INTERCULTURAL LIVING: REVIEW (2)

Community


The first article, written by Gittins, discusses the ‘characteristics’ of religious congregations and how they should change from multicultural to intercultural. The latter concept employes the theological foundation, as it is a faith-based concept.

The communities, where the diverse cultures are shared peacefully, should give witness to demonstrate the Kingdom of God. 


Community life is the best place for learning how to transform oneself from the ego of ethnocentrism. The way of thinking of its members needs to be changed into analogical, not dialectical thinking. 


In the second article, Mendoca highlights the importance of acknowledging the many different personalities within the community. A clear understanding of these various aspects of human beings, cognitive and behavioral, will help create and develop an intercultural society.


Huffner and Kemper write the third article, two married couples, and have experienced living with Brazilian immigrants for more than 30 years. The authors explore the problem of misunderstanding and conflict within missionary work. 

The conflict regarding values, which is more apparent in intercultural living, is the most challenging issue to tackle and overcome. Kirby’s article explores the implementation of intercultural communication. This is only possible if it is done in the light of mutual enrichment and transformation. 

The ethnorelative approach of interculturality, which provides an undoubtedly safe environment for interculturality, helps one appreciate various ways of thinking. By integrating these different cultural perspectives on the personal level, humans are individually transformed. 

To successfully achieve intercultural communication, one needs to go out of the comfort zone, which ethnocentrism has endorsed. Frans Dokman concludes the article under this subheading on Internationalization, which has influenced the lives of members of the religious community. 

The author attempts to parallelize Hofstede’s five characteristic dimensions in intercultural communication with national cultures’ characteristics. 

These cultural dimensions can lead to tensions and be a source of misunderstanding and frustration in community life. These aspects, however, can also lead to spiritual learning in the religious communities as well.


To be continued

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