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Encounter of Religions in Papua New Guinea—Toward a Relationship between Christianity and Original Traditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2023

Dušan Lužný
Affiliation:
Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic University of West Bohemia Pilsen, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Martin Soukup
Affiliation:
Charles University Prague, Prague, Czech Republic University of Pardubice, Pardubice, Czech Republic

Abstract

The text introduces Papua New Guinea as a region where an encounter of various cultural and religious traditions occurred in the last several centuries and which still happens today. Christianization has posed a significant cultural change that has taken place recently and at the same time as modernization. Using examples from Papua New Guinea, the study demonstrates that although Christianity can dominate in a particular society, elements of original Indigenous religions can exist in parallel or can create a syncretic synthesis. The aim of the study is to analyze the types of this coexistence and to identify the factors of maintenance and transformation of Indigenous traditions as a result of Christianization as part of the process of globalization. The study is a contribution to the discussion on the forms of world Christianity.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© College Theology Society 2023

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