This issue of chakana appears at a time when a recently enlarged Europe raises anew the question of Christianity's relevance for it. Borders are falling – not only in Europe. Even within one single country or one single life interchanges of different cultures and traditions, religions and symbol systems often occur  –without border fences and guarded border crossings. Many people quench their spiritual or religious thirst from different wells in a cross-border way. "Syncretic Faith?" – is this an allusion to a "new enchantment of the West" (Robert Schreiter)? The countries in the South, which are marked by the Christian mis­sion and by colonial history, have gained other experiences with this phenome­non.   

In Brazil the descendants of African slaves attach great importance to their being not only baptized Catholics, but also, as such, members of one of the Afro-Brazilian ritual communities. Afro-Catholic syncretism represents the answer of those Blacks to the destructive forces of slavery – an answer which became the way to liberation (Sergio Sezino Douets Vasconcelos). For Indian Christians Hinduism remains a spiritual home; their rootedness in both Christian and Hindu traditions leads to a creative interaction between these traditions (Michael Amaladoss, S.J.). In Africa, too, the syncretic movements correspond to a deep-felt desire to live more intensely (Ntima Nkanza, S.J.). The strength necessary to combine different religious traditions – like melodies overlapping each other whilst remaining distinct, yet each one modifying the other – is more likely to be found in the Southern hemisphere. 

However, a combination of that kind engenders fear. It is then referred to as "syncretism" mostly in the negative sense. Which kind of theology, though, establishes such a negative use? Is the act of faith not always "syncretic" in it­self? Central questions are set into motion, thus bringing about other ones. The concepts of truth and identity have to be newly defined. "Syncretic faith?" – the different contributions in the "Focus" of this issue of chakana rather indicate the urgency of this question than to give answers: a challenge for a theological re­search in the process of contextualization.

Hadwig Müller