ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in this book. The book describes the syncretism first occurred in the treatise of the Greek historian Plutarch. The notion of syncretism is used proverbially, in the best style of the Hellenistic writer, to warn close friends or kindred not to stay divided unless they want to get slain by intruders. Therefore, syncretism as a way of integration between Christianity and Native religion could not be tolerated, because it did not guarantee a safe integration of Native America. In a broader sense, if the concept should prove useful as a scientific and generalizing category it cannot be isolated to a particular religion or phenomenon. However, the inquiry on syncretism in mission history represents important data for understanding religion as social and political fact, in as much as the theological use of the term mirrors the politics of religious difference in the history of religions in encounter with Christianity.
