If contextualisation is good syncretism, is syncretism just bad contextualisation?
Syncretism and contextualisation remain in debate. For a time it appeared as if Christians might have come to the consensus that contextualisation was an appropriate mixing of faith and culture, and syncretism an inappropriate, or at least contested, mixing of faith and culture. Although syncretism is primarily about religion and contextualisation about culture, in practice the categories of religion and culture are deeply intertwined. However usage has changed over time, syncretism and contextualisation each describe processes before they relate to outcomes, and action and meaning have become independent variables. Processes of change in religious practice and understanding raise questions, but do not of themselves determine whether the outcomes are satisfactory. The concern of people for the integrity of their faith is not resolved by the existence or otherwise of practices from a variety of religious and cultural sources. The idea that religions are culturally contained entities who
