Syncretism. Originally this Greek term, introduced by Plutarch, meant simply the blending together of doctrines from various schools of philosophical or religious thought to make out of the blend a unified whole. The term is now used in a pejorative sense, signifying a mere collection of viewpoints idly put together without adequate understanding of them or of their implicates. It need not, however, always have so negative a connotation.

Geddes MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1989