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|isbn=0-87808-423-1

|isbn=0-87808-423-1

|url=http://books.google.no/books?ei=-zCYUNfxFMvmtQbx_IGwCQ&id=QjYQAQAAIAAJ&dq=Yamamori+Christopaganism&q=Syncretism#search_anchor

|url=http://books.google.no/books?ei=-zCYUNfxFMvmtQbx_IGwCQ&id=QjYQAQAAIAAJ&dq=Yamamori+Christopaganism&q=Syncretism#search_anchor

}}</ref>   

}}</ref> In many countries around the world today we find religious syncretism – a fusion of Christianity and pagan religions.<ref name="GT2007"/>   

==Semantic Origin==

==Semantic Origin==

The Word ‘''syncretism''’ does not explicitly occur in the Bible. Still, the reality of it was an ever-present phenomenon throughout the biblical history. According to [[Plutarch]], the semantic origin of the term relates to the island of [[Crete]]. The rivalling [[Greek]] tribes there were usually involved in minor warfare against each other. However, as soon as the island was attacked by a common enemy from outside, they suddenly were able to agree on formation of military alliance. Since then the word ‘''syncretism''’ carries a note of ''an opportunistic fraternization without a deeper conviction''.<ref name="Christopaganism"/>

The Word ‘''syncretism''’ does not explicitly occur in the [[Bible]]. Still, the reality of it was an ever-present phenomenon throughout the biblical history. According to [[Plutarch]], the semantic origin of the term relates to the island of [[Crete]]. The rivalling [[Greek]] tribes there were usually involved in minor warfare against each other. However, as soon as the island was attacked by a common enemy from outside, they suddenly were able to agree on formation of military alliance. Since then the word ‘''syncretism''’ carries a note of ''an opportunistic fraternization without a deeper conviction''.<ref name="Christopaganism"/>

==Forms of Syncretism==

==Forms of Syncretism==

Hendrick Kraemer, the late missiologist, distinguished between two forms of syncretism that could be found in biblical times as well:<ref name="Christopaganism"/>

Hendrick Kraemer, the late missiologist, distinguished between two forms of syncretism that could be found in biblical times as well:<ref name="Christopaganism"/>

*spontaneous primitive syncretism as a popular religious tendency and

*spontaneous primitive syncretism as a popular religious tendency and

*conscious, philosophical construction of syncretism attempted typically by religious thinkers or by political rulers.{{#tag:ref|cf. Attempts to manipulate (edit) the Scripture by Nazis and proponents of LGBT ideology described in section [[Gnosticism#Gnosticism Today|Gnosticism Today]].|group=note}}

*conscious, philosophical construction of syncretism attempted typically by religious thinkers or by political rulers.{{#tag:ref|cf. Attempts to manipulate (edit) the [[Scripture]] by [[Nazi]]s and by proponents of [[LGBT]]/[[gender ideology]] described in section [[Gnosticism#Gnosticism Today|Gnosticism Today]].|group=note}}

==Unmasking Syncretism==

==Unmasking Syncretism==

*God is replaced by other object(s) of worship  

*God is replaced by other object(s) of worship  

    

    

== Christ vs. Syncretism ==

== [[Christ]] vs. Syncretism ==

When talking about certain teachers as "[[false prophet]]s," [[Jesus]] clearly showed that he was not a syncretist, i.e. a combiner of contradictory lines of thought, who would teach that opposing opinions are in fact just complementary views of the same truth. On the contrary, he held that truth and lie are mutually exclusive, and that those who proclaim a lie in God's name are in reality [[false prophet]]s whom His followers must beware of.<ref>{{cite book |title=Kázání na hoře: Poselství Bible pro dnešní svět (The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, Christian Counter-culture)|author=John R.W. Stott |translator=Bohumil Kejř |publisher=Návrat, Creativpress |location=Praha (Prague) |year=1992 |pages=152 |isbn=80-85495-01-5 |quote=Když mluví o některých učitelích jako o „falešných prorocích“, Ježiš jasně ukazuje, že není synkretistou, t.j. slučovatelem protichůdných směrů, který by učil, že protichůdné názory jsou ve skutečnosti doplňujícími pohledy na tutéž pravdu. Nikoli, zastával, že pravda a lež se navzájem vylučují a že ti, kdo rozhlašují lži v Božím jménu, jsou falešní proroci na které si jeho následovníci musí dát pozor. |language=Czech}}</ref>

When talking about certain teachers as "[[false prophet]]s," [[Jesus]] clearly showed that he was not a syncretist, i.e. a combiner of contradictory lines of thought, who would teach that opposing opinions are in fact just complementary views of the same truth. On the contrary, he held that truth and lie are mutually exclusive, and that those who proclaim a lie in God's name are in reality [[false prophet]]s whom His followers must beware of.<ref>{{cite book |title=Kázání na hoře: Poselství Bible pro dnešní svět (The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, Christian Counter-culture)|author=John R.W. Stott |translator=Bohumil Kejř |publisher=Návrat, Creativpress |location=Praha (Prague) |year=1992 |pages=152 |isbn=80-85495-01-5 |quote=Když mluví o některých učitelích jako o „falešných prorocích“, Ježiš jasně ukazuje, že není synkretistou, t.j. slučovatelem protichůdných směrů, který by učil, že protichůdné názory jsou ve skutečnosti doplňujícími pohledy na tutéž pravdu. Nikoli, zastával, že pravda a lež se navzájem vylučují a že ti, kdo rozhlašují lži v Božím jménu, jsou falešní proroci na které si jeho následovníci musí dát pozor. |language=Czech}}</ref>

==Syncretism in the historical literature==

==Syncretism in the historical literature==

==Historical examples of syncretism==

==Historical examples of syncretism==

===Syncretistic attempts of Calvinists for union with the Lutheran church===

===Syncretistic attempts of Calvinists for union with the Lutheran church===

The [[Brandenburg]] Kurfürst Johann Sigismund converted to the [[Reformed]] aka [[Calvinist]] faith on 25th December 1613. This developed a gap between his [[Hohenzollern]] house and their subjects, especially the Mark Brandenburg population which remained [[Lutheran]]. The Reformed faith became the court and official religion and the next Kurürst, Friedrich Wilhelm, who had been brought up in the Reformed Niederlanden, i.e. [[Netherlands]], demanded the acceptance of his own (Reformed) minority faith and its followers who were mostly foreigners, brought into the Mark Brandenburg from abroad after the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Kurürst attacked Lutheran church and its clergy by repealing of the so called ''Formula Concordiae'' at ordination and by imposing furhter restrictive measures through his edict of 2nd June 1662. That caused the [[Wittenberg]] University to publish a paper entitled ''"Epikrisis de Colloquio Casselano Rintelino-Marpurgensium"'' which declared any union with Reformed members to be impossible, since in their opinion, the Reformed doctrine had a tendency to minimalise, to think in relative terms and for agnosticism in questions of faith.{{#tag:ref|cf. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&version=NIV Genesis 3:1]|group=note}} The orthodox-Lutheran clergy saw in every concession to the Reformed members the introduction of Syncretism that would lead to the rule of Calvinism and to be suspected of being a Syncretist was about the most severe reproach one could give to a 17th century Lutheran theologian.<ref name="Beeskow2006">{{cite book |title=Paul Gerhardt 1607 - 1676 An Illustrated Biography |author=Hans-Joachim Beeskow |publisher=Heimat-Verlag Lübben |place=Lübben |year=2006 |pages=45-71 |isbn=3-929600-33-1 |url= |quote=}}</ref>

The [[Brandenburg]] Kurfürst Johann Sigismund converted to the [[Reformed]] aka [[Calvinist]] faith on 25th December 1613. This developed a gap between his [[Hohenzollern]] house and their subjects, especially the Mark Brandenburg population which remained [[Lutheran]]. The Reformed faith became the court and official religion and the next Kurürst, Friedrich Wilhelm, who had been brought up in the Reformed Niederlanden, i.e. [[Netherlands]], demanded the acceptance of his own (Reformed) minority faith and its followers who were mostly foreigners, brought into the Mark Brandenburg from abroad after the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Kurürst attacked Lutheran church and its clergy by repealing of the so called ''Formula Concordiae'' at ordination and by imposing furhter restrictive measures through his edict of 2nd June 1662. That caused the [[Wittenberg]] University to publish a paper entitled ''"Epikrisis de Colloquio Casselano Rintelino-Marpurgensium"'' which declared any union with Reformed members to be impossible, since in their opinion, the Reformed doctrine had a tendency to minimalise, to think in relative terms and for agnosticism in questions of faith.{{#tag:ref|cf. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&version=NIV Genesis 3:1]|group=note}} The orthodox-Lutheran clergy saw in every concession to the Reformed members the introduction of Syncretism that would lead to the rule of Calvinism and to be suspected of being a Syncretist was about the most severe reproach one could give to a 17th century Lutheran theologian.<ref name="Beeskow2006">{{cite book |title=Paul Gerhardt 1607 - 1676 An Illustrated Biography |author=Hans-Joachim Beeskow |publisher=Heimat-Verlag Lübben |place=Lübben |year=2006 |pages=45-71, 93 |isbn=3-929600-33-1 |url= |quote=}}</ref>

The 19th century Superintendent Büchsel described in his book ''Erinnerungen'' the situation in [[Prussia]] where union between Calvinists and Lutheran church was imposed by state power. He portrays this union as flag of [[liberalism]] in the church that caused an inner schism. The priest in the town of Stettin, Ehrenström, was arrested due to his secession from the official church and encouraging people to escape the union by emigration into [[America]]. Separatists refused the new state agenda and new Songbook and State Police had to force Lutheran children against the will of their parents into the State schools which aimed to indoctrinate them with Calvinism.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jozef Miloslav Hurban a jeho zápas o pravé hodnoty cirkvi a národa |author=Miloslav Hvožďara |publisher=Tranoscius |place=Liptovský Mikuláš |year=2008 |pages=83-7 |isbn=978-807140-288-6 |language=Slovak}}</ref>   

The 19th century Superintendent Büchsel described in his book ''Erinnerungen'' the situation in [[Prussia]] where union between Calvinists and Lutheran church was imposed by state power. He portrays this union as flag of [[liberalism]] in the church that caused an inner schism. The priest in the town of Stettin, Ehrenström, was arrested due to his secession from the official church and encouraging people to escape the union by emigration into [[America]]. Separatists refused the new state agenda and new Songbook and State Police had to force Lutheran children against the will of their parents into the State schools which aimed to indoctrinate them with Calvinism.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jozef Miloslav Hurban a jeho zápas o pravé hodnoty cirkvi a národa |author=Miloslav Hvožďara |publisher=Tranoscius |place=Liptovský Mikuláš |year=2008 |pages=83-7 |isbn=978-807140-288-6 |language=Slovak}}</ref>