestors would be the saints while the Jesus Christ would assume the place of Eldest Brother (Healey12). In Africa, today, the church could be composed of small Christian communities. The Christian communities could be regarded as African region where every African Christian would be a part of a given group and follows its traditional values (Healey12). These values include; consensus, cooperation and participation. Conclusion The role of principle of translation shaping future global Christianity would be elaborated through the achievement of the translation process (Noll 18). Translation could have resulted to clear understand of the bible since its original text would be converted to another language according to the will of the receptor. Translation of bible verses could have enabled the expansion of Christianity in the world (Noll 23). The bible translation to different versions such as the King James Version, the new living translation and others have enhanced clear view due to use of much simpler language. Bible versions have also been translated to local languages such as the traditional African languages. Works Cited Healey, Joseph G. Once Upon a Time in Africa, Stories of Wisdom and Joy. New York: Orbis Books Print, 2007. Jenkins, Phillip. The Next Christendom, The Coming of Global Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Magesa, Laurenti. Anatomy of Inculturation,Transforming the Church in Africa. New York: Orbis Books Print, 2004. Noll, Mark. The new shape of world Christianity: how American experience reflects global faith. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2009. Print. Thomas, F. A Christian View on Islam, Essays on Dialogue. New York: Orbis Books Print, 2010. Sensbach, Jon. Expansion of Christianity. New York: Campbridge University Press, 2008. Woodhouselee, Alexander. Essay on the principles of translation. New ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2002. Print. Read More