Conversion to Christianity: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:32, 30 May 2025

Revision as of 03:30, 4 June 2025

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==Theology==

According to sociologist Ines W. Jindra, there is a "theological dimension" to conversion.{{sfn|Jindra|2021|p=148}} Avery Dulles quotes [[Bernard Lonergan]] saying "The subject of theology, then, is the person undergoing conversion to God".{{sfn|Dulles|1981|p=175}} The conversion experience is basic and has the characteristics of being "concrete, dynamic, personal, communal, and historical." Through this focus on the individual, theology of conversion is provided with the same characteristics in its foundation.{{sfn|Dulles|1981|pp=175, 176}}

Religious historian David W. Kling's ''History of Christian Conversion'' lists nine broad themes common to conversion narratives.{{sfn|Kling|2020|pp=20-23}} Jindra describes the first theme as "human cognizance of divine presence," while Kling says, "God becomes real to people" through conversion.{{sfn|Kling|2020|p=21}}{{sfn|Jindra|2021|p=147}} Conversion always has "context": humans are "socially constituted" beings and religious conversion always occurs in a social context.{{sfn|Kling|2020|p=21}} Jindra writes that, while all conversion accounts vary, they all show evidence of being based upon personal internal experiences of crisis expressed through the specific historical context in which the converts lived.{{sfn|Jindra|2021|pp=147, 148}}

There are aspects of both "movement and resistance" in conversion. Christianity has, from its beginnings, been an evangelical mission oriented religion which has spread through conversion. However, people naturally tend toward inertia, toward the familiar, unless otherwise motivated toward change, making conversion the exception not the rule in history.{{sfn|Kling|2020|p=21}}

There is both "continuity and discontinuity" in the conversion process. Conversion can be disruptive and cause a rupture with the past, but rupture is rarely complete. Aspects of the past are frequently kept, resulting in a kind of "hybrid" faith.{{sfn|Kling|2020|pp=21-22}} Gender also plays a direct role in how people do or do not convert.{{sfn|Kling|2020|p=23}}

Testimonies and narratives provide the vocabulary of conversion.{{sfn|Kling|2020|p=22}} In the more famous conversion stories, such as Augustine's and Martin Luther's, it is apparent the conversion story was later used, not only for personal insight and transformation, but also for drawing in potential converts.{{sfn|Jindra|2021|p=149}} Kling writes that "the influence of [such] personal testimonies on the history of conversion cannot be over-estimated."{{sfn|Kling|2020|p=22}} Indications from Jandra's twenty-first century research indicates this is also true for more ordinary, less famous, conversions.{{sfn|Jindra|2021|pp=149-150}} Conversion produced change in the lives of most converts in important and positive ways: Jindra says "they became more stable, found meaning in life, tackled their former problematic biographical trajectories, and improved their relationships (Jindra, 2014)".{{sfn|Jindra|2021|p=149}}

Conversion has historically been impacted by how personal "identity" and sense of self is defined. This can determine how much intentional action on the part of the individual convert has directed outcome, and how much outside forces may have impinged upon personal agency instead.{{sfn|Kling|2020|p=23}} In Christian conversion, there is nearly always a network of others who influenced the convert prior to conversion.{{sfn|Jindra|2021|p=149}} Jindra writes that the specific context, which includes the ideology of the group being joined, the individual convert's particular crisis, "and the degree of agency vs. the influence of others" are important aspects influencing whether converts change or do not change after a conversion.{{sfn|Jindra|2021|p=147}}{{sfn|Jindra|2021|p=147}}

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Trauma and existential crisis can lead to conversion. For the already converted, trauma is also often associated with "beneficial changes in self-perception, relationships, and philosophy of life, and positive changes in the realm of existential, spiritual, or religious matters" according to a study by psychologists Rosemary de Castella and Janette Simmonds.{{sfn|Tedeschi|Park|Calhoun|1998|p=13}}{{sfn|de Castella|Simmonds|2012|loc=abstract}}{{pb}}

A 2011 study indicates conversion can take either an inward form, wherein religion becomes the primary guiding principle and goal of the convert's life, or it can take an outward form where religion mostly serves other purposes, such as political or economic goals, which are more important to that individual than religion. For those who experience inward conversion, lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress are associated, while higher levels are associated with those who practice outward conversion only.{{sfn|Bazmi|Khalil|2011|loc=abstract}}

# ''Age''. Scroggs and Douglas say that early writers on the psychology of conversion were unanimous in regarding adolescence as the most probable age for conversion.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=210}}{{blockquote|In surveys of three churches, psychologist Robert Ferm found the average age of conversion to be 43, 46, and 41 years respectively.(Ferm, Robert, The Psychology of Christian Conversion. Westwood, N. J., Fleming Revell, I959, p. 218.) Converts made by Graham's first British campaign averaged in their middle twenties.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}} Jung emphasized mid to late thirties... Hiltner writes that conversion "is most important, most likely, and most cultivatable in the thirties, rather than being regarded primarily as an adolescent phenomenon".{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}}}} Accordingly Ferm writes that, "It is probably fair to conclude from Erikson's theories that both the identity crisis in adolescence and the integrity crisis in the middle years constitute ripe moments for conversion".{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}}

# ''Conscious or unconscious''. Exactly how much of the conversion experience is brought on by conscious control, and how much by unconscious factors behind or even beyond an individual, is also a matter of debate.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}} Forces beyond conscious control are cited by the majority of converts. Scriggs and Douglas wrote that "most psychologists agree the role of unconscious factors is extensive and often decisive in conversion, and that a long period of subconscious incubation precedes sudden conversions".{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=211}} Allport, Maslow, Rogers, and others stress the role of conscious decision.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|pp=211-212}}

# ''Science-versus-religion''. Psychologists as social scientists tend to operate according to a nothing-but reductionism. Conversion must be described as a natural process. Theologians and others who accept the possibility of the supernatural, have tended to take a something-more, hands-off-the-sacred-preserve approach to studying conversion.{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|p=213}} Different worldviews can bias interpretations. Scroggs and Douglas write that "No solution to this very difficult problem appears in the immediate purview", but they do suggest that acknowledging bias and incorporating both views in "not only interdisciplinary but interbias research is necessary".{{sfn|Scroggs|Douglas|1967|pp=213, 215}}

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* {{cite journal|last=Lemke|first=Steve W.|title=What Is A Baptist? Nine Marks That Separate Baptists From Presbyterians|journal= Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry|volume=5|issue=2|year=2008|url=https://www.agathonlibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/LEMKE-what_is_a_baptist__nine_marks_that_separate_baptists_from_presbyterians_-_by__steve_w._lemke.pdf}}

* {{cite journal |last1=Lichtenberger |first1=Achim |last2=Raja |first2=Rubina |title=From synagogue to church: The Appropriation of the Synagogue of Gerasa/Jerash under Justinian |journal=Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum |volume=61 |year=2018 |url=https://web.s.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=00752541&AN=143716816&h=Yo0W9z2ddrwkGVt3WXyvPXgogSCzsmWhGHNmrhL1bnKGvgIpAQC12yya2fmz771Afsc%2bUUsHSjgnhjNz%2f%2bU5nA%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d00752541%26AN%3d143716816}}

* {{cite book |last1=Lim |first1=Richard |editor1-last=Rousseau |editor1-first=Philip |title=A Companion to Late Antiquity |date=2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-29347-8|chapter=33 Christianization, Secularization, and the Transformation of Public Life}}

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* {{cite web|last=Makabenta|first=Yen|date=18 November 2017|title=Protestantism: The fastest growing religion in the developing world|publisher=The Manila Times |url=https://www.manilatimes.net/2017/11/18/opinion/columnists/topanalysis/protestantism-fastest-growing-religion-developing-world/363522/|access-date=1 September 2023}}