Christianity Between Adapting to Culture and Transforming It

ABSTRACT: The religious beliefs and convictions of a person are fundamental components of life, serving as the foundation for the values they develop and contribute to society. Christianity has had a missionary focus from its beginnings, and its followers have tried to take the values of their faith to different places and cultures. Inevitably, these values came into competition or even conflict with the cultures in the lands where the Gospel message was being carried. From the moment this interaction took place, it was necessary to establish clearly which values were non-negotiable and which were those aspects of form that could be adapted from one culture to another. This process is called contextualization, and this article aims to explore this concept within Christianity in order to see how it can help to transmit values or alter them. KEYWORDS: Christianity, religion, cultural transformation, contextualization