FAITH AND CULTURE

VI EASTER SUNDAY: Acts 15:1-2,22-29

Throughout the history of the people of Israel up to the time of Jesus and beyond, faith and culture were inseparable, in such a way that to believe in Yahweh was the same as to be an Israelite and, later on, a Jew. It is not surprising that the attempt to break out of this straightjacket, liberating the faith from the Jewish culture, would provoke a very big crisis.

In fact, as soon as the Gospel spread among the Gentiles, with Christian communities being formed among them, a big crisis emerged, becoming a cultural and religious conflict of big proportions. In this conflict, Antioch and Jerusalem represented two opposite camps, which were like two blocks crushing against each other through a common faulty line. The Church in Jerusalem, being mainly (or even exclusively) constituted of Jews, revered, accepted and followed all Jewish religious traditions. Their faith was embedded into the Jewish culture to such an extent that they could not see or accept the difference between the two. On the other side, the Church of Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians, was constituted mainly of gentiles, who knew very little about the Jewish culture and who saw no reason to follow it. But that was unacceptable for the Jewish Christians, who started a deliberate effort to impose the Jewish culture on the gentiles, thus provoking a big conflict that would affect the life of the Church for ever.

THE COMPROMISE AT THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM

The Council of Jerusalem, reported in Acts 15, was called to find a way out of the crisis, by accepting (or imposing) a compromise, which in the whole was greatly favourable to the gentiles. However, in spite of that compromise having been suggested by James, the leader of the Jerusalem Church, the majority of the Christian Jews did not accept it.

The conflict went on and on, making the apostolic work of Paul more and more difficult and dangerous. In fact, we may say that the Church of Jerusalem would come out victorious, if it was not for the loss of influence, due to the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple by the Roman army. The Church of Jerusalem, with its traditional and fundamentalist attitude, was the source of the conflict, keeping the freedom of the Gospel prisoner of their narrow minded nationalism. 

THE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST FINDS A HOME IN ANY CULTURE, BEING ALSO A CHALLENGE TO ALL CULTURES.

Throughout the centuries, the Church has  experienced similar situations, where faith and culture are seen as one, and where culture informs the religious experience to such an extent that the difference cannot be seen, leading to an effort to impose as matters of faith what are in fact only features of a specific culture.

We must remember that faith in Jesus Christ can be lived in all cultures, never identifying itself with any one culture, and always standing as a challenge to all cultures.

THE COMFORT OF THE OLD MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO ACCEPT THE NOVELTY OF THE GOSPEL

However, we must be aware that the fundamentalist and traditionalist mentality still pervades the life of the Church, making it difficult to recognise and accept the challenges brought by the novelty of the Gospel. The sense of  safety and security given by the religious traditions leads to see a threat and a betrayal in any search for new ways to express and live the faithfulness to the Gospel. The comfort of the old makes it difficult or impossible to accept the new, making change very difficult.