Page 285 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1586 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure
without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character;
business without morality; science without humanity; and worship
without sacrifice. • Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948)

creating, among others, “Apollo Sucellos” (Apollo the (Abraham Calov; 1612–1686) for being an advocate of
Good Smiter) and “Mars Thingsus” (Mars of the War “syncretism.”
Assembly).As C. Stewart and R. Shaw have emphasized, Nonpejorative connotations of the term “syncretism”
attempts to explain syncretism by reference to perceived began again in the eighteenth century with the publica-
equivalencies and/or correspondences are often flawed. tion of Dennis Diderot’s Encyclopedie, which contained
Equivalencies, they asserted, must be recognized by entries on“Eclecticisme” and“Syncrétistes,Hénotiques,ou
actors—and even when such equivalencies are recog- Conciliateurs.” Although Diderot published two separate
nized, they do not have to be accepted. entries, he equated syncretism with eclecticism and por-
Such identifications and equivalencies may stem from trayed syncretism as the concordance of eclectic sources.
a Hellenic practice of identifying deities of disparate Throughout the nineteenth century, overt syncretism in
mythological traditions with their own. When proto- folk beliefs was seen as a strong indication of the cultural
Greeks—whose language would later become classical acceptance of an alien and/or earlier tradition. Never-
Greek—first arrived in the Pelonnesus over two thousand theless, it was also recognized that “foreign” cults may sur-
years ago they encountered localized nymphs and divini- vive or infiltrate other religions without an official,
ties already associated with important geographical fea- authorized syncretism. By the end of the nineteenth cen-
tures such as mountains, groves, caves, and springs— tury, identities were no longer predicated on the existence
each of these geographical features had its own locally of continuous and immutable cultures, and the concept
venerated deities. of syncretism came to the forefront largely because it
blurred local distinctions—a characteristic that made it
Syncretism from the useful for rulers of multicultural populations.At the same
Renaissance to the Present time, the rejection of syncretism, that is, antisyncretism in
The term “syncretism” fell into disuse from the time of the name of purity and/or orthodoxy, helped to generate
Plutarch to the time of the Renaissance. It was reborn and legitimize a strongly felt desire for cultural unity. Con-
with Erasmus (1466?–1536) and his reading of Plu- temporary celebrations of Christmas, Easter, and Hal-
tarch. Erasmus modified the term “syncretism” in his loween offer many telling examples of syncretism in
Adagia (Adages)—first published in 1517—with refer- practice.This is not a new phenomenon.The ancient Ro-
ence to the coherence of dissenters despite their myriad mans adopted paganYule traditions that eventually made
philosophical and theological differences. Syncretism, it into Christmas celebrations (Christmas trees,Yule logs,
for Erasmus, represented agreement among peoples with and the like), and Roman Catholics in Central and South
seemingly different beliefs and ideals. In a letter to Mel- America have integrated a large number of elements that
anchthon dated 22 April 1519, Erasmus specifically ref- are taken from indigenous Latin American and North
erenced the Cretans (borrowing from Plutarch) as an American religious traditions. It is of interest that reli-
example of the adage “Concord is a mighty rampart.” gious leaders who oppose syncretism almost always
Nearly a century later, in 1615, David Pareus of Heidel- express their opposition in terms of personal piety.
berg urged Christians to adopt what he called “pious syn- A number of so-called “new religious movements” like
cretism” in opposition to the Antichrist, but few Reverend Moon’s Unification Church or L.Ron Hubbard’s
seventeenth-century Protestants seriously considered Church of Scientology have openly embraced syncretism,
compromises that might bring about the ultimate recon- while others—Christian fundamentalism and Islam are per-
ciliation of Protestantism and the Roman Catholic haps the most dramatic examples—have rejected syn-
Church. In the seventeenth century, Calixtus (1586– cretism as a devaluing of precious, genuine religious and
1656) sought to reconcile the various Protestant denom- cultural truths and distinctions. Examples of intense syn-
inations with each other. He was ridiculed by Calovius cretism can be found in Romanticism and in various other