Dos Mil Años de Evangelización: Los Grandes Ciclos Evangelizadores (review)

The unceasing effort to spread the word of God is an inspiring story of heroes. The Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre has put us in its debt for offering to the reading public the results of its twenty-first international symposium on theology. Its purpose was to bring together scholars and experts, not just from Spain but also from other European countries, to discuss the progress of the Church's labor to carry out the divine injunction to "go and preach the Gospel" to all nations.

The contents of the book are classed as either "Ponencias" ("position papers") or "Comunicaciones" ("conferences"). Logically, the first paper discusses the spread of the Church, despite the well-known persecution of its converts, around the Mediterranean world until the Constantinian peace, while the closing conference introduces the Christianization of the South American continent. The evangelization of Canada and the United States is included, although the emphasis is on the non-Catholic agencies concerned.

The value of the book is perhaps best expressed by one of the speakers, Bruno Neveu of the Sorbonne, who pointed out that to appreciate history or the movement of ideas—and events, of course—one must look back to earlier authors. Otherwise, one cannot claim more than a "presumptuous superficiality" (p. 341).

In all the analyses of the different mission enterprises over the years, there is an implicit hint at the necessary mission methods followed. But with such a global scope as is covered by the symposium, one would have expected at least one explicit essay on the changing methodology of the Christian missions. The problem was not totally overlooked, and several of the speakers offered suggestive ideas on the new approaches, especially in a society now rapidly forgetting God.

Two essays impress this reviewer as especially relevant: Antonio García-Moreno, "Evangelizar según San Juan. Del dicho al hecho," and José Luís Illanes, "La inculturación de la fe como problema teológico. Consideraciones a la luz de la encíclica, Fides et Ratio." García-Moreno insists on the power of the Word, which crystalizes and enriches thought, and is the greatest symbol of self. In many ways considered as the "divine seal" that transforms one's personality, the best dreams are useless unless expressed in words. The full instrument of all human communication, the spoken word was respected by the Jews, and because it was used by Yahweh, the Jews attributed a deep mystical value to it. And pronouncing a word meant control and possession of the word and its meaning. And because Yahweh had spoken and used the word, to them it had a mystical value. That is why, they never uttered the name of Yahweh. Several conclusions can be drawn, and they should help in future mission programs.

Following the guide lines Pope John Paul II had suggested in his encyclical Fides et ratio, Llanes hints at a possible new mission methodology. The debate over the irreconcilability or incompatibility of reason and faith has now run its course, and we now realize that culture always tends to the transcendent. All Christians, not just the missionaries, then, are called to look into the values each national culture enshrines. These we have to enlist to explicitate the divine message, otherwise, we would be crying in the wilderness. Faith, after all is one's answer to God's call, always a concrete process.