Bridging cultures: Debata Na Tolu as analogia entis in the inculturation of understanding on divinity

The Catholic Church, in its development, enriched itself with language. Language becomes an entry point for the Church to provide understanding to its congregation. The Church encountered challenges when it was struggling to articulate its teachings in accordance with the context of the society it faced. This study aimed to explore this challenge. It sought to investigate what was meant by Debata Na Tolu in the understanding of the Batak Toba people. This understanding was then viewed through the lens of Catholic teachings about the Trinity. The reason for conducting this study was to help Catholic congregants who were still deeply rooted in the Batak language to understand the teachings of faith in a language that was familiar to them. This study contributed to the inculturation of language that embodied Catholic thought while employing the Batak Toba way of understanding Debata Na Tolu. This study employed a qualitative hermeneutic method and critical readings of earlier Batak writings that discussed Debata Na Tolu, as well as sections 249-267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to provide a Catholic understanding of the Trinity. The findings suggested that linguistic analogies could be used as a means to convey the truth of faith, particularly in relation to the teachings of the Trinity, into the language of Debata Na Tolu, while still respecting the applicable boundaries.