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Orthosyncretism: an Account of Melding in Religion'

Orthosyncretism: an Account of Melding in Religion' ORTHOSYNCRETISM: AN ACCOUNT OF MELDING IN RELIGION' TIMOTHY LIGHT 1. Introduction Like all other human phenomena, religions constantly change over time. They change in response to new circumstances. They change as a result of new perceptions and interpretations by succeeding gen- erations. Just as do other human phenomena, religions change par- ticularly when they come into intimate contact with other religions. Even when the contact is contemporaneously interpreted only in terms of conflict (e.g., the Christian religious wars, and the Confucian disdain of Buddhism in China), religions-and other cultural phe- nomena-borrow and learn from each other. Religions have multiple sources in their histories. That leads to a major religious conundrum: Today's form of any religion has many antecedents from yesterday. Yet the truth claims of most religions require that the past be seen as unitary and inevitably leading to today, and even to an implied permanence in interpretation of how things are structured in the world. Understanding human religious behavior must include understanding that contradiction and ac- counting for the human capacity to absorb and assimilate multiple, often contradictory, sources while interpreting their sum as unitary and frequently as derived from the same origin. Syncretism is the term http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Method & Theory in the Study of Religion Brill

Orthosyncretism: an Account of Melding in Religion'

Method & Theory in the Study of Religion , Volume 12 (1-4): 162 – Jan 1, 2000

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References (1)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2000 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0943-3058
eISSN
1570-0682
DOI
10.1163/157006800X00094
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ORTHOSYNCRETISM: AN ACCOUNT OF MELDING IN RELIGION' TIMOTHY LIGHT 1. Introduction Like all other human phenomena, religions constantly change over time. They change in response to new circumstances. They change as a result of new perceptions and interpretations by succeeding gen- erations. Just as do other human phenomena, religions change par- ticularly when they come into intimate contact with other religions. Even when the contact is contemporaneously interpreted only in terms of conflict (e.g., the Christian religious wars, and the Confucian disdain of Buddhism in China), religions-and other cultural phe- nomena-borrow and learn from each other. Religions have multiple sources in their histories. That leads to a major religious conundrum: Today's form of any religion has many antecedents from yesterday. Yet the truth claims of most religions require that the past be seen as unitary and inevitably leading to today, and even to an implied permanence in interpretation of how things are structured in the world. Understanding human religious behavior must include understanding that contradiction and ac- counting for the human capacity to absorb and assimilate multiple, often contradictory, sources while interpreting their sum as unitary and frequently as derived from the same origin. Syncretism is the term

Journal

Method & Theory in the Study of ReligionBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2000

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