Beyond Conversion and Syncretism

Reviews / Votes

"Through its historical exploration of the conceptual trajectories of conversion and syncretism, this book is an important theoretical addition to the library of any specialist or student of religion. Furthermore, the empirical examples on which the different contributions are rich, varied and amply engage the reader with a wide variety of historical and geographical contexts. This is a great book to delve into, especially for those interested in conversion." ? Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale



"...offers some interesting and useful ethnographic material on the diversity of the missionary experience. It certainly proves its point that 'conversion' and 'syncretism' cannot be assumed to occur at all, let alone to occur in the same way in all times and places." ? Anthropology Review Database



"The volume delights by its broad geographical and denominational range...[it] offers a wealth of material for those interested in missionary and cultural encounters, conversion and the processes of domestication of Christianity. It also forms thought-provoking reading for scholars and students of historical and present-day Christianity." ? Anthropological Notebooks



"Meticulously researched, impeccably learned, and lucidly written, these essays push us to revisit the notions of 'conversion' and 'syncretism' as historical and theological interpretative categories of missions history. Thanks to the editors' and the contributors' labor we can now see why these two categories are much more complex and multidimensional than commonly assumed. No future history of Christian missions can afford ignoring this volume." ? Peter C. Phan, Georgetown University



"This is an excellent collection on topics of considerable current interest to scholars in history, anthropology and religious studies...a fine, nuanced collection of highly focused essays." ? Norman Etherington, University of Western Australia