Chapter III : relations between the church and culture

Abstract

When we study the relation of the Church to a human group, we have to understand clearly the level on which we are moving. The Church or Christianity cannot be related as one instrument to another, because the Church does not possess the instruments of civilization, neither is it a civilization as such. Only when two civilizations meet can there be a clash of the instruments between them. Knowing that no concrete instrument of civilization is necessary for the Church — because it transcends them —we know that the Church must always employ the instruments of civilization. Being aware that “corporality” is not the only feature that constitutes the human condition, we can be sure that everything related to the human being is of necessity “carnal” in the biblical sense of “human totality” or “sacramentality.” Ecclesiastical institutions divinely established are not the instruments of civilization, and civilization should clearly distinguish them from the innumerable "Christian" institutions not divinely established.