Conversion to Christianity: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:11, 27 April 2025

Revision as of 18:21, 23 May 2025

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Social Anthropologist Juliette Koning and sociologist Heidi Dahles of [[Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam]], agree there has been a "rapid expansion of charismatic Christianity from the 1980s onwards. [[Singapore]], [[China]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Taiwan]], [[Indonesia]], and Malaysia are said to have the fastest-growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are "upwardly mobile, urban, [[middle-class]] Chinese". Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang have reported in their book ''Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia'' that "Asia has the second largest number of Pentecostals/charismatics of any continent in the world, and seems to be fast catching up with the largest, Latin America."{{sfn|Anderson|Tang|2005|p=2}} The ''World Christian Encyclopedia'' estimated 135 million in Asia compared to 80 million in North America.{{sfn|Anderson|Tang|2005|p=2}}

It has been reported also that increasing numbers of young people are becoming Christians in several countries such as [[China]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/05/01/chinese-government-targeting-young-christians-229592|title=Why the Chinese government is targeting young Christians in its latest crackdown|date=14 May 2018|publisher=America magazine|quote=A study of the religious lives of university students in Beijing published in a mainland Chinese academic journal Science and Atheism in 2013 showed Christianity to be the religion that interested students most and the most active on campuses. It concluded there was a "religious fever" in society and "religious forces were infiltrating colleges." With the support of "overseas religious forces," it said, there was a rapid growth in Christianity among university students. It said Christian fellowships on campus mostly refused to succumb to the leadership of the state-backed churches and thus posed "a problem" in the government's administration of religious affairs.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://trainingleadersinternational.org/jgc/76/conversions-to-christianity-among-highly-educated-chinese|title=Conversions to Christianity Among Highly Educated Chinese|date=14 May 2018|publisher=Training leaders }}</ref> Hong Kong,<ref>{{cite book|title=After Migration And Religious Affiliation: Religions, Chinese Identities And Transnational Networks| first= Chee-beng |last= Tan|year= 2014| isbn=9789814590013| page =XXV|publisher=World Scientific|quote=They also point out that more educated migrants and those from Hong Kong are more likely to become Christians than those from mainland China.}}</ref> [[Indonesia]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/53625/INDO_22_0_1107107671_19_56.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Religion and Education in Indonesia|date=30 January 2017|publisher=eCommons Cornell University|quote= Finally, during this century there has been a rapid growth in the number of Chinese Christians. Very few Chinese were Christians at the turn of the century. Today Christians constitute approximately 10 or 15 percent of the Chinese population in Indonesia, and probably a higher percentage among the young. Conversion of Chinese to Christianity accelerated in the 1960s, especially in East Java, and for Indonesia as a whole the proportion of Chinese who were Catholics rose from 2 percent in 1957 to 6 percent in 19.}}</ref> [[Iran]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The Persian Night: Iran Under the Khomeinist Revolution|first=Amir |last=Taher|year= 2020| isbn= 9781594034794| page =343 |publisher=Encounter Books|quote=The reason is that a growing number of Iranians, especially the young, are converting to Zoroastrianism or Christianity.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://landinfo.no/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Iran-Christian-converts-and-house-churches-1-prevalence-and-conditions-for-religious-practice.pdf|title=Report: Iran: Christian converts and house churches (1) –prevalence and conditions for religious practice Translation provided by the Office of the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium|date=22 February 2009|publisher=Office of the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium|quote=P.15: Chiaramonte (2016), that it is young people in particular who convert to Christianity in today's Iran}}</ref> [[Japan]],<ref>{{cite book|title=International Handbook of Protestant Education| first=David |last= W. Robinson|year= 2012| isbn=9789400723870| page =521 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|quote=A 2006 Gallup survey, however, is the largest to date and puts the number at 6%, which is much higher than its previous surveys. It notes a major increase among Japanese youth professing Christ.}}</ref> [[Singapore]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The Perception of Christianity as a Rational Religion in Singapore: A Missiological Analysis of Christian Conversione| first= Clive|last= S. Chin|year= 2017| isbn= 9781498298094| page =166 |publisher=Routledge|quote=This socio-demographic characterizes Christian converts as mostly .. (2) well-educated, (3) belonging in higher-income brackets, (4) switching their religion between ten and twenty-nine years of age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DsuuDgAAQBAJ&q=educated+convert+to+christianity+in+Singapore&pg=PT12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~shong/home/SSA1201.pdf|title=Religious Revival Among Chinese in Singapore|date=14 May 2018|publisher=SSA1201 Assignment|quote=Converts to Christianity tend to come from the young, educated, English-speaking Chinese generation }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41308136|title=State and Social Christianity in Post-colonial Singapore|date=21 April 2010|publisher=Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia|jstor=41308136|quote=Christianity has flourished in post-colonial Singapore, especially attracting conversions from among young, urbanized and English- educated.|last1=Goh|first1=Daniel P. S.|journal=Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia|volume=25|issue=1|pages=54–89|doi=10.1355/SJ25-1C|s2cid=144235936|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and [[South Korea]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sukman | first1 = Jang | year = 2004 | title = Historical Currents and Characteristics of Korean Protestantism after Liberation | journal = Korea Journal | volume = 44 | issue = 4| pages = 133–156 }}</ref>

The [[Council on Foreign Relations]] says the "number of Chinese Protestants has grown by an average of 10 percent annually since 1979".{{sfn|Albert|2018|p=n/a}} Award-winning historian of Christianity, Todd Hartch of [[Eastern Kentucky University]], has written that by 2005, around 6 million Africans were converting annually to Christianity.{{sfn|Hartch|2014|p=1}} According to Iranian historian Ladan Boroumand "Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/iranians-turn-away-from-the-islamic-republic/|title=Iranians Turn Away from the Islamic Republic|date=20 January 2020|publisher=Journal of Democracy}}</ref>

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While the exact number of [[Dalit]] converts to Christianity in India is not available, religion scholar William R. Burrow of [[Colorado State University]] has estimated that about 8% of Dalits have converted to Christianity.{{sfn|Burrow|2009|p=201}} According to a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center, Christianity has grow in India in recent years due to conversion. Most converts are former Hindus, though some are former Muslims.{{sfn|SAHGAL|EVANS|SALAZAR|STARR|2021|p=n/a}}{{sfn|Frykenberg|Low|2003|p=228}}

Since the 1960s, there has been a substantial increase in the number of conversions from Islam to Christianity, mostly to the [[Evangelical]] and Pentecostal denominations of Christianity.{{sfn|Miller|Johnstone|2015|loc=abstract}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Living among the Breakage: Contextual Theology-Making and Ex-Muslim Christians |first=Duane Alexander |last=Miller |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4982-8417-2 |pages=435–481 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press}}</ref> The 2015 study ''Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census'' estimated that 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity.{{sfn|Miller|Johnstone|2015|p=8}}<ref>{{Citation |last=Miller |first=Duane Alexander |title=Christians from a Muslim background in the Middle East |date=2018-09-20 |work=Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East |pages=132–145 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315626031-10 |access-date=2024-05-28 |place=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019. |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315626031-10 |isbn=978-1-315-62603-1|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Countries with the largest numbers of Muslims converted to Christianity include Indonesia (6,500,000), Nigeria (600,000), [[Iran]] (500,000 versus only 500 in 1979), the United States (450,000), Ethiopia (400,000), and [[Algeria]] (380,000).{{sfn|Pipes|2021|p=n/a}} [[Indonesia]] is home to the largest Christian community of converts from Islam. Since the mid and late 1960s, between 2 and 2.5 million Muslims converted to Christianity.{{sfn|Anderson|2013|p=145}}{{sfn|Bresnan|2005|p=107}}{{sfn|Daniels|2017|p=102}} According to the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] in 2007, experts estimated that thousands of Muslims in the [[Western world]] converted to Christianity annually, but were not publicized due to fear of retribution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/religious-conversion-and-sharia-law|title=Religious Conversion and Sharia Law|date=6 June 2007|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|quote=In the West, experts estimate thousands of Muslims switch to Christianity every year but keep their conversions secret for fear of retribution. "Converts from Islam, especially those who become involved in Christian ministries, often use assumed names, or only their first names, in order to protect themselves and their families," writes Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a Washington-based terrorism analyst in Commentary.}}</ref>

==Methods of conversion==

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* {{cite journal|author1-last=de Castella|author1-first=Rosemary|author2-last=Simmonds|author2-first=Janette Graetz|year=2012 |title=There's a deeper level of meaning as to what suffering's all about": experiences of religious and spiritual growth following trauma|journal= Mental Health, Religion & Culture|volume=16|issue=5|pages=536–556 |doi=10.1080/13674676.2012.702738 |s2cid=144124240}}

* {{cite journal|last=Dulles|first= Avery|title=Fundamental Theology and the Dynamics of Conversion|journal = The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review|volume= 45|issue= 2|year= 1981|pages=175–193|doi=10.1353/tho.1981.0025|

url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/16/article/639178/pdf|url-access=subscription}}

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* {{cite magazine|author=R. G.|title=Why is Protestantism flourishing in the developing world?|date=18 November 2017 |url=https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2017/11/09/why-is-protestantism-flourishing-in-the-developing-world |magazine=The Economist}}

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* {{cite journal |last=Hanigan |first=James P. |title=Conversion and Christian Ethics |journal=Theology Today |volume=40 |number=1|date=April 1983 |pages=25–35 |doi=10.1177/004057368304000104 |s2cid=147202154 |url=http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1983/v40-1-article3.htm |access-date=2009-06-17 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502195942/http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1983/v40-1-article3.htm|url-access=subscription }}

* {{cite book|title=The Rebirth of Latin American Christianity|first=Todd|last=Hartch|year=2014| isbn=978-0-19-936514-2| page=1 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}

* {{cite book |last=Hebblewhite |first=Mark |year=2020 |title=Theodosius and the Limits of Empire |publisher=Routledge |___location=London |isbn=978-1-138-10298-9 |url={{google books|o1TYDwAAQBAJ |plainurl=y}} |doi=10.4324/9781315103334 |s2cid=213344890}}

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* {{cite journal |last=Irmscher |first=Johannes |title=Non-christians and sectarians under Justinian: the fate of the inculpated |journal=Collection de l'Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité |volume=367 |issue=1 |year=1988 |pages=165–167 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_1988_ant_367_1_1722}}

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* {{cite journal|title=Christian Unity and Valid Baptism| last=Jagger|first=Peter J.|year=1971|doi= 10.1177/0040571X7107400905|journal=Theology|volume=74|issue=615| pages=404–413|url= https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X7107400905|url-access=subscription}}

* {{cite journal|last=Jakubiak|first= Tomasz|title=Full Communion with the Catholic Church and the Validity of Taking on the Munus of Sponsor|journal=Roczniki Nauk Prawnych|volume=31|issue=1 |year=2021|pages=163–179|doi=10.18290/rnp21311-9|doi-access=free}}

* {{cite book |last1=Jenkins |first1=Philip |title=The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-976746-5 |edition=illustrated}}

* {{cite journal|last=Jensen|first= Robin M.|title=Material and Documentary Evidence for the Practice of Early Christian Baptism |journal=Journal of Early Christian Studies|volume= 20|issue= 3|year= 2012| pages= 371–405| doi=10.1353/earl.2012.0019|s2cid= 170787102}}

* {{cite journal|last=Jindra|first= I.W.|title=A History of Christian Conversion and Other Conversion Models: a Review Essay|journal= Pastoral Psychology|volume= 70|pages=141–150|year= 2021|issue= 2|doi= 10.1007/s11089-021-00939-4|url= https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-021-00939-4|url-access= subscription}}

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* {{cite book |last1=Kaldellis |first1=Anthony |date=2012 |title=Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0241-0}}