Isomorphism, Syncretism, and Poly-ontological Dynamics: The Implications of Chinese Religion for Covenantal Pluralism

Abstract

Religious pluralism is generally seen as a value to be cherished, promoted, and even celebrated, at least in liberal societies and cultural circles; and its acceptance as a global norm is reflected in the fact that few would dare to openly deny it, even when they adhere to effectively anti-plu- ralist or intolerant ideologies. However, conventional understandings of pluralism inadvertently exclude widespread forms of religious/worldview diversity from the pluralistic field.This essay will draw on the pluralistic structures of Chinese religion to propose a critical re-examination of conventional Western-derived norms and values of religious pluralism. I use the Chinese cases examined in this essay to build on the notion of “poly-ontology. Here, I use this model to examine how individuals, groups, and society concurrently act and think within multiple, incommensurable ontologies, with the choice of identifying with one or many of them, in any given context of multiple allegiances.This model will be contrasted to both the “isomorphic” nature of conventional religious pluralism (particularly in the West),which advocates for mutual appreciation between bounded identities and affiliations, and to conceptions of syncretism and hybridity that presuppose the erasing of boundaries and the permanent dilution of difference.