Beyond Conversion and Syncretism : : Indigenous Encounters with Missionary Christianity, 1800-2000 / / ed. by Miles Richardson, avid.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Dube, Saurabh,; Elbourne, Elizabeth,; Frey, Sylvia,; Keary, Anne,; Lindenfeld, David,; Murphy, Joseph M.,; Richardson, Miles,; Samson, C. Mathews,; Tran, Anh Q.,; Young, Richard Fox,
• HerausgeberIn: Richardson, Miles,; avid, ,
• Place / Publishing House: New York ;, Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2011]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (328 p.)

The globalization of Christianity, its spread and appeal to peoples of non- European origin, is by now a well-known phenomenon. Scholars increasingly realize the importance of natives rather than foreign missionaries in the process of evangelization. This volume contributes to the understanding of this process through case studies of encounters with Christianity from the perspectives of the indigenous peoples who converted. More importantly, by exploring overarching, general terms such as conversion and syncretism and by showing the variety of strategies and processes that actually take place, these studies lead to a more nuanced understanding of cross-cultural religious interactions in general—from acceptance to resistance—thus enriching the vocabulary of religious interaction. The contributors tackle these issues from a variety of disciplinary perspectives—history, anthropology, religious studies—and present a broad geographical spread of cases from China, Vietnam, Australia, India, South and West Africa, North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION. BEYOND CONVERSION AND SYNCRETISM -- PART I CONVERSION AND ITS COMPLEXITIES -- 1 CONVERSION, TRANSLATION, AND LIFE-HISTORY IN COLONIAL CENTRAL INDIA -- 2 CONVERSION AT THE BOUNDARIES OF RELIGION, IDENTITY, AND POLITICS IN PLURICULTURAL GUATEMALA -- 3 CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS, CHRISTIAN ALLIES: COERCION AND CONVERSION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA AND NORTHEASTERN AMERICA AT THE TURN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY -- 4 HORTON’S “INTELLECTUALIST THEORY” OF CONVERSION, REFLECTED ON BY A SOUTH ASIANIST -- PART II SYNCRETISM AND ITS ALTERNATIVES -- 5 SANTA BARBARA AFRICANA: BEYOND SYNCRETISM IN CUBA -- 6 INCULTURATION, MISSION, AND DIALOGUE IN VIETNAM: THE CONFERENCE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF FOUR RELIGIONS -- 7 CONCENTRATION OF SPIRITUALITY: THE TAIPING AND THE ALADURA COMPARED -- 8 ACCULTURATION AND GENDERED CONVERSION: AFRO-AMERICAN CATHOLIC WOMEN IN NEW ORLEANS, 1726–1884 -- 9 COLONIAL CONSTRUCTS AND CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTION: COMPARING MISSIONARY/INDIGENOUS ENCOUNTERS IN NORTHWESTERN AMERICA AND EASTERN AUSTRALIA -- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY -- CONTRIBUTORS -- CONTRIBUTORS