...Neighboring civilizations can, of course, influence one another, sometimes quite unconsciously, and this influence may extend to matters of religion. Indeed, scholars are familiar with the phenomenon known as syncretism, whereby the god of religion X is identified with another god from religion Y; or X’s god is worshiped in some ceremony derived from religion Y. This happened a great deal in the ancient world, and items such as the “Hanukkah bush,” adopted by some American Jews in imitation of the Christmas tree, or the recent espousal of a very Christian-style messianism by a group of Hasidic Jews, show that syncretism is not dead in our own time.
OUCH!
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1 comment:
It would have been "hot" if he had explicitly said "Chabad". Still, interesting that he lumps them together with Hanukkah bushes!
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