CATHOLIC THEOLOGY DILEMMAS IN THE FACE OF...
Transcript of CATHOLIC THEOLOGY DILEMMAS IN THE FACE OF...
-
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
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 3
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 4
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 5
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 6
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 7
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 8
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 9
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 10
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 11
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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).
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 12
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 13
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 14
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 15
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 16
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 17
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 18
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 19
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 20
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 21
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 22
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
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.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AMALADOSS M., Misso e inculturao, So Paulo: Loyola, 2000.
ANCHIETA J. de, Cartas, informaes, fragmentos histricos e sermes (1554-1594), Rio de Janeiro: Civi-
lizao Brasileira, 1933.
ANDRADE J. M. T. de, O sincretismo e o religioso. In CNBB, A Igreja Catlica diante do pluralismo re-
ligioso no Brasil II , Estudos- CNBB, v. 69, So Paulo: Paulus, 1993: 26-53.
ASETT, Identidade Negra e Religio: consulta sobre cultura negra e teologia na Amrica Latina, Rio de
Janeiro- S. Bernardo: CEDI-Liberdade, 1986.
ATABAQUE-ASETT, Teologia afro-americana: II consulta ecumnica de teologia e culturas afro-
americana e caribenha, So Paulo: Paulus, 1997.
AZEVEDO M. C. de, Comunidades Eclesiais de Base e Inculturao da F: a realidade das CEBs e sua
tematizao terica, na perspectiva de uma evangelizao inculturada, So Paulo: Loyola, 1986.
AZEVEDO T., Catolicismo no Brasil?. In: Vozes, n. 63 (1969): 117-124.
BARRETO M.A.P., Sincretismo. In: Dic. de C.Sociais, Rio de Janeiro: FGV-MEC (1986): 1117-1118.
BOFF C., Teologia e Prtica: teologia do poltico e suas mediaes, Petrpolis: Vozes, 1982.
BOFF L., Avaliao teolgico-crtica do sincretismo. In: VOZES 71/7 (1977) 53-68.
______, Igreja Carisma e Poder, 3a ed. Petrpolis: Vozes, 1982.
BORGES, R. F. de C., Ax, Madona Achiropita: um estudo da presena de elementos da cultura afro-
brasileira nas celebraes da Igreja N. Senhora Achiropita (Bexiga, So Paulo), Dissertao de
Mestrado em Cincias da Religio, PUC-SP, 2000.
BREEVELD M.M., Uma reviso do conceito de sincretismo religioso e perspectivas de Pesquisa. In: REB
138 (1975) 415-423.
105 This is precisely one of the main questions faced by J.L. SEGUNDO in This community called
Church.. I examined the topic in A. SOARES, Candomble, syncretisms and Christianism: a dia-logue with Juan Luis Segundo. In: Idem, Juan Luis Segundo: a theology with a flavor of life, pages 121-144.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 23
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
CAROSO C. & BACELAR J. (org.), Faces da tradio afro-brasileira: religiosidade, sincretismo, anti-
sincretismo, reafricanizao, prticas teraputicas, etnobotnica e comida, Rio de Janeiro-Salvador:
Pallas-CEAO, 1999.
COLLET G., Inculturao. In: P. EICHER (dir.), Dicionrio de Conceitos Fundamentais de Teologia, So
Paulo: Paulus, 1993, p. 394-400.
COMBLIN J. Os sinais dos tempos e a evangelizao: estudos de teologia pastoral I, So Paulo: Duas Ci-
dades, 1968.
______, As Aporias da Inculturao (I). In: REB, n. 223 (1996): 664-684.
______, As Aporias da Inculturao (II ). In: REB, n. 224 (1996): 912-918.
DANTAS B. G., Vov Nag e Papai Branco: usos e Abusos da frica no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Graal,
1982.
______, Repensando a pureza nag. In Religio e Sociedade, Rio de Janeiro: ISER (1982): 15-20.
DUPUIS J., Ges Cristo incontro alle religioni, Assisi: Cittadella, 1989.
______ Rumo a uma teologia crist do pluralismo religioso, So Paulo: Paulinas, 1999.
FERRETTI S. F., Repensando o sincretismo: estudo sobre a Casa das Minas, So Paulo: EDUSP S. Lus:
FAPEMA, 1995.
FRISOTTI H., Passos no dilogo: igreja catlica e religies afro-brasileiras, So Paulo: Paulus, 1996.
HOORNAERT E., Formao do catolicismo brasileiro: 1500-1800, Petrpolis: Vozes, 1974.
KLOPPENBURG B., Ensaio de uma nova posio pastoral perante a Umbanda. In: REB 110 (1968): 404-
417.
______, Os afro-brasileiros e a umbanda. In: CELAM, Os grupos afro-americanos, So Paulo: Paulinas,
1982, p. 185-211.
______, O sincretismo afro-brasileiro como desafio evangelizao. In: Teocomunicao 96 (1992): 203-
215.
MAGALHES A. C. de M., Sincretismo como tema de uma teologia ecumnica. In: Estudos de Religio,
UMESP 14 (1998): 49-70.
MALDONADO L , Introduccin a la religiosidad popular, Santander: Sal Terrae, 1985.
MARALDO J. C., Synkretismus. In Sacramentum Mundi IV (1969): 795-800.
MIRANDA M. de F., Inculturao da f e sincretismo religioso. In: REB 238 (2000): 275-293.
MNTEBA M., Inculturao na Terceira Igreja : Pentecostes de Deus ou desforra das culturas?. In: CON-
CILIUM, n. 239 (1992): 149-169.
MUNANGA K., Mestiagem e identidade afro-brasileira. In: Vozes, 6, 93 (1999): 85-96.
______, Rediscutindo a mestiagem no Brasil: identidade nacional versus identidade negra, Petrpolis:
Vozes, 1999.
ROEST CROLLIUS A. A., What is so new about inculturation? A concept and its Implications. In: Gregori-
anum 59 (1978): 721-738.
ROLIM F.C., Condicionamentos sociais do catolicismo popular, REB 141 (1976) 142-170.
______, Religies Africanas no Brasil e Catolicismo. Um Questionamento. In: frica. USP-FFLCH, Rev. do
CEA, 1978(1): 41-62.
SEGUNDO, J. L. As etapas pr-crists da descoberta de Deus: Uma chave para a anlise do cristianismo
(latino-americano), com J. P. SANCHIS. Petrpolis:Vozes, 1968.
-
Edition n. 5 Mai / June 2006 24
Ciberteologia - Revista de Teologia & Cultura / Journal of Theology & Culture
______, Teologia aberta para o leigo adulto. vol. I. Essa comunidade chamada Igreja., So Paulo: Loyola,
1976-1977.
SILVA A .A. da (org.), Existe um pensar teolgico negro?, So Paulo: Paulinas, 1998.
SOARES, A. M. L. (org.), Juan Luis Segundo - uma teologia com sabor de vida, So Paulo: Paulinas, 1997.
______, Candombl, sincretismos e cristianismo: um dilogo com J. L. Segundo. In Juan Luis Segundo - uma
teologia com sabor de vida. So Paulo: Paulinas, 1997, 121-144.
______, Le religioni afrobrasiliane e l inculturazione della fede, Dissertao de Mestrado em Teologia Fun-
damental, Roma: PUG, 1990.
______, O eclesial das comunidades de base e a mistura religiosa: um desafio para a inculturao da f. In:
ESPAOS , So Paulo, ITESP, 1/1 (1993): 55-70.
STEWART C. & SHAW R., Syncretism/Anti-syncretism:The Politics of Religious Synthesis, NY,
Routledge,1994.
SUESS, P., Catolicismo Popular no Brasil: Tipologia e estratgia de uma religiosidade vivida, So Paulo:
Loyola, 1979.
______, Inculturao: desafios, caminhos, metas. In: REB 193 (1989) 81-126.
______, A disputa pela inculturao. In ANJOS M. F. dos [org.], Teologia da inculturao e inculturao da
teologia, Petrpolis: Vozes, 1995.
TORRES QUEIRUGA A., O dilogo das religies, So Paulo: Paulus, 1996.
______, Do terror de Isaac ao Abb de Jesus: por uma nova imagem de Deus. So Paulo: Paulinas, 2001.
VRIOS, Histria da Igreja no Brasil, 2 vol., 3ed. Petrpolis: Vozes So Paulo: Paulinas, 1983.
VASCONCELOS S. S. D., Em busca do prprio poo: o sincretismo afro-catlico como desafio incultura-
o, tese doutoral, Faculdade de Teologia Catlica da Westflischen Wilhelms-Universitt, Mn-
ster/Westfalia, 1999.
Version by Cacilda Rainho Ferrante