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Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture

CATHOLIC THEOLOGY DILEMMAS IN THE FACE OF AFRO-BRAZILIAN RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM*

by Afonso Maria Ligorio Soares*

Abstract

The author proposes to treat the Afro-Catholic religious syncretism in a theological way, in order to over-

come the purist and romantic use of the word enculturation adopted by Catholi c theology , which

hides the inherent ambiguities of the historical process of Divine revelation to mankind. He discusses how

the words Catholicism , syncretism and enculturation have been used and misused.

Key-words: Catholicism, syncretism, enculturation, Christian theology.

1. Syncretic Catholicism: failure or authentic incarnation? When we talk about religious syncretism our first impulse is usually to think of something debased, a

production fault. In this specific case the Catholicism that is immersed and accommodated in habits, formu-

lations and/or defiled convictions of the original Christianity. More than thirty years ago, in the words of a

missionary unburdening himself, there were in Brazil side by side, two religions that have the same name of

Catholic; one popular Catholic religion with its rites, saints, creeds but using the same words, worshiping the

same saints, having the same sacraments is eventually something very much different from the religion

founded by and on Jesus Christ.1

However, would it be necessarily like that? To wash the stairs of the Church of our Lord Jesus of Bonfim

in Salvador, Bahia, in honor to Oxal is an example of wrecked Catholicism or would it be a stage towards

the (presumably) ideal Christian synthesis? Or from the Baiano Candombles viewpoint is it an enrichment

of exotic and accessory elements of European religiosity (Lusitanian-Iberian)? Africans and aborigines cor-

rupted Portuguese Catholicism or was the latter that violated their ancestral traditions?

Obviously the influences, good or bad, were reciprocal. Therefore I wish to start not from the of-

ficial Catholicism with its codes and fixed dogmas, but from that one interpreted and lived by the

people: the everyday-existential Catholicism of Brazilian people. A Catholicism that some might

not consider Christian (yet) - and therefore, view it as a non-strict Catholicism - but that has for

centuries been experienced as such by expressive layers of the population. Are these believers right

or not, is a different question; but it is undeniable that one must start from this basis: an extremely

propagated perception that such way of understanding and practicing the religion is for sure Catho-

lic.

* The following text was taken from the review Religio & Cultura: Cenas da religio no Brasil,

Afonso M. L. Soares, Vol 1 n 1 Jan/Jun 2002, So Paulo, Paulinas, pp. 89-128. * Associated Professor for the Department of Theology and Sciences of Religion, Pontific Catholic

University. Master in Theology by the Pontific Gregorian University and PhD in Sciences of Reli-gion by UMESP ([email protected])

1 See J. OEW, Temoignage Chrtien (Paris, n. 1223, 14/12/1967, p. 22) apud T. de AZEVEDO, Catolicismo no Brasil? In Vozes 63, p. 121.

Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 2


The divergences among many authors who dwelled on popular Catholicism proved the complex-

ity of the phenomenon and the resulting difficulty to face it not only sociologically but also theo-

logically.2 Therefore, talking about syncretism I am referring to the popular conscience that its syn-

cretic religious praxis is also Catholic. It is of no concern here to discuss for instance the character

more or less syncretic of the system of nags (Yorubans) in Bahia, a synthesis in the interior of

the African traditions. The nags as owners of a configured cultural-religious identity are not the

main target here.3

It is also problematic the extension of the term Afro-Brazil ian. It is clear that it would be impor-

tant although difficult to delimitate accurately what this term includes. From a historical point of

view it is easier to talk about the significant African contribution to the Brazilian culture, but today

who are the protagonists and where can they be found? Is it possible to dissertate with precision

about Afro-Brazili an cultures and their respective religious traditions? How then talk about an Afro-

Brazil ian syncretism?

So, the topic is the Afro-descendents identity in the Brazilian context. Professor Kabengele

Munanga has been studying this subject for years and proposes as the only plausible conclusion the

political assertiveness of the Negro identity in order to escape from the ideological traps disguised

in the concept of half-breeding.4 It is obvious that in Brazil the half-breeding and cultural interpen-

etration are a fait accompli from the biological and sociological viewpoint. But Munanga warns that

such data should not be confused with the subject of identity, whose essence is fundamentally po-

litical-ideological and it is reduced to a process always negotiated and renegotiated according to

the ideological-political criteria and the relations of power .5 However in examining the organized

Negro movement rhetoric which emphasizes the reconstruction of identity, Munanga recognizes

that due to the cultural half-breeding, the playing field of all identities is not clearly demarcated,

with the issuing difficulty to build a pure racial and/or cultural identity that cannot be mixed with

the identity of the others .6

2. Syncretism in the Social Sciences

2 I tried to demonstrate it thoroughly in my PhD thesis (Syncretism and enculturation: assumpti-

ons for a theological-pastoral approach to Afro-Brazilian religions collected in the epistemology of Juan Luis Segundo, UMESP, May 2001), examining authors such as T. de Azevedo, P.A. Ri-beiro de Oliveira, R. Azzi, E. Hoornaert, P. Suess, M.C. Azevedo and L. Maldonado (pages 16-29).

3 Nag is the name assumed in Brazil by the groups that modern ethnology prefers to call Yo-rub. See J.E. dos SANTOS, Os Nag e a morte: pad, ases e o culto egun na Bahia, pages 26-38.

4 The author discusses extensively the subject in Re-discussion on halfbreeding races in Brazil: national identity vis-a-vis negro identity, by K. MUNANGA. See also: Idem. Halfbreeding and Afro-Brazilian identity. In: Vozes, 6, pages 85-96.

5 Ibidem, p. 108. 6 K. MUNANGA, Identity, citizenship and democracy: some critical considerations on antiracist

discourse in Brazil. In: M.J.P. SPINK (org), A cidadania em construo, p. 184.



Although the main concern of this article is to examine the obstacles of the Christian theology in face of

the Afro-Catholic syncretism, such effort cannot come to a good end in default of the results of Social Sci-

ences. Many authors have provided significant approaches to this subject and can enlighten possible out-

comes for the theological-pastoral debates.

According to S. Ferretti, the phenomenon of syncretism was not specially examined by the

scholars of the Afro-Brazil ian religions and was of no interest to the great men studying religion in

Social Sciences . The reason for such silence seems to be the fact that the deities, whose followers

hold the best weapons, have a tendency to incorporate, liquidate or segregate the conquered divini-

ties.7 History is full of reports of destruction of different conceptions. However the topic ends up in

the national scientific literature anyway.8

Ferretti finds five stages in the debates of Afro-Brazil ian religious syncretism.9The first, by R.

Nina Rodrigues, is the evolution doctrine. The second, by A. Ramos and followers, follows the cul-

turalism and views the syncretism as a stage that includes conflicts, accommodation and assimila-

tion towards the desired acculturation.

R. Bastide and disciples inaugurated a stage of more sociological explanations while examining

the Negro mentality and the Afro-Brazili an religiosity applying Sociology in depth and the principle

of schism. Therefore the insistence on the part of J. E. dos Santos, one of his ex-students, about

Negros capacity to digest or to Africanize the contributions in such way that the cults become

reconciled without whitening .10

The fourth stage, mainly between the 70s and 80s lingers on the called African purity myth .

Authors such as P. Fry criticize the nagonization or nagocracy of the ritual sites that makes the

researchers examine more the idyll ic Africa than the syncretic Brazil. They do not realize then, as

says B. Dantas, that the loss of purity does not result simply from the combination of different

things but from certain kinds of combinations, thence one concludes that the notion of mixture

itself is culturally determined, [being] fruit of certain perceptions 11

Ferretti identifies a fifth stage that surfaces as from the 80s and examines specific aspects such

as a better accuracy of the concept at issue. The following propositions are no accepted anymore:

the thesis of the syncretism as a colonial mask to dribble domination; the hypothesis of syncretism

as a resistance strategy; the synonymy of juxtaposition, patchwork, bricolage (Lvi-Strauss) or

indigestible agglomerate (Gramsci) for they would not explain cases in which religion remains as an

7 S.F. FERRETTI, Re-thinking syncretism: an essay on Casa de Minas, pages 41-74 (herein p.

17). 8 I went through these winding paths in A. SOARES, Syncretism and enculturation, pages 31-45

through authors such as Nina Rodrigues, Artur Ramos, Gonalves Fernandes and Waldemar Valente, M. Herskovits, Roger Bastide, R. Ortiz, J.E. dos Santos, P. Sanchis, R. Motta, M. Au-gras, A. Frigerio, A.P. Oro, R. Segato.

9 See FERRETTI, op. cit. pages 87-89. 10 Ibidem, p. 88. 11 B.G. DANTAS, Grandpa Nag and White Daddy: usages and abuses of Africa in Brazil, p. 141.

See also: Idem, Re-thinking the nag purity. In: Religion and Society (1982), pages 15-20.



integrated whole. There is more awareness of the price paid by some concepts that were linked to

certain theories. Or, further, the reductionism of viewing the syncretism in a bipolar loop such as

purity versus mixture, separation versus fusion etc.

By offering his own contribution to the debate, Ferretti suggests that the syncretism also fits in

the features of the Brazili an capacity to relate things that seem to be opposite .12 The author, in or-

der to dribble misunderstandings and confusion, proposes a table with three variants of the main

meanings of the syncretism concept. Starting from a hypothetic case of separation or non-

syncretism, he gets to level three of the convergence or adaptation passing through two intermediate

levels: the mixture, junction or fusion (level one) and the parallelism or juxtaposition (level two).

Thus Ferretti can make the following distinctions:

() there is convergence between African ideas and those of other religions about the Gods conception

or the reincarnation concept; () there is parallelism in the relations between orixas and Catholic

saints; () mixture in the observance of certain rituals by the saint-people such as baptism and the Sev-

enth Day Mass, and () separation in ritual sites specific rites such as in the mourning drum or axex,

the banquet or arrambam or in the party or lorogum that are different from other religions.13

The author warns however that not all these dimensions or meanings of syncretism are always

present, it is necessary to identify them on each occasion. In the same site and different ritual mo-

ments we can find separations, mixtures, parallelisms and convergences.14

R. Borges tested the formulation proposed by Ferretti and developed an interesting study about

the presence of Afro-Brazil ian elements in the Catholic rituals of Baptism and Eucharist. She did

field research on the Afro-Pastoral celebrations at the Church of Our Lady of Achiropita, in the

borough of Bexiga, So Paulo. According to the authoress there is parallelism between the Offer-

ings Procession, when bread, wine and orishas typical traditional food are brought to the altar. Dur-

ing the Catholic ceremony she finds mixture in the use of chants collected in the umbanda ritual

sites. She also detects the above mixture in the presence of the saint-father at the presbytery mainly

at the end of the Mass when together with the Catholic priest he asperses the followers with scented

waters. However there is separation at the moment of Consecration of the Host and the wine.15

However what do the Catholic theologians and pastoralists think about all this?

Syncretism and Theology

12 S. FERRETTI, op. cit., p. 17. 13 Ibid., p. 91. 14 Ibid. 15 R.F. BORGES, Ax, Madona de Achiropita, pages 159-160. This authors research is a good

example of what P. Sanchis calls syncretism of return.



According to S. Vasconcelos16 the use of the term syncretism in theology as a technical term is

contentious and rejected by the majority of theologians. However to the extent of the Sciences of

Religion it is easy to face it as a natural, inevitable and positive process of Christian contact with

different philosophical systems and religious traditions. Relying on H. Brandt, Vasconcelos states

that the discussion on syncretism is an example of the communication problem of Christianity. On

one hand the people who are inserted in the problematic of its context and on the other those that

are concerned with the fideli ty to the tradition.

In Vasconcelos view there are two elements that help to understand the radical rejection posture

of a syncretic process in the Christian system. The first is the self-understanding of Christianism as

a religion that holds the only and true revelation of God. In the basis of such assumption there is a

static concept of revelation (a-historic) that starting at the very beginning from the faith data would

immunize this tradition against several levels of syncretism which constitute any religious group in

its historic development. Such position leads inevitably to an artificial conflict (ideological, a-

historic and idealistic): the kerygma revealed (directly by God) to the Christian community versus

other religions subjected to the sociological laws.

The second element is the syncretism rejection by the center-European theology. Such is due to

its self-understanding as a synthesis par excellence from which all attempts of new contexts of

Christianism must be examined and judged. This does not mean that the historical synthesis repre-

sented by such theological paradigm (that is, the balance of this dialogue with Greek-Roman and

Germanic cultures) does not have its legitimacy and would not be an authentic interlocutor of other

contextual theologies. What Vasconcelos criticizes and in my opinion with good reason - is the

presumption of this particular thought that calls itself universal and normative, foreseeing a threat in

the inevitable contextual variations of faith.

What then can we say about the Latin-American Christian clashes with the diffuse phenomenon

of religious syncretism on this side of the world? It is undeniable the role of the II Vatican Ecu-

menical Council in the new posture of the Catholic Church with respect to the ecumenism and dia-

logue with the other religions.

Lets take for instance the case of the monk Boaventura Kloppenburg. Up to the eve of the men-

tioned Council his writings contain undisguised apologetic flavor against spiritualists and um-

bandists. It was a syncretism, he will later admit, which was unacceptable to me from the view-

point of an authentic Christian li fe .17 In 1968, during the First Continental Meeting of Missions in

Latin America, held in Melgar, Colombia, Kloppenburg presented a work that became paradig-

16 S. VASCONCELOS, In search of the own pit: the Afro-Catholic syncretism as a challenge to

enculturation, PhD thesis, Mnster/Westafalia, 1999, pages 165-170. 17 See B. KLOPPENBURG, The Afro-Brazilians and the umbanda. In: CELAM, The Afro-American

groups, pages 185-211.



matic: Essay on a new pastoral position on umbanda .18 Inspired by the Council and referring to

the Africae Terrarum Message by Paul VI (10/29/1967) he states:

When the African becomes Christian he/she does not repudiate him/herself but retakes the traditional

old values in spirit and truth. But we, being European, Western, from the Latin Church, Roman rite; we

who chanted to the sound of the pipe organ and prayed kneeling in blessed silence; we who were incapa-

ble of imagining a sacred dance to the sound of drums; we who wanted the African, just because lived

next door, to give up being African and to adopt an European and Western mentali ty, integrating

him/herself in the Latin Church, praying to the Roman rite, singing to the sound and solemn rhythm of the

pipe organ, leaving the drumming, the rhythm, the dance, the lively prayer. It was the Europeans and

Church full and proud ethnocentrism that came from Europe. But the Negro when became free did not

accept anymore our rites, was not moved by our harmonium, did not speak about our concepts, and went

back to the ritual sites, the drums, the rhythm of his(her) origins and to the myths of his(her) language.

From the depth of his/herself, where alive and restless the former generations religious archetypes pul-

sated, it erupted the old religious tradition of Black Africa. And the Umbanda was born in Brazil19

Exemplary of this change of course in the Brazil ian Church was the symposium on Afro-

Brazil ian religious syncretism held in Salvador, in 1976, on Archbishop D. Avelar Brando Vilelas

initiative.20 On that occasion L. Boff presented a critical-theological evaluation of syncretism. In his

opinion the studies of different subjects concerned with the religious phenomenon resulted in mak-

ing Christianity aware of its condition of artifact produced by mankinds cultural activity moved

by Gods interpellation. Thus there is no pure Christianism, neither there was nor will t here be,

but what actually exists is the Church as [its] historical-cultural expression and religious objective-

ness, living the assertion dialectics and the denial of all concretizations. Syncretism is a universal

phenomenon that constitutes every religious expression 21, and Christianism is not an exception

here. According to Boff the concept of Catholicity itself authorizes a positive judgment of syncre-

tism for it implies the Church insertion in all societies.

However, the syncretism that occurs in all religious manifestations not only articulates the pres-

ence of Gods love but also hides, treads on and hinders it when it shuts mankind on itself, confus-

ing mediation with divine reality, enslaving mankind to a ritualism and legalism that makes it forget

the essential that is God and Its grace 22 The question then is to define criteria that may help to dis-

tinguish between true and false syncretism from the Christian point of view.23

Boff points out that one can only talk here about tendentious truth (or falsity), because a true

syncretism could only be verifiable eschatologically. Deviations will always be insuperable. What

defines this tendentious truth will be the greater or smaller fideli ty to the essential nucleus of Chris- 18 REB 28, pages 404-417. 19 See B. KLOPPENBURG, op. cit. page 410. 20 The contributions to the Symposium were published in the Revista da Cultura VOZES, 71

(1977). I examined it more thoroughly in: The ecclesial of the base communities and the religi-ous mixture: a challenge to the enculturation of faith. In: Espao 1/1, pages 55-70.

21 L. BOFF, Critical-theological evaluation of syncretism. In:Vozes 71, pages 53-68. Here: p. b54. 22 Ibid. p. 56. 23 Ibid. pages 61-66.



tian faith which constitutes the Christian identity to the extent that it borrows customs and tradi-

tions, knowledge and doctrine, arts and peoples systems, everything that can contribute to glorify

the Creator, to ill ustrate the Saviors grace and to dispose conveniently the Christian life (Ad

Gentes 22). If happens the opposite, as the author believes that occurred with the Yoruba religion in

Brazil, and the Christian data is assimilated by the pagan religious matrix, there will be in the most

an anonymous Christianism.24

Examining throughout the Christian historical experience the way in which this background

identity acts, Boff comes to the conclusion of an ethical screening synthesis: everything that helps

the theological freedom, love, faith and hope represents a true syncretism and embodies the liberat-

ing message of God in History .25 On another occasion the author states that the true syncretism

shows itself as a recast. It is , says Boff , a long religious production process almost impercepti-

ble. Religion is open to different religious expressions and departing from its own identity criteria it

assimilates, reinterprets and recasts them. It is not merely to assume but to recast and convert what

sometimes implies crises, moments of indefiniteness and indetermination, when one does not know

well whether the identity was preserved or dissolved. The historical process plays a decisive factor

and it allows the basic ethos of the dominant religion to digest the extraneous elements turning

them into its own.26 In order to identify and assimilate wisely such elements found in other peo-

ples culture, the author proposes a return to what the Christian theology in its origins called

condescendence (katabasis) by trusting in principle the Afro-Brazilian followers religious experi-

ence.27

At the time Boff s proposal represented a positive encouragement for the dialogue and valoriza-

tion efforts of the popular wisdom. However, in perspective, one can ask: what is the author really

talking about? His proposal of assumption of syncretism after all the conceptual and accuracy dis-

tinctions have been done is similar to what later reflections have called enculturation, understanding

this as a process whose starting point is on the missionary community side. The topic, being touchy,

wil l be examined further on.

The reluctant position of the Negro Pastoral Agents The year of 1983 was paradigmatic in the recent history of Afro-Christian and Euro-descendents

dialogue. In that year from 17th to 23rd of July, in Salvador, Bahia, it was held the 3rd Worldwide

Conference on Orisha Tradition and Culture. This meetings outcome was the manifest published

by the press in July 27th when five of the most renowned Baiano yalorishas took the polemic deci-

sion to break off relations with the Afro-Catholic syncretism. Later in a document, perhaps not dis-

closed, the signatory yalorishas, all of them from Jeje-Nago or Jeje-Yorub houses, explained that

our religion is not a sect, a primitive animistic practice; therefore we reject the syncretism as a re- 24 Ibid. p. 63. 25 Ibid. p. 65 26 Idem, Church, Charisma and Power, pages 148-149. 27 Idem, Critical-theological evaluation of syncretism, p. 67.



sult of our religion, since it was created by slavery to which our ancestors were subjected. And

they state further on: Candomble is not a matter of opinion. It is a religious reality that can only be

executed within its purity of purposes and rituals. Who does not think like this has been vitiated for

a long time and thus can carry on syncretizing, taking iyas to Bonfim and celebrating Masses 28

However, as shown by J.G. Consorte, the leading positions in the Bahias candomble are much

more variegated than they seem at first sight. The syncretism rupture does not imply the abandon-

ment of Catholicism. Candomble is not incompatible with Catholic religion, declares Mother

Stella de Oxossi, but it is vice-versa . 29 In other words, only the collective manifestations (the

washing of Bonfim Church stairs, for example) are unauthorized; who wishes to remain Catholic

must decide individually. If one wishes to be with Ogum and Saint Anthony, there is no problem;

provided he/she knows that they are different energies , points out Mother Stella. Therefore, in

principle, the double belonging would not be discredited.

Consorte also points out that the de-syncretization movement coincides with a moment of the or-

isha worship large expansion and the resulting increase of white people followers. For R. Prandi,

this would be the third stage of the Afro-Brazilian religious history, the Africanization that started

in the 60s decade. The orishas worship , says this author, joined the Catholic saints worship in

order to become Brazilian the syncretism was shaped; afterwards the black elements were deleted

to become universal and to be inserted in society as a whole umbanda was created; finally it re-

turned to the black origins to participate in the countrys own identity the candomble was chang-

ing into a religion for everybody, starting a process of Africanization and de-syncretization to re-

cover its autonomy in relation to Catholicism .30 And he concludes: It is not necessary to be Catho-

lic in order to be Brazilian; one can have any religion or none. The syncretism does not make sense

anymore (). When denying it, the new candomble positions itself on the same level as the Ca-

tholicism, it ceases to be a subordinate religion, it does not see itself as the slaves religion.31

On the contrary S. Ferretti thinks that the present re-Africanization movement seeking an Afri-

can purity or a return to the primitive Africanism is grounding itself on the false argument of the

confusion between Catholicism and Afro traditions. The ambiguous identification between saints

and orishas , says the author, in our opinion exists more in the intellectual minds that talk about

people than in the popular practices. Consequently the campaign against the syncretism reflects

the authoritarian and inquisitorial mentality of intellectual segments that are excessively worried

with theoretic purity and theological strictness; for, in the end, all religions, as all cultures, consist

28 See J.G. CONSORTE, About Bahias yalorishas manifest against syncretism. In: C. CAROSO 7

J. BACELAR (org), Faces of Afro-Brazilian tradition, pages 71-91 (here: 88-89). 29 Ibid. p. 73 30 See R. PRANDI, Social references of the Afro-Brazilian religions: syncretism, whitening, Africa-

nization. In: C. CAROSO & J. BACELAR, op. cit., pages 93-111 (here: p. 105-106). 31 Ibid., p. 108.



of alive, dynamic, contradictory phenomenon that cannot be cloistered into a sole Cartesian, intel-

lectualized, petrified and impoverishing vision of reali ty .32

On the other hand, and oddly , observes Ferretti, Catholic leaders who in the past criticized

and persecuted syncretism today are more concerned with purifying it and understanding it in the

new term enculturation . Sectors of Catholicism related to the Negro pastoral movement started to

include African religious elements in the Mass, Baptism and other paraliturgic ceremonies. Ferretti

suggests that such change of course is a strategy to face the Catholic flock reduction due to the

competition of other religious practices.33

However, would really this be the reason for change? How do the Catholic progressive sectors

deal with the syncretism phenomenon? Whether a coincidence or not, two months after the men-

tioned Conference held in Bahia, a Christian event (mainly Catholic) incorporated new actors in this

discussion. After the due incubation period, it was held in So Paulo, in September 1983, the 1st

National Meeting of the APNs - Negro Pastoral Agents (as they became known from then on). The

second and third followed in May and September of the following year, in which I took part. Soon

after the inaugural Meeting it was constituted the Quilombo Central [hiding- place of fugitive

Negro slaves], a kind of secretariat of Brazilian APNs.34 In the same year it is founded the Negro

Seminarist Group that in the beginning will gather Philosophy students (Faculdades Associadas

Ipiranga-FAI) and Theology students (Faculdade de Teologia N. Senhora da Assuno and Instituto

Teolgico So Paulo-ITESP).35

Since the beginning the APNs have been claiming some autonomy in relation to the Catholic hi-

erarchy as well as to the political parties (notwithstanding at that time the affinity of the majority of

supporters for the PT Workers Party) and other branches of the Negro Movement. They intend to

increase their penetration and mobilization powers in the Negro community. That is why in the be-

ginning they did not accept the creation of something similar to a Negro Pastoral Commission

through the National (Roman Catholic) Bishops Conference of Brazil (CNNB).

The Catholic majority of the APNs have as a guiding principle the restoration of Negro tradi-

tions, the reaffirmation of their cultural identity. And here inevitably surfaces the question of how to

deal with the actual syncretism or the religious double belonging of the Afro-Brazili an community

members. Up to what point a Catholic militant allows him/herself to forge ahead in the search of

his/her authentic African roots? Is it possible to be at the same time a conscientious and a Catholic

Negro?

32 See S. FERRETTI, Afro-Brazilian syncretism and cultural resistance. In: C. CAROSO & J. BA-

CELAR, op. cit. pages 113-130 (here pages 116 and 119). 33 Ibid, p. 115. 34 In October 1993, the Groups 10th anniversary was celebrated with a large Quizomba in Pre-

sidente Prudente-SP. 35 I was at the time a student of Theology in ITESP and took part in its beginnings.



In 1985 the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (ASETT) promoted the 1st

Consultation on Negro Culture and Theology in Latin America. It was held in Duque de Caxias-RJ,

from 8th to 12th July, 1985. Negro Identity and Religion was the topic that congregated thirty par-

ticipants from eight countries. Here is not the venue to make a profound study of its invaluable im-

portance. It is of interest to put in relief its stand in respect to syncretism according to its final re-

port. An excerpt of the document, that runs for half of a page, reads:

We propose that the term syncretism either be set aside in its traditional use or be redefined in relation

to the African religions in Latin America and Caribbean [for] most of the time it is a superficial concept

besides being used by the extraneous observer to refuse any kind of autonomy to African religions in the

Americas and thus to avoid any kind of ecumenical project with Christianity.36

The document concludes by stating the urgency of a new ecumenical approach which recognizes

in all religions the dimension of evolution and complementation throughout History. It is obvious

that a final report does not communicate all richness and vivacity of a meeting, but in this first event

it is evident that the topic of syncretism seems to be underestimated.

Almost ten years after this 1st Consultation, and after several APNs National Meetings, it is

open in So Paulo the 2nd, this time called Ecumenical Theological Consultation and Afro-

American and Caribbean Cultures . It was organized and coordinated by the Grupo Atabaque

Negro Culture and Theology.37 Forty-nine mili tants and twenty special guests from eleven countries

took part. The organization promotes an innovative methodology, dedicating most of the time to six

workshops. From those the one closest to the topic is the fourth: The ecumenism of Negro faith

communities .

From this workshop report38 one can deduce that the term syncretism seemed in fact to have been

banned from the APNs vocabulary and being replaced by macro-ecumenism. Although it is ac-

knowledged that this term also carries ambiguities39, the participants recognized in the Negro faith

communities some common Afro-ecumenical dimensions: the religious, the ancestral, the symbolic

and the socio-political40. But some argument brought up at the end shows that the communities

members still ask themselves about syncretism. Here is what is in the text:

Could not we consider some of the faith mystical experiences [in the several communities] as a true en-

culturation? Should we adopt the dominant language and consider it syncretism? Should we rescue the

36 ASETT, Negro identity and religion: consultation on Negro culture and theology in Latin Ameri-

ca, p. 47. 37 The Atabaque was founded in 1989. It is an ecumenical NGO that gathers theologians and

other scholars of Afro-descendent cultures. Its purpose is to subsidize the reflection and practi-ce of the APNs and also to enhance the interchange between international groups and entities involved with the topic.

38 The event minutes were published in Atabaque-ASETT, Afro-American theology: 2nd Ecumenical Theological Consultation of Afro-American and Caribbean Cultures. For the deliberations of the 4th workshop, see pages 157-168.

39 Ibid. p. 159. 40 Ibid. pages161-164.



word syncretism? We have already said in the 1st Consultation that churches label these experiences of

faith as syncretism because they do not wish to do ecumenism with the Afro-American and Caribbean re-

ligions.41

The signatories state that they found Gods revelation in many Negro communities42 but do rec-

ognize the resulting theological problems mainly in the Christology and Ecclesiology where con-

cepts such as mediation, salvation and universality are disputed.43

In a sort of a ponderation about the theological reflection during the period between the two

Consultations, Antonio A. da Silva indicates as one recurring topic until then to overcome the bias

in search for the necessary Afro-religious dialogue and he projects for the next stage five particu-

larly important topics, among which the ecumenism and macro-ecumenism (integral ecumenism)

in the Afro perspective .44 The author then directs his thoughts to enculturation, but clarifying that it

is not a descending process in which the protagonists are the message or the messenger, but a prac-

tice in which priority is given to people with its cultures that certainly do not subjugate the Gospel

but integrate its message in life itself .45

At this stage of the APNs theological reflection the impression that remains is still one of Chal-

cedon dialectics 46 in which the extremisms to be avoided are well identified but the steps and pro-

cedures of the process are not actually and articulately explained.47 This can be behind the ambigui-

ties found in the APNs discourse about the syncretism topic. In an ongoing research with this

Groups members, whose partial results are being publicized, P. Sanchis identifies eight fundamen-

tal positions concerning the topic.48

It remains among the APNs the traditional view of the syncretism as a mixture, confusion, result

of ignorance, although some appreciation is shown in relation to the involved people. Others,

though rejecting syncretism as a legitimate program, refuse to qualify as such the popular reality in

41 Ibid. p. 165. 42 Pay attention to the caution in the assertion: in many, not in all! 43 Ibid. 44 A.A. SILVA, Elements and assumptions of the theological reflection from the Negro communities

Brazil. In Atabaque-ASETT, Afro-American Theology, pages 49-72 (here p. 65). 45 Ibid. p. 71. 46 I am borrowing the expression used by C. Boff to criticize the idealism of classical Christology.

See Theology and practice: political theology and its mediations, passim. 47 However the most recent concern of the Grupo Atabaque members seems to go towards this

theoretical confrontation: what methods and epistemology are conducting the praxis of the Ne-gro communities? That was my conclusion when I participated of the following Seminars-Workshops: Bible and Negritude, (promoted by CEBI-Atabaque, Guarulhos, 09/12 to 14/1993); Popular Movements Methodology and Formation (COM-Atabaque, So Paulo, 07/27 to30/98); Methodology as interdisciplinary challenge in the Afro-Brazilian context (Atabaque, So Paulo, 12/16 to 18/99, 2nd Seminar of Methodology: negritude and educational process (Atabaque, So Paulo, 11/15 to 17/2001). It is also being prepared the 3rd Ecumenical Theological Consultation and Afro-American and Caribbean Cultures, scheduled for the end of 2002.

48 See P. SANCHIS, Syncretism and Pastoral. In: C. CAROSO & J. BACELAR, op. cit. pages 171-210 (for the eight ideal types, see pages 178-202). However the author clarifies that they are not full portraits, but ideal types of attitudes, effectively mingled in the reality (p. 188).



which they are immersed. For them people are not confused. The double belonging, for instance, is

not syncretism but popular ecumenism.

From what I could verify in my visits to APNs groups and during the prolonged contact with the

Grupo Atabaques members, the position above mentioned is very common among the leadership.

For example, H. Frisottis considerations agree with such position.49 He thinks that the dialogue

with the Afro-Brazili an religions should start from the concept of macro-ecumenism put forward

at the Gods People Assembly in Quito (1992) to overcome the limitations imposed by the terms

ecumenism (restricted to the Christian churches) and inter-religious dialogue (that not always ex-

presses the necessity of a common practice for peace and justice).50

However, as admitted by Sanchis, the application of this idea is not rigid. Some APNs reject the

syncretism as a program but recognize its reality and the necessity of taking it into account in the

popular practice (and in the pastoral). Then they try to legitimate the phenomenon reserving for it a

limited space in the field of culture. Therefore it becomes possible to sincerely assume the Catholic

faith and at the same time to value the Afro culture in its most varied expressions.

Although I do not share Sanchez view of it as a new position this explains some APNs atti-

tude of even liking to cancel the syncretism from their concern investing more in the categories of

enculturation and macro-ecumenism, though they have to acknowledge that it continues to be pre-

sent in the popular reality and it is insinuating itself even in the Negro pastoral or APNs action.

Their doubts concern the merely folkloric use of Candomble symbols in the Catholic ritual and the

criticisms suffered which condemn a certain imperialistic captivation by the Church.

Sanchis observes that the insistence itself on the cultural question drives the milit ants to find out

the tradition of their people in the Afro religions. This prevents a clear distinction between culture

and religion, causing the enculturation topic to border yet again on syncretism. One solution evoked

by some agents is the spirituality category that would facilitate the meeting between Christian ethics

and Candombles ancestry. When manifesting through it their feelings in an Afro Mass, for in-

stance the participants open a symbolic polyvalent space in which, in Sanchis interpretation, cult

and culture finally would be united.

There are also those that eventually use the syncretism category without rendering it problematic

anymore by placing it within the larger loop of macro-ecumenism.

Apparently that is the meaning P. Suess assertion: We are all polytheists in a way () If we

really go deep, we are all syncretists. That is fine: the more we extend our tent, the more divine en-

ergy we are able to catch with our antennas.51 Such attitude ends up by leading to a certain syncre-

49 See, for instance, its Masters dissertation: H. FRISOTTI, Steps in the dialogue: Catholic Church

and Afro-Brazilian religions. 50 See H. FRISOTTI, Steps in the dialogue, p. 56. 51 See P. SANCHIS, Syncretism and Pastoral. In: C. CAROSO & J. BACELAR, op. cit. p.195.



tism apology from the epistemological and Christian viewpoint. And Suess is retaken as an exam-

ple:

the double belonging should be interpreted within the Brazilian reality. Who knows a riverine caboclo has

learned to decode a yes that means a no and a no that is equal to a yes. To understand the identity

not as something exclusive: A cannot be B? Yes! A can be A and can be a bit B too. For us it

is almost impossible to think li ke this, but in fact we are always facing this reali ty of a non-exclusive

identity that I would say is much more Christian. Either you are Christian or you are not No! I am

Christian and something else.52

In Sanchis list there are also the APNs that fit themselves into an undefined or ashamed syn-

cretism. And lastly those that albeit not making explicit the topic at issue in the name of macro-

ecumenism maintain present and alive these problems in the group because they adopt a cast of be-

haviors, attitudes and representations that carries on creating problems for others in the traditional

terms of syncretism.53 According to the author, another possible modality of this same attitude

would be to state a kind of syncretism that does not pass by the faith, neither by the concurrent

adhesion to an alternative view of the world , but by the religious experience as such and by the

God that this experience connotes 54

I think that the conceptual hesitations verified among the APNs, and even among the theologians

that assist them, are perfectly understandable for the novelty of the perspective in which they find

themselves to think in more adequate parameters to account for their genuine faith experience. My

purpose will be hereinafter to offer a contribution that aims not to conclude but to create an oppor-

tunity for dialogue in view of a more consequential theology in relation with its reality.

Enculturation or Syncretism? The picture drawn in the previous section must have given an idea of the Christian difficulty to

estimate such a polemic topic. In fact most of the mistakes depend on the hermeneutic point of view

from which the syncretism phenomenon is examined, that is, from the Social Sciences (and relig-

ion) or from Theology (in this case Christian) point of view. Therefore the opportunity to examine

below a more respectful terminological proposal concerning the Afro-popular spirituality that dia-

logues with Christian tradition.

There is some consensus among authors to retrace the use of the term syncretism to Plutarch. He

uses it in the political arena to indicate the union of Cretan communities, often rivals among them-

selves, for the defense against a common enemy. For its theological use it is necessary to advance to

the 16th century. Erasmus of Rotterdam will retake it to classify the efforts by reformers and hu-

manists in order to unite philosophical and theological teachings, in themselves distinct, in view of

a rational defense of fundamental common positions.

52 Ibid. 53 Ibid. p. 197. 54 Ibid. p. 200.



In the Protestant reformation circles the term meant sometimes the harmonizing process of con-

fessional differences and later it achieved a more depreciative sense of mixture of religions.55

Only after the approach by the sciences of religion the term started to be used as terminus technicus

in the analysis of the fusion process of different myths and religious traditions.

For S. Vasconcelos the concept of syncretism does not show so far conditions for a normative

use. S. Ferretti corroborates in part such opinion when he describes the multiplicity of uses and

meanings of the religious syncretism concept.56 Therefore the difficulty of accepting it as a charac-

teristic natural phenomenon of every religious system that in some way during its constitution proc-

ess gets in touch with other religious systems.

According to Van der Leeuw57 when examining any of the big religions one has to take into ac-

count its dynamics because a historical religion is an organism under continuous growth that makes

syncretism inevitable. It suffers multiple influences caused by the colonization experience endured

by a religious group, its expulsion or migration, or economic or geopoliti cal factors.

In Vasconcelos opinion the use of the syncretism concept contains always something about the

author who uses it and his/her system of thought. However he admits that regardless the adopted

position, the syncretism phenomenon is increasingly more visible amidst the Christian churches, as

far as a religious phenomenon of great importance and contemporaneity, a feature of current religi-

osity, faced with the challenge of building a meaning before religious plurality .58

Already in the 70s M.M. Breeveld proposed the necessity of avoiding too reductive explana-

tions. Syncretism is not just the juxtaposition phenomenon of white masks on African traditions.

Neither can it be identified with the sacred displacement that accompanies the Negro integration in

society. Least of all can it be understood as a full reinterpretation of the African system in Brazili an

terms, because of the loss of collective memory.

If the three hypotheses can be verified in certain circumstances, it is due to the multiple modali -

ties of syncretism manifestation which result from several external causes. If this is the case the

religious syncretism does not probably comprise any evolutionist structure, but just several manifes-

tation modalities about which one cannot state that some are more developed that others .59

Undoubtedly Breevelds and other opinions provide the researcher with good reasons for an un-

conditional rehabil itation of religious plurality viewpoints. However how to syncretize such cer-

tainty with the unshakable New Testament belief of having achieved a plan not renounciable? Be-

55 S. VASCONCELOS, op. cit. p. 147. 56 STI, op. cit. pages 87-93. 57 See G. van der LEEUW, Phanomenologie der Religion, p. 689, apud S. VASCONCELOS, op. cit.

p. 148. 58 Ibid. p. 149. 59 M.M. BREEVELD, A revision of the religious syncretism concept and outlook of research. In:

REB 138, p. 418.



cause in the end the question is: how to cross the delicate boundary from a socio-anthropological

consideration of syncretism to another explicitly theological?

Perhaps the problem would be less insidious if I had started from the beginning with the term en-

culturation. Besides, as I said before, the concept of syncretism offered by L. Boff already seemed

to adjust itself better to what today is being called enculturation. In a recent article M. de F.

Miranda 60 joins those that prefer enculturation to syncretism. He says that the latter is the term used

by the religion sciences that, although having a relevant and important discourse for theology, do

not hold the last word on the question. The author even admits that the syncretism as such can be

considered a previous stage very common in the enculturation of the faith , and that eventually it

disappears when integrated in the intelligibil ity and faith expression or when resulting from a mix-

ture which is incompatible with faith 61 Nevertheless he ponders that from the theological point of

view it will be always necessary to distinguish the mistaken syncretisms that distort the sense

given to the Christian faith by previous generations . Therefore to avoid possible misunderstand-

ings it would be better to ban for ever this concept from the theological world because the correct

and orthodox syncretism is today called enculturation, a term that is not encumbered withy negative

readings of the past as is the case with the term syncretism.62

Notwithstanding the apology made by Miranda, the term enculturation, although already occupy-

ing its assured place in present day theological jargon, it resents still of a use that if it was more

confused in the past it stays polysemous until today. According to G. Collet63, who inaugurates the

theological use of the concept is the Jesuit Jos Masson as soon as 1959 and in 1962 he talks of the

necessity of an enculturated Christianism. Years later, according to A.A. Roest Crollius, the 32nd

General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (1974-1975) uses the term enculturation when prepar-

ing a document about faith and culture in order to avoid speaking of adaptation and accommoda-

tion. Developed by Herskovits the term refers to the process through which one is initiated in

his/her culture of origin until being able to express him/herself in it. It is assumed that the same

term could account for the dynamics through which a local church inserts itself in a peoples culture

thus being able to express itself. When it was translated into Latin as inculturatio it is eased the way

into the term enculturation .64 In 1977, in a memorial by Father Pedro Arrupe, at the time the Head

of Jesuits, at the Bishops Synod, it is stated that the lack of enculturation is one of the great obsta-

cles to evangelization. In Collets opinion this contributed for the first time emergence of the term

in a Synods final document (Ad populum Dei nutius, section 5). In 1979 Pope John Paul II uses it

though still in an inexact way in Catechesi tradendae (section 53).

60 See M. de F. MIRANDA, Faith enculturation and religious syncretism. In: REB, 238, pages 275-

293. 61 Ibid. pages 289-290. 62 Ibid. p. 227. 63 G. COLLET, Enculturation. In: P. EICHER (dir.), Dictionary of Theology fundamental concepts,

pages 394-400. 64 See A.A. ROEST CROLLIUS, What is so new about enculturation? A concept and its implicati-

ons. In: Gregorianum 59, pages 721-738.



M. Amaladossi expressing himself from an Asiatic reali ty (Indian) considers the term encultur-

ation inadequate and illusory when it is used in a missionary situation.65 In this context one is talk-

ing about enculturation as being a process through which the Gospel becomes embodied in a certain

culture. However the author argues neither the Gospel nor the culture exist by themselves . Since

the beginning the Gospel contained (at least) four gospels originating from four different communi-

ties which were inserted in a continuous tradition proclaimed by missionaries and interacting with a

peoples culture. Therefore what happens is the meeting between two communities with beliefs,

culture and own way of life , in which the meeting between the Gospel and the culture is just one

element in this complex context and it is influenced by all the other elements .66

Toward the same direction are the observations by M. Mnteba, an African theologian.67 After

criticizing the dualistic opposition generally made between Christianity and cultures as two

realities or distinct domains of the human existence, and proposing that the Christianism itself does

not exist save as a limiting-concept , Mnteba states that the real problem is not the Gospel rela-

tion with human cultures but the relation of the new Christian traditions with those that monopo-

lized the Christianism. Thus it is iconoclast the enculturation as it is the will to assume culturally

the act of believing for it brings out a negotiation and a restructuring of the religious capital be-

tween agents whose interests and concerns are divergent .68 I would say that in a way the orthodox

Christianism guards the morphological freeze of the Christian experience of God. The syncretism is

its reality test and its syntagmatic application, it is a word being pronounced in a langue-parole dia-

lectics of Saussurean remembrance.

For J. Comblin69 the discourse on enculturation is the meeting point of all ambiguities . When

the Pope praises and evokes saints Cyril and Methodius memory, Church founders among the

Slavic peoples, would not he be imagining a situation in which the church would deliver to the peo-

ple a ready-made culture as it did to the Slavs (language, liturgy, alphabet, laws and Christian insti-

tutions)? Would the new evangelization be the gift of a new culture made and donated by the

Church too?

For progressives, continues the author, enculturation is equal to promoting cultures diversity

presently dominated by the higher culture of the capitalist world. They think this could be the cause

for a radical transformation that long ago the Marxists glimpsed in the workers. But there are also

progressive sectors [that] suspect the enculturation paradigm may contribute to confuse the social

contradictions and to breach the pos-Conciliar Latin-American tradition of liberating pastoral .70 On

65 See M. AMALADOSS, Mission and enculturation, p. 27. 66 Ibid. pages 28 and 29. 67 See Enculturation in Third Pentecostal Church of God or cultures revenge? In: Concilium 239,

pages 149-169. 68 Ibid. pages 162 and 163. 69 See J. COMBLIN, Enculturation aporias (I). In: REB 223, pages 664-684. And the sequel of the

article (II). In: REB, pages 912-918. 70 See P. SUESS, The dispute for enculturation. In: M.F. dos ANJOS [org], Theology of enculturati-

on and enculturation theology, p. 113.



the other hand, conservatives hope that enculturation be the channel through which the Church

returns to the ideal of a Christian culture, by re-evaluating and renovating its traditional culture.71

Comblin distrusts the use itself of the term culture. Which culture? Whose culture? What does

this culture mean for the poor?72 For him it would be totally mistaken to represent evangelization

in the Roman-Greek world as a work of enculturation for in fact the Christian community rejects

all the Hellenist culture as pagan, morally corrupt. 73 Excluding some converted elite people the

majority of the Christian people () felt its conversion as an emancipation from the Greek world

[and its culture] with all its domination .74

On the other hand, continues the author, the people reached by medieval Christendom as from

the 5th century were converted to a culture that was driven by the clergy75 using the tool of theol-

ogy.76 If at all the Gospel, was furtively and by chance included because a person with evangelic

life joined in .77 If that be the case, if one wishes to talk about enculturation today, it must be the

insertion into the poor peoples culture.78

Enculturation would then be an active assimilation process of the Gospel message starting from

the interior of the culture itself that receives it through the testimony and the evangelizing an-

nouncement, and is it understood and translated according to its own cultural mode of being, per-

ceiving, acting and communicating?79 According to Comblin, this is precisely the concept not ac-

cepted by the Roman Catholic Church. For him all Saint Domingos texts must be read with the

clause: to the extent that this agrees with the teaching documents .80 However, whether the above

concept is or not accepted the enculturation pastoralists have to face, in this authors opinion, sev-

eral practical aporias. The main one is that enculturation can only be done within a culture by the

people that belong to it. But, a great majority of pastoral agents are neither (cultural and relig-

iously) aborigines nor Negros . Thus, they would be inept to do enculturation.81

With the aim of organizing a bit this terminological dance, M.C. Azevedo82 tries to distinguish

four concepts to specify the kind of relationship to be upheld between the Gospel and the Culture:

acculturation, enculturation, transculturation and inculturation. Thus acculturation is the process

of changes verified in an individual or group through the contact with another culture different from

71 See J. COMBLIN, Enculturation aporias (I). In: op. cit., pages 664-665. 72 Ibid, p. 671 73 Ibid, p. 669. 74 Ibid, p. 668. 75 Ibid, p. 674. 76 Ibid, p. 680. 77 Ibid, p. 672. 78 Ibid, p. 684. 79 See M.C. AZEVEDO, General context of enculturation. In: M.F. dos ANJOS (org), Theology of

enculturation and enculturation theology, p. 15. 80 J. COMBLIN, Enculturation aporias (II). In: op. cit., p. 920. 81 Ibid, p. 921. 82 M.C. AZEVEDO, Basic Ecclesial Communities and faith enculturation.



his/hers or by the interaction between two or more distinct cultures.83 Enculturation is the process

through which an individual is introduced to his/her own culture;84 this is so analogous to socializa-

tion. Transculturation is the possible or effective unilateral transfer and, eventually, imposing of

meanings and values, symbols, models or institutions from one specific culture to others, with the

issuers tendency of not being influenced by the other.85 Finally, Inculturation is the evangeliza-

tion process through which the Gospel seeds are cast into a culture so that faith can sprout and de-

velop respecting its own true nature.86 The problem with this definition of inculturation besides

Amaladoss provisions already quoted, is very clear: would not have the Word seeds been sowed

previously in the several cultures yet?

On the other hand, reading Saint Domingos document from the Afro syncretism perspective, S.

Vasconcelos criticizes precisely the use of the inculturation process in relation to the Afro-

American populations. The author observes that Saint Domingo makes an artificial separation be-

tween culture and religion when aiming at communities and social segments in which such separa-

tion is inexistent. The document intends to dialogue with the culture but not with religion. Thus,

when thinking about the necessity and possibil ity of inculturation in a certain culture, the fact of

this culture having already a meaningful religious system in which its collective ethos is symbolized

is almost totally ignored.87

Such ignorance may be linked to what Torres Queiruga detects as strong remains of a certain

style stil l present in the collective unconscious which spontaneously understands that to approach

another religion means to replace the former religion truth with ours nulli fying it as such in order

to convert it into ours . That is what this author believes to be implied in the concept of incultura-

tion: ultimately to respect culture but to replace religion .88

Thus to justify a new paradigm that accepts religions as authentic paths to salvation89 and there-

fore is ready to keep them by enriching them, Torres de Queiruga coins the word in-

religionation . Just as in inculturation a culture gets richness from others without renouncing to

being itself, something similar occurs in the religious field(): in the contact between religions the

spontaneous movement in relation to the elements that come from another must be that of incorpo-

rating them into its own body, which therefore does not disappear but on the contrary it grows. It

grows from the opening to the other but towards a common mystery .90

Torres Queiruga il lustrates its proposal retrieving the Pauline metaphor of the grafting to explain

the relation between Judaism and Chistianism. Now, who says grafting admits that the receiving

83 Ibid, p. 413. 84 Ibid, p. 414. 85 Ibid, p. 416. 86 Ibid, p. 141. 87 See S. VASCONCELOS, op. cit., p. 2. 88 A. TORRES QUEIRUGA, From Isaacs terror to Jesus Abba, p. 333. 89 About salvation in the or in spite of the non-Christian religions, see; J. DUPUIS, Towards a

Christian theology of religious pluralism, pages 412-452. 90 A. TORRES QUEIRUGA, op. cit., p. 334.



tree is not suppressed but receives in itself and feeds with its own sap that reali ty which reinforces

and instill s new life to it . But the author warns: it must be very clear that each religious interrela-

tion is unique; the in-religionation process is not symmetric and it will depend on the real modes

and possibilities of the religions that are meeting.91 By the way the principle that leads Clement of

Alexandrias efforts when reflecting about the relation much more distant between Christianism

and Greek culture is not much different: the role of philosophy for the Greeks, he states, is the same

role of the Old Testament for the Jews.92

Well then, considering the opinions reported herein, if theology renounces to the syncretism

category in favor of its correlate inculturation, this wil l not automatically result in more clearness or

conceptual precision. The polysemy of the latter reinforces my insistence as to the terms syncretism

and syncretization. Moreover such preference has a strategic scope. It aims first of all to be faithful

to the complexity of the problem. I agree with C. Stewart and R. Shaw when they state that:

it seems unnecessary and restrictive to avoid a term that already exists to describe the religious synthesis

just because of some connotations received (basically) from scholars of the 19th century. On the contrary

to adopt a term that on certain occasions acquired depreciative meanings can give rise to a deeper criti-

cism of the presuppositions on which such meanings are founded than if the term were simply avoided.93

However the mere adoption of a terminology is not enough. It is necessary to be careful in the

examination of its underlying conceptions. It was what happened to me when for the first time I

found the distinction proposed by L. Maldonado. In a way its model inserts itself in L. Boff s per-

spective already examined. According to Maldonado syncretic should be understood as a synthesis

process, of interconnection between two religions or their manifestations . If such process results

deficient, one is talking of syncretism; when considered adequate, it is called syncretization.94

How and what are the criteria to evaluate this process? Maldonado offers some of a more de-

scriptive character. The syncretistic is a mere sum or juxtaposition of religious and cultural systems.

Some Christian meanings are accepted, but eventually the traditional meaning prevails, even if it is

slightly remodeled. The syncretic is the true synthesis or dialectic interaction from which something

new results. The belief or the rite of one is mutually reinterpreted by the other. In this case there can

be two variables, says the author. The aborigine rites and symbols are accepted and they receive a

new meaning (in this case, Christian). But, and this is the first variable, such procedure may end up

by denying the previous meaning of those symbolic rites and it wil l not result in an authentic syn-

cretization.

91 Ibid, pages 334-335. 92 Stromata 1, 5, 28, Apud Ibid, p. 336. 93 C. STEWART and R. SHAW, Syncretism/Anti-syncretism: the politics of religious synthesis, p.

2. 94 L. MALDONADO, Introduccin a la religiosidad popular, p. 55.



A true syncretization (the second variable) requires instead that the previous meaning be elevated

to another plan keeping and exchanging it little by little; asserting and denying it; nulli fying with-

out destroying but transcending and elevating it to a new plenitude of meaning .95

I imagine that the first reaction is to frown in the face of assertions such as to nulli fy without de-

stroying (how?). However in the present Roman Catholic Churchs conjuncture 96 this attempt

sounds advanced when it considers Christian data as the inspiring principle that respects and en-

courages anothers point of view by purifying it. Since of course, it is always taken into account that

the process is reciprocal. Both interlocutors are in a way purifying themselves . However I will

have the opportunity to go back to this topic in depth. Meanwhile I just intended to situate myself at

a more adequate exegetical place in order to dialogue with the Afro-Brazili an traditions.

In fact, and as previously mentioned, an ex abrupto use of the term inculturation would have

given the idea of an initiative whose kick-off depended on a summit placet. A moving that would

start only when the clergy entered the scene. Instead by granting a privilege to the syncretic relig-

ions (Catholicism included) I intend to talk first about an on-going process, a dialogue already

started. Thus I try to approach a creative freedom that not always has patience with the usual slow-

ness of teaching (in this case the Catholic) and that often is more concerned with doctrinal purity.

As we saw the term enculturation has a meaning clearly theological. Moreover Torres Queiruga

made its risky boundary very clear. In the Catholic theology there is a challenge that it is similar to

its correlate contextualization in the Protestant tradition. In A. Magalhes opinion the insistence

on enculturation confused the reflection about the changes occurred within a process of interaction

between the Christian message announcement and the other religious traditions and cultural ar-

rangements, between the reception and the reworking up of a tradition.97 The consequences for

theology were significant: the absence of a more direct dialogue between the academic theology

and the so called popular religions, the lack of perception as to the incapacity of references con-

ceived for the reflection about a tradition based on the dogma of contemplating the new emergent

Christianisms in our continent .98

For the author, if terms such as enculturation and contextualization partially account for the

problems aroused by Gospel insertion in cultures, they however exclude the question of culture in-

sertion in Gospel traditions.99 Syncretism would then be a term that renders explicit the mutual

influence between Gospel and culture 100, since while evangelization means to announce the mes-

sage about Christian symbols in each time and culture and enculturation is the process through

95 Ibid, p. 56. 96 It suffices to check the recent declaration Dominus Iesus signed by the Congregation for the

Doctrine of Faith. 97 A.C. MAGALHES, Syncretism as a topic of ecumenical theology. In: Studies of Religion 14, pa-

ges 49-70 (hre p. 69). 98 Ibid, p. 70. 99 Ibid, p. 56. 100 Ibid, p. 57.



which the message is being announced, the syncretism would be its end product that side-steps

control not only by the missionary or announcer but also by the message receptor .101

Therefore the mentioned interaction between evangelization, enculturation and syncretism in the

theological reflection is possible and desirable. Moreover to pay attention to the syncretic world can

be of help in an interdisciplinary confrontation (anthropology, phenomenology, sociology, li terature

etc) for sure a more stimulating theological research. Consequently by holding back both terms in

dispute syncretism and enculturation with the help of a novice (in-religionation) one can duly

weigh the problem.

From everything that was examined here it is possible to advance the following hypothesis: the

people who are faithful to the African origins, or even those population segments that go ahead with

two religions simultaneously, do not intend to challenge or apostatize the Christian orthodoxy. As

well indicated by M. de F. Miranda, when judging peoples beliefs the theologian does it with

his/her categories from Western and Christian understanding keys, that can be, as per case, inade-

quate and even deforming . And he goes on: our idea of incoherence of those who assumed ele-

ments from other religions, which we found dissimilar or even contradictory, in fact does not exist

for those people who count only with fragments and not the totality of the religion to which they

belong and adhered () induced by a well defined will fulness .102 Since, as states M. Amaladoss,

usually no community considers itself syncretist (in the depreciative meaning) for from its point of

view it integrates several symbols in a system of consistent meaning and which is relevant for its

life . And he concludes: The problem with Christianism is that it has not been sufficiently syncre-

tist in the last centuries .103

Moreover what the Candombl Catholics have had before them for centuries are the popular Ca-

tholicisms. The criticism and/or condemnation of such phenomena are generally ineffective because

they are too aseptic, that is, they start from an ethereal Catholicism that no one has ever seen. At the

end of the 60s J. Comblin already said clearly that the formal Catholicism defined by theology

and Canon Law never existed. There are real systems constituted by a certain Christian permeation

of several civil izations. But the pure, formal Christianism does not exist. Not even the clergymen

live it. The difference between the clergymens Catholicism and the popular Catholicism consists

just of the following: the clergymen imagine that their Christianism is pure and the only one truly

authentic and the others have no problem of orthodoxy or authenticity. In fact there are just differ-

ent translation systems for the Christianism in real conditions of human experience. The popular

forms deserve as much respect as the official forms.104

If that is the case, before judging the double religion Catholics one must ask about the Chisti-

anism ad intra quality known by them. It follows this Confiteor a second question: what would be

101 Ibid, p. 68. 102 M. de F. MIRANDA, Faith enculturation and religious syncretism. In: REB 238, p. 290. 103 M. AMALADOSS, Mission and enculturation, pages 43 and 44. 104 J. COMBLIN, Sign of the times and evangelization, p. 260.



the Churchs true function in these situations of (apparent) religious mixing? What services are ex-

pected from Christians in such contexts? To do good to people is it equal to convert them (in their

totality) to a more orthodox Christianism? Summing up, is the salvation-liberation of Gods people

a synonym of the peoples mature adherence to this community called Church?105

In order to answer those questions the Christian theology must turn its attention to its own core

and to the Christian faith fundamentals, that is, the possibilit ies and the modalities of human access

to the supposed evangelic message. Derived from the best reflection ratified by the Vatican II , the

Liberation Theology also ended up by paying its share to a certain gauche Enlightenment. Authors

such as R. Alves, Brazili an, and J.L. Segundo, Uruguayan detected each on his own way some of

this theological tendency limits. It would be important to follow their epistemology identifying their

contribution in view of a new revelation theology that is more capable of including in its circuits

other possible paths of divine self-communication in History. But this is a topic for the next article.

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