Orthodoxy, Orthopraxis, and Inculturation - Roy AB Tolentino

In my brief time in Indonesia, one of my continuing struggles is to understand the mental topography of the Indonesian people. As with any culture, there are certain ideas that are accepted and maintained as part of “the way things are” that cannot be understood except by living here and becoming part of the Indonesian lebenswelt. One of those nuances that I am gradually coming to understand is the difference between NU and Muhammadiyah, and the rest of the groups that have been formed in the history of this country. Deliar Noer’s work, as well as the history written by M.C. Ricklefs, has served to fine-tune those nuances for me, though I admit the distinction still confuses me at times.

Perhaps this confusion comes from being a foreigner, and moreover, being a Catholic. Inculturation has been part of the Catholic discourse since the Second Vatican Council, and it is something the Filipino Catholic Church has learned to employ (and at times, regulate) in the milieu I am from. Certain devotions and practices are peculiar to Filipino Catholics, but these are not considered example of syncretism; rather, they are rationalized and accepted as edifying to the faith. Certainly, not all practices fall under this rubric; those deemed inimical to the faith are of course condemned or discouraged. In my experience, inculturation has produced advances in worship and practice that allow people to identify more with their faith, and make faith an integral part of their lives.

Of course, the adoption of inculturation as a value and strategy came only after much debate and conflict. There is, after all, the notion that there is a pure form of religion, which must remain unadulterated at all costs. While this advocacy is admirable, it would be helpful to remember that cultures interpenetrate and inform one another, religions influence and challenge each other, such that “purity,” at best, is a relative thing. Orthodoxy and orthopraxis never occur as absolutes, but are products of phronetic judgment and rooted in historical consciousness. Too often, the discourse of purity conceals an epistemological schizophrenia; much like a person who writes a scathing critique of technology using Microsoft Word.

To return to the history of Indonesia, then, the rise of reformist groups and the conflict between the moderns and the traditionalists reveals the question that underlies this whole issue. Deliar Noer phrases it in this way: “Can Muslims maintain the basic teachings of Islam while modernizing the country and the state? Will they be able to uphold the principle that Islam is not merely a religion but also a civil and political society? Or will they carry out a transformation, limiting its function to religious life while leaving worldly activities outside its realm?” (Noer 1973:2-3) While Noer frames the question according to the discourse of religion and state, the underlying epistemological challenge is the same. How much change can one allow into one’s religion without sacrificing its integrity? How much should local culture inform and influence religious practice? The way I have phrased these questions implies a separation between culture and religion; the truth of the matter is that there is no such separation. Religion is as much a product of culture as culture is modified and influenced by religion.

Inasmuch as religion makes absolute claims and inspires faith, the very experience of belief reveals an inherent inadequacy in religion. While believers make a “leap of faith” and can have true certainty and confidence in their religion, religion remains irrevocably conditioned by the limitations of human understanding. As Hans-Georg Gadamer notes, “inherent [in religious experience] is the fact that the false paths of human self-understanding only reach their true end through divine grace. That is, only thereby do we reach the insight that all paths lead us to our own salvation. All human self-understanding is determined in itself by its inadequacy.” (Gadamer 1976:80)

Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Philosophical Hermeneutics. Trans. David Linge. Berkeley: UCPress, 1976.
Noer, Deliar. The Modernist Muslim Movement in Indonesia: 1900-1942. London: Oxford UP, 1973.