entailed. In other words, “like us in all things but sin” (cf. Heb 4:15). Analogously, after the Resurrection, the Christian faith became “incarnate” in different yet specific and concrete places, cultures and languages, wherever it struck root. Also analogous to the Incarnation, these local and specific “incarnations” of the faith are not without universal significance and value. Paul’s letters, in which he addresses the “churches” of Corinth, Rome, Galatia and others, demonstrate clearly how the Christian faith became “incarnate.” In one sense, the geographic marker in Paul’s letters is merely that: the city or province where the church existed. It was clearly not a juridical marker. Nevertheless, one notices in the letters that the churches differ among themselves
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in many ways. The Corinthian church, for example, tends to be intellectually contentious and susceptible to factions, while rich in charismatic gifts. As expressed in “Orientale Lumen,” it is clear in the early church that the unity of Christianity was the unity in faith — the communion — that the churches shared with each other, and not uniformity in cultural practice or jurisdiction. Culture is not something superficial, something “added on” to what is essential. It is a central and incarnational part of Christianity. It colors how we experience, how we believe and how we express that belief. In the words of “Gaudium et Spes”: “In his self-revelation … culminating in the fullness of manifestation in his incarnate Son, God spoke according
In the U.S.: The Rev. Andrew Summerson of Whiting, Indiana, plunges a processional cross into Lake Michigan to complete the Great Blessing of Water that commemorates the feast of Theophany, or the Baptism of Jesus, in the Byzantine tradition.
to the culture proper to each age … [and] the church has utilized the resources of different cultures in its preaching and to spread and explain the message of Christ, to examine and understand it more deeply, and to express it more perfectly.” As Christianity grew in disciples and geographic reach, local particularities would strengthen, and differences would become more pronounced. Within a century, certain Christian centers developed, each representing the different
