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Introduction

With an intention to include three elements: culture, history,

and inculturation, this paper, first of all, presents a framework

for understanding the Vietnamese traditional beliefs and cultures.

This framework does not intend to answer all the questions about the

culture and traditional religion of Vietnam. However, it most likely

gives a tool for readers to form their understanding of Vietnamese

cultures and beliefs from native perspectives. Secondly, the second

part will give a summary of the emergence of Catholicism into the

roots of Vietnamese traditional beliefs and cultures in the lens of

historical perspective. From this background, the heart of this

paper will continue to acknowledge the process of inculturation by

analyzing mission models used by missionaries in this period of time

and integrating Church’s documents into this process to emphasize

the importance and urgency of inculturation for the task of

evangelization. Particularly, this part will also analyze the

accomodational approach that the missionaries inculturated into the

Vietnamese culture, and at the same time face the challenges of

tabula rasa model when the concept of the Western cultures was

dominantly understood in their colonial mentality and theology. The

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conclusion will show the results of inculturation that embrace the

differences and give birth to the new understanding of Catholic

faith for the Vietnamese Catholics.

1. Vietnamese Cultures and Beliefs

Vietnamese cultures and beliefs are diverse and focusing on

common unity in certain values such as the value of the communal

life. This value is a main factor in these cultures, which is

expressed through the spirit of family and village by “word of

mouth”. In this sense, Vu Kim Chinh, SJ, the professor of Fujen

Catholic University in Taiwan calls the Vietnamese culture the folk

culture1. Particularly, in the field of the folk culture, some other

authors identified the value of its own religion that, “Folk

religions give people a sense of meaning by answering the

existential questions of everyday life, and by providing the living

a sense of place and worth in their society and world.”2 With a

strong communal life, each person is invited to forgetting the self-

interest and placing common interests above personal interests. At

1 Kim Chinh Vu, “The Idea of ‘Ex Corde Ecclesiae’ and Research of Vietnamese Folk Culture,” Vietnamese Missionaries in Taiwan (1997), http://www.catholic.org.tw/vntaiwan/theology/folk.htm. (Accessed May 13, 2012)2 Paul G. Hiebert, Robert Daniel Shaw, and Tite Tiénou, Understanding Folk Religion: a Christian Response to Popular Beliefs and Practices (Baker Books, 2000), 95.

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this point, the Vietnamese live with each other in a high trust,

especially trusting in the instructions of their Chiefs.3 This

creates a communal faith, which brings a hope for “communal

salvation.” In addition, the honoring of ancestors in family and

the role of the head of village are very important in these

cultures. This influences upon their understanding of God as an

ancestor or a Chief who has power on them and watch over their

lives.4

With 54 different ethnic groups, Vietnamese cultural activities

are diverse such as: singing, dancing, playing drums, gongs, or

horns. Such activities have a huge impact on the expression and

practice of their religion. These activities serve as a bridge to

connect culture and religion into a unique belief system. In the

folk traditional religion, dancing, rituals, and prayers are

integrated into daily life in a way that is very unique for the

Vietnamese culture. Andrew Turton has such a great research on the

ethnic beliefs in Thailand. He also found out that the folks have

almost the same belief system even living in different countries. “A

3 Van Huy Nguyen and Laurel Kendall, Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit (University of California Press, 2003), 59, 60.4 Hiebert, Robert Daniel Shaw, and Tite Tiénou, Understanding Folk Religion: a Christian Response to Popular Beliefs and Practices, 106, 201, 132.

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core of indigenous religious beliefs and practices, myths, and

rituals maybe traced not among the highlanders of northern Thailand,

but also among related group in Yunnan, Vietnam, Laos, and Burma.”5

Moreover, there is a diverse set of myths which are considered as

part of the Vietnamese traditional beliefs. Terry Rambo also agrees

with this fact in his selection of writings on the Vietnamese

culture that: “Like all the peoples, members of minority cultures

hold many believes and engage in many practices that are not based

on science.”6 Therefore, the folks are familiar with religious

experiences that were reflected on the myths of the Old Testament.7

From an Asian perspective, the Vietnamese traditional beliefs

are influenced by the agricultural culture. The result of harvests

mainly depends on human strength and weather. People are afraid of

natural disasters, so they always pray for good weather to have good

harvests. This simple and practical belief has taken root and

developed to reduce fears in the agricultural living. The prayerful

life of people focuses very much on crops. They develop an image of

5 Andrew Turton, Civility and Savagery: Social Identity in Tai States (Psychology Press, 2000), 108.6 A. Terry Rambo, Searching for Vietnam: Selected Writings on Vietnamese Culture and Society (Trans Pacific Press, 2005), 359.7 Hiebert, Robert Daniel Shaw, and Tite Tiénou, Understanding Folk Religion: a Christian Response to Popular Beliefs and Practices, 237, 262.

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God as a protector of the harvest from natural disasters. In a book,

Possessed by the Spirits: Mediumship in Contemporary Vietnamese Communities, By Karen

Fjelstad and Thị Hiền Nguyễn, they talk about the different images

of God, “considered as exorcist, magician, the ancestor of naval

force, protector god, protector of children and women, and the god

of land.”8 These metaphors use human instruments to express the

divine mystery one one hand. On another hand, God must be the One,

who grants rewards and gives punishments to people when they do

right or wrong things. The fear of God as a punisher is an issue

that can force people to do right things. Therefore, the image of

God is also very powerful and distant from people. They are not

allowed themselves to feel God in a close relationship with them.

These beliefs also are expressed through a simple faith and worship

about one true God, whom they pray to whenever they get into

trouble. Therefore, their religious experience relates very much to

feelings, myths, and imaginations.9 In addition, based on the

nature, people in this culture can easily connect with the universe

and Creation, praising God Creator of Marvelousness and Beauty.

8 Karen Fjelstad and Thị Hiền Nguyễn, Possessed by the spirits: Mediumship in Contemporary Vietnamese Communities (SEAP Publications, 2006), 359 Hiebert, Robert Daniel Shaw, and Tite Tiénou, Understanding Folk Religion: a Christian Response to Popular Beliefs and Practices, 82, 205

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Reflecting on the nature, they recognize that God is not only

present in churches or houses, but also everywhere in the universe.10

2. The Emergence of Catholicism into the Roots of the

Vietnamese traditional Religion: A Starting Point of

Inculturation

From 1533 to 1659 was the period that Vietnam Catholicism was

formed and apparently developed. This period was called the

Sponsorship Period, in which the Church had empowered Mission

Sponsors by the decree “Romanus Pontifex” dated in 1455 by Pope

Nicholas V. Since then, countries had the responsibility and rights

to “Sponsorship” (all the missions and organizations of the church)

in the lands they discovered. Since 1494, the Portuguese authorities

shared this mission with Spain. Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand ...

were under the protection of Portugal; The Philippines, Mexico,

America … were under the Sponsorship of the Spanish. In Vietnam, the

Sponsorship period began in 1533, since that was the first

historical fact that marked Catholicism in Vietnam.11

10 Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa, The religious traditions of Asia: religion, history, and culture (PsychologyPress, 2002), 153.11 Tran Van Canh, “How Catholicism Entered into Vietnam?,” 4phuong.net, (2011) http://4phuong.net/ebook/67362287/dao-cong-giao-vao-viet-nam-1533-1659-the-nao.html (Accessed May 7, 2012)

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Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese boats...stopped by Hoi An to

resupply fresh water, fuel, and food on the long journey from

Malacca to Japan and vice versa. Following the traders was always

the Catholic Missionaries. When the boats landed, the Catholic

missionaries and lay people of various nationalities brought

information about their religion to the people on this land12. During

this time, Hoi An (Faifo) was one of the major economic centers of

Cochin, a prosperous port of international trade. However, before

the sixteenth century, some Western missionaries working in China

visited Vietnam with the aim of searching for the new land to sow

the seeds of the Gospel. Missionary work in Hoi An and Cochin in the

sixteenth century was not historically recorded and perhaps the

results would not be many because of the missionaries did not

understand the language of the natives. In 1523, missionary Duark

Coelh came to Hoi An and planted on this land a large cross. From

the seventeenth century, missionary activity in Hoi An was generally

achieved good results. In 1598, Fr. Rafael Madre de Dios Auguttino

12 Nick Ray, Peter Dragicevich, and Regis St Louis, Vietnam (Lonely Planet, 2007), 241.

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came to preach the Gospel in this area and baptized Joanna and her

daughter Phanxica13.

In years later, the Lord Nguyen allowed Japanese and Chinese to

come to Hoi An to build two cities for their communities. The

Japanese government implemented a policy against and expelled the

missionaries so that many religious and lay missionaries came to Hoi

An14. Many catholic teachers and lay came to live and marry native

women here. Bishop Macao also led mission to Vietnam to help them

seek new lands to preach the Gospel. In 1615, the Archbishop of

Macao appointed Jesuit missionaries to Hoi An to establish a

congregation of Cochin. The delegation was consisted of missioners

Bozomi Francesco, Diego Carvalho and three other priests, including

two Japanese monks15. They arrived in Danang and built the first

church here. In the same year, the missionaries baptized the first

10 parishioners, then almost a year later, more than 300 people

baptized16. The missionaries built the second church in this place.

13 Nguyen Truong Thang, “History of Hoi An. The Diocese of Da Nang” (Antontruongthang’s Blog, August 2, 2010), http://antontruongthang.wordpress.com/l%E1%BB%8Bch-s%E1%BB%AD/l%C6%B0%E1%BB%A3c-s%E1%BB%AD-giao-x%E1%BB%A9-h%E1%BB%99i-an-gia%CC%81o-pha%CC%A3n-da%CC%80-na%CC%83ng/ (Accessed May 5, 2012)14 Olga Dror, Keith Weller Taylor, Cristoforo Borri, and Samuel Baron, Views of seventeenth-century Vietnam: Christoforo Borri on Cochinchina & Samuel Baron on Tonkin (SEAP Publications, 2006), 16.15 Dror, Taylor, Borri, and Baron, Views of seventeenth-century Vietnam, 35.16 Nguyen Truong Thang, “History of Hoi An. The Diocese of Da Nang”. No page.

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Hoi An had become the destination, accommodation, and preaching

place of foreign missionaries for a long time17.

The missionaries adapted the Gospel to the customs of Vietnam.

This was the first sign of inculturation. Vietnamese language was

used to express the concept of God. Using the customs of Vietnam,

such as filial piety and family life to express and live the

Catholic faith had become more familiar to the Vietnamese.18 Thus,

the seed of the Gospel had been much easily accepted: in July 1615

Fr. Buzomi came to preach in Quang Nam and gained much success

there. Originally, that year he baptized 300 people. Moreover, Fr.

Francois de Pina was sent there to help. Pina opened a new regional

mission in Quang Nam in 1621. He had convinced the people,

established the church, and baptized 50 people. However, cultural

differences, in addition to the envy of everyday life, the

difficulties and persecutions had been gradually apparent.

Catholicism gave birth to the literary script for Vietnam. To

proclaim the Gospel, all Jesuits had learned the Vietnamese

language. Many were fluent. Father Francois de Pina was the first

foreigner fluent in Vietnamese, the first instructor without an

17 Adrian Hastings, A World History of Christianity (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000), 373.18 Wynn Wilcox, Vietnam and the West: New Approaches (SEAP Publications, 2010), 26, 30, 31, 35.

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interpreter. Father Gaspar d'Amaral wrote a Vietnamese-Portuguese

dictionary, and father Antonio Barbosa also wrote a Portuguese-

Vietnamese dictionary. All three were Portuguese. Fr. Alexander de

Rhodes wrote two works in the first national language: the

dictionary of Portuguese-Vietnamese-Latin and the Catholic catechism

(Eight Days of Lectures), in 1651. In the end of 1658, the

Apostolic Diocese of Rome set up the two first Dioceses in Vietnam

and sent two bishops, as apostolic representatives, to directly

administer to the local church there. In the same year, the Pope

“decided to send two French missionaries, Francois Pallu and Pierre

Lambert de la Motte, to be bishops who would represent for the

Catholic Church in Vietnam: Tonkin (the North) and Cochinchine (the

South). And, also in this time, the Foreign Mission of Paris was

established.”19

3. Mission Models as Inculturation

The evangelization in Vietnam this period was called the

“Mission in the Age of Discovery” by Roger Schroeder and Steve

19 Tran Van Toan, “Western Missionaries’ Overview on Religion in Tonkin (North of Vietnam) in the 18th Century,” Religious Studies Review 2, no. 3, (2008), 17. http://www.vjol.info/index.php/RSREV/article/viewArticle/1337. (Accessed May 10, 2012)20 Stephen B. Bevans, Roger P. Schroeder, and Roger Schroeder, Constants in context: a theology of mission for today (Orbis Books, 2004), 171.

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Bevans20 that indicated the work of missionaries was to discover new

cultures and integrate their cultural and theological understanding

of God into new contexts. This process created a new model of

mission, which accommodated to the Vietnamese culture and faced new

challenges to grow and flourish. Roger uses Moses as a powerful

inculturated figure in his article, Entering Someone Else’s Garden, to

relate to missionaries that: “As Moses removed his sandals before

the ‘burning bush,’ so a missionary/minister begins with a stance of

respect before the presence of God in the people and their history,

culture, and religion… learns from the people missioned/ministered

to allowing them to choose (or not) to begin the process of teaching

the missionary/minister about the new ‘garden’ they have just

entered.”21 Their experiences of inculturation with the Vietnamese

was to acknowledge God’s saving grace in their own beliefs; and they

tried to bring the teachings of Jesus to them by showing a good

example of living and serving among them. This model was matched

with the spirit of Pope Paul VI in Ad Gentes as Aylward Shorter

described that this document started on the process of inculturation

in the sense of “invoking the economy of incarnation and calling for

20

21 Stephen Bevans, Eleanor Doidge, and Robert Schreiter, eds., The Healing Circle: Essays in Cross-Cultural Mission (CCGM Publications, 2000), 150.

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‘a more profound adaptation.’”22 Recognizing the presence of God in

the Vietnamese cultures is a very important and starting point of

mission that requires missioners to immerse in that culture and dig

deeply into its different layers. In this understanding, when

approaching the Vietnamese veneration to their ancestors on the

altar and praying to their gods in their tradition, missionaries

were so familiar with a tradition of praying with icons and images.

In this understanding, missionaries also used the images of Saints

to lead them to pray. This also helped them contact with their

emotions and lift up their heart when praying toward their

ancestors. For them, their ancestors were their “saints” and

protectors as well. “As necessary background, we describe how

Vietnamese popular religion renders statues as animated, sacred and

agentive and how devotees experience and describe statue agency in

and through their own relationships with divine images.”23 Indeed,

according to the Vietnamese culture, they also believe that their

ancestors are invisibly present at this moment to listen to their

needs. In the same culture, devotions to saints are one of practices

22 Aylward Shorter, Toward a Theology of Inculturation (Wipf & Stock Pub, 2006), 197.23 Kendall, Laurel, Vu ThiThanhTâm, and Thi Thu HuongNguyên. “Beautiful and Efficacious Statues: Magic, Commodities, Agency and the Production of Sacred Objects in Popular Religion in Vietnam.” Material Religion 6, no. 1, (2010), 64

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that help the Vietnamese understand God and dialogue well with

Christianity.

Learning the Vietnamese culture to bring the good news and “the

truth” to the people effectively was one of purpose of the

missionaries, which was indicated in the missionary method of

Alexandre de Rhodes through “empowering lay leaders within the young

Christian communities in the areas of worship, teaching and becoming

missionaries themselves by evangelizing and baptizing non-

Christians.”24 In this sense, inculturation in Vietnam was right in

its definition of Shorter, “the ongoing dialogue between faith and

culture or cultures.”25 In the similar vein, Pope John Paul II

emphasized on the dialogue between Gospel and culture as the whole

process of inculturation in Catechesi Tradendae that, “We can say of

catechesis, as well as of evangelization in general, that it is

called to bring the power of the Gospel into the very heart of

culture and cultures.”26 From this foundation, in the process of

inculturation, the missionaries could develop the spirit of dialogue

by immersing into the Vietnamese culture to become fully alive and

24 Stephen B. Bevans, Roger P. Schroeder, and Roger Schroeder, Constants in context: a theology of mission for today (Orbis Books, 2004), 19125 Aylward Shorter, Toward a Theology of Inculturation (Wipf & Stock Pub, 2006), 1126 Aylward Shorter, Toward a Theology of Inculturation (Wipf & Stock Pub, 2006), 224

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shared their experience of God with the people. Through a generous

spirit and willingness to sacrifice, many missionaries performed

concrete acts to show the image of Jesus, an image of dedication to

serving others. This giving witness to God’s presence in life was

manifested through concrete actions and motivated by love. In this

way, the dialogue in action showed that the Gospel was truly

preached and many Vietnamese could come to recognize God’s face. At

this point, Roger Schroeder and Steve Bevans also admitted that,

“Dialogue is possible because the presence of God’s saving grace is

not confined to the church alone.”27 Steve Bevans and Jeffrey Gros

continued to emphasize the importance of inculturation that, “There

is no question that the issue of inculturation is at the forefront

of the agenda in any missionary situation.”28 This understanding was

an opening for inculturating into the Vietnamese culture, which had

its own beliefs, but still looked for the faith that was rooted in

Jesus. Seeking truth broke the obstacles for the missionaries to

come and be friends with them. They were privileged to discover the

root of these cultures and beliefs to be able to dialogue, to walk

27 Stephen B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder, Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today (Orbis Books, 2011), 379.27 Stephen B. Bevans and Jeffrey Gros, Evangelization and Religious Freedom: Ad Gentes, Dignitatis Humanae (Paulist Press, 2009), 110.28

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with the people, and to bring justice and equality to them. Looking

at the results of the inculturation in Vietnam, one of the biggest

changes after missionaries came was that people made the altar of

God above the altar of their ancestors. On the altar, they placed

the crucifix in the middle, Saint Mary and Joseph at the both sides,

two candles, and a Holy Bible. Underneath the altar of God, they

placed the altar of the ancestors with all their images. They prayed

to God and to Saints, but they did not pray to their ancestors any

more. They read the Bible and began to proclaim the good news to

others. Many people were trained to be catechists and lay leaders in

spreading the good news. Instead of praying to their ancestors, they

pray to God for them, who were still in purgatory, and they asked

those ancestors, who were already in Heaven to intercede for the

people on earth. Also, it was important that they prayed to the

Saints. Actually, they prayed to Saint Mary by saying the Rosary.

This way of devotion was rooted in their culture of praying directly

to their ancestors. Praying the Rosary with the beautiful image of

Our Lady of Lavang was one of the devotions that the missionaries

brought to the imagination of the Vietnamese. Thomas P. Rausch, in

his article, The Catholic Imagination, reminded us that, “With the rich

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Marian devotion that has shaped the Catholic Imagination since the

earliest days of the Church.”29 The process of inculturation had made

many changes for the Vietnamese Catholic in receiving the Gospel and

practicing their devotions and Catholic faith.

A high Christology being brought to the Vietnamese culture was

not a conflict to the Vietnamese traditional beliefs because God was

existed in many divine images of this culture even Jesus can be

metaphorized as the eldest son and ancestor in family.30 These

metaphors portrayed Jesus in the role of the Son to the Father in

obedience and the role of the eldest son and ancestors in Confucian

practices and virtues31. However, this understanding allowed the

Vietnamese to see the humanity of Jesus, who was the instrument to

show the presence of the divine mystery. In this sense, the image of

Jesus was perfectly divine as the image of the ineffable God that

showed humanity who God was. Jesus was the “door” for people to

enter into union with God. The task of missionaries was to witness

to the truth by witnessing to the Lordship of Christ in one’s life

29 Thomas P. Rausch, “The Catholic Imagination,” Being Catholic in a Culture of Choice. (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2006) 2130 Peter Phan, “The Christ of Asia: An Essay on Jesus as an Eldest Son and Ancestor,” Missionalia, Vol. 45, (1996) 31 Peter C. Phan, Christianity with an Asian Face: Asian American Theology in the Making (Orbis Books, 2003), 125–145.

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and proclaiming the image of Lord Jesus with others in using the

traditional Vietnamese religious, social and cultural elements. in

another document of the Second Vatican Council, Dialogue and

Proclamation, Pope Paul VI’s voice was articulated said clearly

“evangelization will always entail as the simultaneous foundation,

core and summit of its dynamism a clear proclamation that in Jesus

Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead,

salvation is offered to all as a gift of God's kindness and mercy.”32

The missionaries could talk to the Vietnamese about Jesus as a Chief

or the sage, which was connected with the wisdom of the chief, as

part of their beliefs. Micheal Amaladoss wrote, “Every community

has its sage. Every culture has its tradition of wisdom.”33 Again,

the wisdom was something invisible, and supernatural that could

bring them success, prosperity, and the fullness of life. When

talking about wisdom, they knew nothing about God, but in some ways,

they could connect themselves with the spirit as supernatural power.

32 Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Dialogue and proclamation: reflections and orientations on interreligious dialogue and the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ (P.C.I.D, 1991). No 75. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_19051991_dialogue-and-proclamatio_en.html (Accessed May 10, 2012)30 Michaël Amaladoss, The Asian Jesus (Orbis Books, 2006), 35.3331 Stephen B. Bevans, Roger P. Schroeder, and Roger Schroeder, Constants in context: a theology of mission for today (Orbis Books, 2004), 192

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Reflecting on this, the so-called spirit was a sign for the

Vietnamese to become Catholics when the religious conversion

happened.

Moreover, the process of inculturation in Vietnam had to deal

with the issue of justice and equality. In this sense, the mission

was not only to lead the Vietnamese to the divine truth, but also to

extend helps and assistance to liberate the poor and suffering.

Steve Bevans recognizes the necessity of our mission to bring God’s

reign, equality, and justice to the people that we serve, “…other

religious and secular groups will be inspired to engage in such

activities, and so work for God’s reign continues even though the

church itself does not expand in membership.”34 The missionaries had

come to answer the common issues of the Vietnamese to promote good

activities, moral good, or values of life in order to protect the

freedom, justice, and human rights. At this point, they came to

share their religious experiences, such as sharing prayers for peace

and justice or raising their voices against discriminations to the

minorities. From the common grounds and activities, they could

associate with the people there in engaging in the universal

responsibilities, which were to resolve the common problems and 34 Bevans and Schroeder, Prophetic Dialogue, 375.

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cultivate common goods among each other. Steve Bevans and Roger

Schroeder have shared positively that, “The church’s mission of

justice is intrinsically linked to its mission of cultivating and

preserving peace among the people and nations in the world.”35 In

another document, Gaudium et Spes, there must be a voice for those who

are minorities: “It is not for the public authority to determine how

human culture should develop, but to build up the environment and to

provide assistance favorable to such development, without

overlooking minorities.”36

The accommodational approach to the Vietnamese culture had a

certain success in terms of evangelization and inclturation in

Vietnam. However, there also remained a great tension with the tabula

rasa approach of some missionaries as mentioned in the Rites

Controversy by Roger and Steve.37 Some missionaries came to the land

of Vietnam and brought with them their own understanding of God,

which was very different from the traditional beliefs of the local

35 Stephen B. Bevans, Roger P. Schroeder, and Roger Schroeder, Constants in context: a theology of mission for today (Orbis Books, 2004), 373.36 Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes Pastoral Constitution on the Church in theModern World. Online: http://www.osjspm.org/majordoc_gaudium_et_spes_part_2.aspx (Accessed May 12, 2012)

37 Stephen B. Bevans, Roger P. Schroeder, and Roger Schroeder, Constants in context: a theology of mission for today (Orbis Books, 2004), 192

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people. Their religious movements changed the cultures and beliefs

of the Vietnamese; at the same time, they were also influenced and

changed to survive and take root in these cultures. Generally

speaking, Catholicism had similar intercultural and theological

approaches to the Vietnamese religion. However, particularly, some

missionaries tended to force one-way influence of evangelization on

the Vietnamese.

Associated with Western colonialism and the cultural

superiority of Western religions, there was the dominating concept

of salvation, for example, “Outside the Church, there is no

salvation.” Western missionaries had come to the pitiful people

considered as losing their soul because they did not know Christ.

They preached the Gospel to them so that they could believe, be

baptized, and join the Church; and their soul was saved. These

missionaries also believed that God’s providence had chosen the West

to carry out God’s intentions to the ends of the earth. In the Rites

Controversy, Roger and Steve also mentioned about some Jesuits, who

thought that “others had no regard for non-Western cultures.”38This

38 Stephen B. Bevans, Roger P. Schroeder, and Roger Schroeder, Constants in context: a theology of mission for today (Orbis Books, 2004), 192

21

theology was indicated clearly in the writing of Tran from the

perspective of the people missioned or ministered that,

They wanted to propagate the religion that worships only one

“true god” so they only cared about what belonged to popular

culture that was in contrast to their faith, polytheist

concepts and magician superstition, for example. They did pay

attention to different kinds of cosmology of each party in

Three Religions because those were not relevant to the

conception that the God himself (in Christianity) created the

world.39

Moreover, the attitude of missionaries had overlooked on the

values of the Vietnamese culture. Starting optimism coupled with

their compassion and solidarity: I was sent to the people who were

like my peers. They considered pagans, who did not live in Western

civilizations as “the good savages”. However, the pessimistic

attitude was replaced gradually. They regarded the natives as

savages and the scum of humanity; their culture and spirit could not

compare to the good of Christian civilization. The natives lived in

“pathetic desperation” both in terms of physical, moral and 39 Tran, “Western Missionaries’ Overview on Religion in Tonkin (North of Vietnam) in the 18th Century,” 22.

22

religious. Saving them was not only in religious aspect, but also

cultural, economic, and social aspects. The missionaries believed

that Christianity was the only true religion, which held the whole

truth of salvation that should be spread all over the world.

Therefore, Western cultural superiority of Christianity should be

well spread. Since then, in the missionary work, there was always

the purpose that Western Christians had the right to “impose” theirs

religion on the world.40

The foreign mentality of Catholic missionaries somehow did not

work very well in the contextual cultures and beliefs of the

Vietnamese. They encountered many difficulties and challenges to

impose their understanding of God on the local people. The

Vietnamese were facing the reality that their cultures were reducing

by the evangelization of the missionaries. These missionaries were

so pride of being honored and respected for good works they had done

for the natives. They wanted to be recognized by their works, but

they were overlooking on respect to the native cultures. For them,

everything that they had done was right and ethical. However, they

never saw the natives were losing their identity. Although the

40 Tran, “Western Missionaries’ Overview on Religion in Tonkin (North of Vietnam) in the 18th Century,” 23.

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natives were living in their own land, they felt like living in

another world. At this point, the natives were living under the

domination of the foreign-based cultures. Actually, the

missionaries set all the rules and values based on their cultures

that asked the natives to follow. They wanted the natives to show

their understanding to what missionaries’ cultures and beliefs had

said, accepting the message rather than taking into account the

natives cultures and their way of life. In some sense, the

missionaries considered themselves as wiser and more knowledgeable.

However, they finally recognized the problem and came to accept

mixed beliefs between the traditional beliefs and Catholicism.

Conclusion

It was difficult for the first missionaries to do their

missionary work in Vietnam because of the language barrier and

cultural differences. The Catholic missionaries with new missionary

methods and directions adapting to the Vietnamese cultures and

beliefs had presented the new concepts of inculturation between the

Catholic faith and the Vietnamese cultures. Particularly, the two

basic principles of the Catholic doctrine that Tran Trong Kim had

24

summarized were41: first, teaching people to take the love and

respect of God as the foundations, and second, being compassionate

to one another as siblings. In both these concepts, although there

were differences from the monotheistic Catholic background, but not

completely strange to the culture of “three religions” in Vietnam,

which is very close to the human conscience of the “Heavenly

Father,” the Creator of the universe. This was the fundamental

cause, in which although there were jealousy and envy, persecution,

and interdictions in everyday life, many Vietnamese still wanted to

follow and live the faith of foreign missionaries.

In particular, the emergence of Catholicism into the roots of

Vietnamese traditional beliefs and cultures gives way to many

lessons in the process of inculturation. Catholicism is built on

the rich source of the Vietnamese religion, which seeks to answer

existential questions of everyday life. Understanding the Vietnamese

folk beliefs and cultures gives light to a new understanding of

Catholic faith, seeing the possibilities that Catholicism can

embrace and integrate into this traditional religion and being aware

41 Tran Van Canh, “How Catholicism Entered into Vietnam?” 4phuong.net, (2011) http://4phuong.net/ebook/67362287/dao-cong-giao-vao-viet-nam-1533-1659-the-nao.html (Accessed May 7, 2012)

25

of difficulties with the recognition of the theological and cultural

difference of God between them. Although there are some

differences, they can still live with each other very well and

flourish. In short, the analysis of inculturation in Vietnam really

can teach all missionaries a lesson of evangelization, which should

be formed and redefined in adaptation and integration into the

Vietnamese traditional cultures and beliefs.

26

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