As I was reading Campbell’s article on page four, I had a moment
of inwards ranting from the following line, “…hybridity can occur as practitioners
combine religious language rituals, ideas, and artifacts from multiple
traditions or interpretations, even those previously seen as nonreligious.”
Campbell’s idea about hybridity made me think about the broader exchange of
these translations of God that I see all these different religions to be. For
instance, I have witnessed many of my peers that identify as Christian to being
open to the Buddhist idea of reincarnation. This does not completely interfere
with Christian ideas, for Christ was resurrected (but not necessarily reincarnated
as another being completely different from him). Essentially, Jesus was given
another life much like what would happen under the umbrella of Buddhism. What I
really wonder, as someone with no background in the church, is how the
influence of world religions have impacted Christian theology and maybe if they
have provided a lens to which the Bible has been re-contextualized through. Is
there a hybridity not only with virtual Christian forums to offline Christian
modes of being, but also to the hybridity of the various theologies out there
now? Is it more common now than it was before? Does the hyper-communication
platform that the virtual world also provides become a place where these
different world religions can shape how we have come to understand Christian
narrative and ultimately transform our ‘meaning-making’ as Christianity
continues to evolve? What are some other examples? I would love to know if
anyone’s beliefs about the ‘spiritual other’ may be derived from other
religions. -Tolby
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