Double Transformation

Christianity was never viewed as a faith that was bound to a certain territory. It was never viewed as the faith of a certain people who lived in a certain area. From the beginning it has always moved across borders and was universally inclined. That is even one of the most prominent features of the transmission of Jesus' message, enabling Paul to say: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

Moving across borders also implies moving across cultures. Wherever people live, a specific language arises, different customs (rites) develop and, in the course of time, a unique whole of norms and values forms. As stated above, we call that whole of meanings, expressed in language, rites, norms and values, culture. The more specific certain expressions of culture are the more limited usually is their range, leaving special, deeply human experiences of authenticity aside. These can be very specifically individual and very much bound to place and time and nonetheless recognizable across the world. Examples of this are Anne Frank's diary and Bonhoeffer's letters from prison. Generally, however, cultural transfer can occur only with a certain measure of collectivity; it mostly concerns group experiences on both the “giving” and the “receiving” end.