Fire girl's reply got me thinking about syncretism (which I understand to mean fusion of two different beliefs). Certainly, in the Old Testament, God had alot to say to the Israelites about being the only God, not worshipping other gods, and generally not taking on the religious practices of those around. They were to be different. Not that it seemed to work out like that alot of the time...
I have just started reading this book by Christoph Baumer about the Church of the East (also known as the Assyrian or Nestorian church). Reading about Zoroastrianism meant that some of the apocalyptic writing (such as Daniel or Revelation) and the whole concept of hell suddenly made alot more sense.
So, does that count as syncretism? Or is that OK as it was all a long time ago? Or is it OK because it's in Scripture?
I do wonder how much of what I think Christianity is about is culturally driven. To what extent is my Christian faith a syncretic mix of what Jesus taught and Western individualistic consumerism? It's difficult to work that out living in a Western individualistic consumerist society - I only manage to work out my own syncretism when faced with someone from a different background who has a different form of syncretism.
So I'm interested to hear from anyone else who either finds this a problem or practices their faith in a less traditional way (for want of a better way of putting it). And yes, that's partly because I'm nosy, but it's also in the hope that some of my own unknown idols will be exposed in the process.
There is a book, a bit old now, called Eurpoe: Was it Ever Really Christian by a guy called Anton Wessells which I had to read during my theolgoy training. It looks at exactly this question in a historical sense - how existing customs were 'Christianised'. Inculturation and syncretism are sometimes not that far apart and it's hard to distinguish sometimes. So, no answers, just another book to look for!
ReplyDeletePersonally, it seems to me as though "syncretism" is one of those words that has unfortunately become a term used to raise a legitimate concern to "bogeyman status." Oh no! That little girl is at church looking ofr Easter eggs! It's syncretism!
ReplyDeleteTo give you an idea of just how paranoid people can be about this particular "bogeyman," I'd like to share a story a friend shared with me a few years ago. This friend, James, is a minister with the United Methodist Church. The one year, he was talking to his congregation about the upcoming Ash Wednesday service. He mentioned that rather than leaving the common (to UMC services) dot of ashes on the forehead of each attendee, he would be making a cross-shape marked instead. One of the people attending the meeting asked in hushed, almost frightened tones, "Isn't that a Catholic practice?"
Now, having pointed out how ridiculous the whole thing can get, I do want to affirm that there is a valid concern about "mixing and matching" and "picking up beliefs/practices" too. That valid concern is that some of the things picked up may express ideas contrary to core principles (doctrines, practices, etc) of one's religion, or weaken or otherwise detract from those principles.
The key, however, is not to avoid new ideas or practices, but to evaluate them in light of those core principles. Of course, this implies that one has a keen understanding of those core principles. It also implies that one understands the new idea or practice sufficiently well to evaluate it (and possibly modify it if necessary).
Of course, I also think it's a good idea to evaluate the reasons for considering a new idea or practice. Is it something that's already a part of you* or your "church's" culture and you're trying to understand it in light of core principles? Or is it some "neat idea" you ran across and want to "snag" without any real understanding of why beyond the fact that it's "neat"?
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* To be clear, the use of "you" and "your" in this paragraph is completely generic. It's not specifically directed towards pastasmissus or anyone else.
Catriona -
ReplyDelete"ooh, another book :-)" said pastasmissus
"ooh, aNOTHer book :-(" said misterpastasmissus
I will look out for it! Thanks