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The author proposes to account for the polysemy of the term syncretism and especially the gap between technical meaning it can have, notably in the history of religions and its current usage, very vague semantically, in Christian circles, where it is systematically given a negative connotation, opposite that of enculturation. After having retraced the history of the restoration of this rare word’s circulation by Erasmus as well as its first polemical applications in the framework of confessional controversies, the paper examines the sense in which it was taken up during the twentieth century in the history of religions, the discipline that more than any other has strived to precise its meanings, and where it finally is given a sense reserved especially to the relations between religions at the threshold of the Christian era. Finally, the author attempts to specify the type of peril that the notion in its Christian usages is intended to denounce, notably in conciliar, pontifical and pastoral documents. The author also points to the rare theologians who, in the framework of ecumenical or inter-religious dialogue, subscribe to a thoughtful and positive approach to the phenomena encompassed by the word syncretism.