154 Jan H Pranger Jan H Pranger CULTURE, ETHNICITY, AND INCULTURATION: Critical and Constructive Comments in Relation to Sri Lankan Contextual Theology* Introduction This article discusses the concept "inculturation" as it is used by theologians, ecumenists, and missiologists, from both a critical and constructive perspective It is concerned with the idea of "culture" that underlies discourse on inculturation, and, more specifically, with the function of ethnic or cultural identity in this discourse While it is essential to affirm the importance of "inculturation" as a hermeneutical and theological principle, it is also necessary to take a critical look at the way in which theologians sometimes capitalize on ideas of ethnic identity and "culture " This is particularly important in situations where "culture" is not just the site of many struggles, but where "having a culture" is one of the means by which these struggles are waged An important example of such a struggle, and of the questions which it raises for Christian theology, is found in Sri Lanka In this article I will juxtapose assumptions about ethnic identity and culture that underlie many Sri Lankan projects of inculturation with theoretical, postcolonial perspectives on such identities as "constructed" that have been articulated by cultural critics inside and outside Sri Lanka I will argue that in Sri Lanka, as m many places elsewhere, theologies of inculturation are often grounded *Jan H Pranger studied Theology and Physics in Groningen, the Netherlands, and Princeton and Chicago, USA He did research on inculturation, interreligious dialogue, and tradition in Sri Lanka for the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (N WO), and visited Sri Lanka m 1995 He is the author of Dialogue in Discussion: The World Council of Churches and the Challenge of Religious Plurality (Utrecht/Leiden Interumversitary Institute for Mission and Ecumenics, J 994), and Redeeming "Tradition": Contextualization, Inculturation and Tradition from a Postcolonial Perspective (Groningen Ruksuniversiteit Groningen, 2000) E-mail jhprange@midway uchicago edu Mission Studies, Vol XVII, No 1-35, 2001