ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen a growing interest in the phenomenon of (religious) syncretism. This can be followed in two areas: On the one hand, the concept of syncretism is encountered with increasing frequency in discussions of contemporary religions—the final chapter in the Handbuch der Religionsgeschichte by C. Colpe is entitled “Syncretism, Renaissance, Secularization and the Formation of New Religions in the Present Day” (Colpe 1975). This heading apparently places the concept of syncretism on the same level as the concept of secularization. When taking account of the post-Christian religions in his book on the religions of Africa, E. Dammann remarks that “Syncretism is characteristic of all these formations” (1963, 278); it could be concluded that the concept of “syncretism” plays a particular role as a designation of a phenomenon of modern religiosity (Dammann 1963).
