Syncretism and inculturation in the Nso’ context of Cameroon

This article gives a brief history and meaning of the terms syncretism and inculturation. The article highlights the fact that over the centuries Christianity has wrestled with syncretism. Following Lamin Sanneh (1989) the authors discuss three styles Christianity has employed in engaging cultures w...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Stellenbosch theological journal
Authors: Nyuyki, Peter Siysi (Author) ; Niekerk, Attie S. van (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Stellenbosch University [2016]
In: Stellenbosch theological journal
IxTheo Classification:CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations
KBN Sub-Saharan Africa
RJ Mission; missiology
Further subjects:B Inculturation
B Christian
B Contextualization
B Mission
B Syncretism
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:This article gives a brief history and meaning of the terms syncretism and inculturation. The article highlights the fact that over the centuries Christianity has wrestled with syncretism. Following Lamin Sanneh (1989) the authors discuss three styles Christianity has employed in engaging cultures with the Gospel. The three styles are: quarantine, syncretist, and reform. The article draws examples from the history of missions to illustrate how this went on; showing what happened when Christianity engaged the Jewish community and the Greco-Roman world. The article argues that inculturation is not “everything goes”. Using the Nso’ context of Cameroon, the authors critique inculturation which leads to syncretism and suggest holistic “translatability” and holistic “critical contextualisation” as a way out.
ISSN:2413-9467
Contains:Enthalten in: Stellenbosch theological journal
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.17570/stj.2016.v2n2.a18