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Contemporary Thai Buddhists worship a variety of “holy things” (sing saksit), including spirits, gods, and Buddha images, in nearly identical ways for mundane boons. Although the model of syncretism has largely been rejected in Religious Studies, aspects of the Thai worship of these holy things, as well as the language used by Thai Buddhists themselves, still stubbornly seems to suggest that syncretism is at play. In this talk, which is based on his book, Holy Things: The Genealogy of the Sacred in Thai Religion, which was recently released by Oxford University Press, McGovern answers the question, If syncretism is so wrong, then why does it feel so right?

Nathan McGovern is a scholar of Asian religions teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater since 2016. He received his PhD in Religious Studies in 2013 and has lived and worked in Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, Canada, and the United States. His work focuses on interrogating the boundary between Buddhism and Hinduism in ancient India and in Thailand. His latest book. The Snake and the Mongoose, published with Oxford University Press in 2019.

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