The "New Evangelization" of John Paul II

(Prof. Jose Vidamor B. Yu, Manila)

Evangelization in contemporary times has taken a new shift of concern. The concept of "evangelizing cultures" has become a relatively new term in the area of mission and evangelization as the Church becomes more aware of the "signs of the times". Paul VI’s observation with regard to the relationship between Gospel and culture finds itself valid in these postmodern times. He said, "the split between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times." (EN 20)

John Paul II’s theology of mission has made cultures as the subject of the new evangelization. The collective components that make up culture have been the specific fields of evangelization. These include behaviors, mentalities, worldviews, criteria of judgment, inner logic and drives, points of interests, determining values, manner of reacting to reality, paradigms of living, point of views, mores, and the whole psychology of a culture. We recall in the past that the Church had been the primary agent of the evangelizing the entire Roman Empire imbuing it with the Christian formation of consciences, and the development of the human sciences based on the criteria of the Gospel. Cultures were formed and educated in the light of the Gospel which guided the ingenuity of man especially in the area of arts, literature, and the human sciences. In a gradual manner, the society and the activity of man in those times were permeated with the Christian spirit.

However, the alienation between cultures and the Gospel is a growing reality today. Man, cultures, and the Gospel exist contradicting each other. The Christian faith has now to take new forms and methods of evangelizing and purifying cultures. The once Christianized cultures are now undoubtedly subjected to secularization, new forms of atheism, materialism, and indifference to religion. New evangelization would mean to be in a counter culture judging critically and condemning values that run counter to the Gospel. The expression "new evangelization" is also referred to as "re-evangelization", "second evangelization" or "deeper way of evangelization of cultures"

Man remains the principal agent of development. It is not money and technology. (cf RM 58) Postmodern environment becomes a perennial culture to be evangelized. Inculturation of the Gospel into these cultures and the evangelization of peoples have to be methodologically thought about by those in charge of mission and evangelization at the level of the local Churches. Riches and attachment to products of current human discoveries like the gadgets of the technological world has enslaved even providing man the feeling of not fearing of losing his soul. In some places, the Gospel is being rejected as a consequence of a progressively secularized environment. John Paul II reminds us that the thrust of the "new evangelization" should focus on the total development of the human person. "Authentic human development must be rooted in an ever deeper evangelization." (RM 58)

The thrust of the "new evangelization" is to establish a "new culture." It is to "make all things new in Christ." It is the task of the Church to give culture a new identity in the light of the Gospel. Culture should be an ally of the Gospel. It should serve as a catalyst to the proclamation of the Gospel as well as giving a new opportunity of theological research and reflection so that the Word of God may find a new expression amid the rapid changes transpiring in culture. "New evangelization" demands a "new culture" and therefore requires new evangelizers. This means that "new evangelization" penetrates into the stratum of society breaking up the walls of religious indifference which treats the Gospel as no longer "new," or Christ never known through faith.