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Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Sources -- Dedication -- PART I General Introduction -- PART II The Historical Background of the Term Syncretism: The Problem of Definition -- Introduction to Part II -- 1 In Praise of Syncretism: The Beginnings of Christianity Conceived in the Light of a Diagnosis of Modern Culture -- 2 Syncretism -- 3 Syncretism and the History of Religions -- 4 Syncretism and Ambiguity -- 5 Syncretism: From Theological Invective to a Concept in the Study of Religion -- PART III Syncretism: The Dynamics of Religion

A superficial view of what happens when a large number of people forsake their former religion for a new one is that some of the old beliefs become mixed with the new. It is a commonplace to hear that folk Catholicism is mixed with pagan survivals, or that newly converted African Christians are "not real Christians" or "have a veneer of Christianity", because they have not totally abandoned all that they once believed. Such a judgment, however ethnocentric, would be pardonable in a European missionary who held a particular view of Christianity, which itself furnished a clear criterion of "real Christianity". But similar opinions are often expressed by sociologists and anthropologists who profess themselves neutral with respect to religious belief. They are usually interested in "acculturation" or "culture contact" and consider it of great moment to be able to say how far any particular belief or practice lies along a continuum whose poles are marked "traditional" and "acculturated". Such assumptions underlay Malinowski's much criticized scheme for the analysis of culture-contact in Africa and the great bulk of the work, by Linton, Wallace, Lanternari and others, on independent religious movements. This tradition of interpretation is still very much alive.

Migration is viewed as a natural social phenomenon. Reasons for migration and responses to migration may vary. Much research in recent times has been done on migration. This contribution approaches migration from a theological perspective and tries to emphasize the way Christian communities should view the entry of migrants into a community. The way the church should respond to migrants entering a community is discussed by way of three possible perceptions of migrants, either perceived as a threat, an asset or an opportunity. Migration may result in the continuation or discontinuation of beliefs by the migrant. The discontinuation of religion may be expressed as syncretism or secularization. Christian communities ought not to perceive the presence of the migrant as an entity needing assistance or object of conversion. Christian communities should also see migration as an opportunity for indigenous Christian communities to reflect on their own identity and attitude towards expressing inclusivity.

Pope John Paul II's canonization, in 2002, of Juan Diego, the Indian to whom the Virgin of Guadalupe first appeared, was variously interpreted by sections of Mexican society as an acknowledgement of the indigenous element in Mexican Catholicism and thus a restitution of past wrongs; conversely, as a final domestication of the Indian; and as an evangelical move against a resurgent Latin American Protestantism. The canonization rites were nested within political ceremonies staged, controversially, to anoint a new presidency. This broader political message was in turn challenged in the media and on the streets. In this article, I show how a major public event can articulate the life of a complex, culturally diverse society. I identify a syncretic effect produced by the struggle for ritual control. And I take a comparative view of syncretism, drawing on Javanese ethnography to suggest common mechanisms of meaning making.

Introduction: Ritual practices, 'cultural revival' movements, and historical change / Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern -- Huizong's ritual and musical insignia / Joseph S.C. Lam -- Magic tricks, midnight grave outings, and transforming trees : performance and agency in Taiwanese religion / Marc L. Moskowitz -- God's villages : Christian communities in late-nineteenth-century south China / Joseph Tse-Hei Lee -- The cultural negotiation in the rituals of the 1997 Hong Kong reunion with China / Yu Siu Wah -- The unbowed foreigner : postural identities of Buddhists and Christians in China / Eric Reinders -- Festivals and the recreation of identity in south China : a case study of processions and expulsion rites in Pucheng Zhejiang / Paul R. Katz -- The virgin and the Chinese state : the cult of Wang Yulan and the politics of local identity on Jinmen (Quemoy) / Michael Szonyi -- Generals, pigs, and immortals : views and uses of history in Chinese morality books / Philip Clart -- A generation of power through ritual protection and transformation of identity in Indian Tantric Buddhism / Vesna A. Wallace -- Epilogue : Syncretisms, ruptures, continuities / Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart