Beyond Syncretism: A Dynamic Approach to Hybridity

Abstract

The term “syncretism” has had a difficult life. Despite blending positive and negative ideas, in Christian mission circles syncretism has become almost exclusively negative. Rather than yet another attempt to redeem the term, this article seeks to promote “hybridity” as a more neutral term, reflecting the reality of doing mission in our contemporary globalized yet increasingly particularized world. Drawing on the Indian postmodernist Homi Bhabha, the First Nations thinker Richard Twiss, and other recent writers, I seek to challenge our “modern mission” perspective and move toward accounting for biblical principles that pertain to all of Christianity in every local context.