Syncretism in religion: a reader

Syncretism - the fusion of different beliefs into one religious system - has long been controversial in scholarship.

It is widely held that religion, culture and ethnicity are pure entities that may become mixed in encounter and lead to impure, hybrid forms. 'Syncretism in Religion' presents a selection of essays committed to solving the problems of syncretism.

The essays reflect the full breadth of religious traditions that could be called syncretistic.

An overview of the historical background of syncretism is given, alongside classical readings from the history of religion, definitions of syncretism in relation to theories of power, and an assessment of the future of the subject.