Toward Recontextualization of Christianity with Popular Catholicism: A Study of Dialogical and Cooperative Mission with Popular Catholicism through the Perspectives of Methodist Christians in Batangas, Philippines

This study is an investigation of Methodists' understandings of popular Catholicism in the Batangas province in the Republic of the Philippines. Popular Catholicism is the popular form of Christianity most commonly practiced in the Philippines, and thus the religion to which these Methodists previously belonged. Their understandings will provide a foundation from which to suggest and present the possibility of the recontextualization of Christianity, as a way to formulate the "Filipinized Church" in the 21st Century, through dialogical and cooperative mission between the Methodist Church and popular Catholicism. This study, thus, represents Christian mission as a particular effort to recontextualize Christianity in the context of an "already-Christianized area" through dialogue and cooperation between a new form of Christianity (e.g. the Methodist Church) and a previously existing form of Christianity (e.g. popular Catholicism).;The empirical research for this study demonstrates that all of the Methodist Christians interviewed in Batangas came from popular Catholic backgrounds, which means that they had already experienced popular Catholic religion and culture in their lives. However, the research also revealed that these Methodists had different understandings of, and reactions to, popular Catholicism, which affect the way they conceive and practice missions and ministry within the context of popular Catholicism in Batangas.;Catholic beliefs and practices in the Philippines were greatly impacted by Spanish colonialism for more than 300 years, and this influence is still seen in the culture of popular Catholicism today. Christianity in the Philippines, thus, has been inculturated with colonialism and Filipino indigenous religious influences in forms of popular Catholicism. In this inculturated Christian context, this study suggests a concept of deculturation of Christianity through a critical examination of the culture and inculturated Christianity, in order to get rid of colonial and cultural impacts from Filipino popular Catholicism, and to suggest recontextualization of Christianity which is the purpose of Christian mission in Batangas, Philippines. Consequently, deculturation is a prerequisite for recontextualization of Christianity in this popular Catholic context.;Finally, bible study as missional evangelism, social gospel as missional cooperation, and Pentecostalism as missional ecumenism are suggested as the best ways to achieve dialogue and cooperative mission in order to deculturate and recontextualize Christianity in Batangas, Philippines.;Different lenses are used to investigate popular Catholicism and its relationship to Methodist mission in this study: religious comparison to examine the foundations of popular Catholicism; examination of religious expression in popular Catholicism compared with Protestantism; and, ethnographical research to explore Methodists' understandings of popular Catholicism.