Religious Conversion

Relationship between Change and Continuity

If, in a first approach, conversion is defined as a radical change in attitude, the question then becomes how much continuity is retained in this process. Even authors who stress the fundamental character of the changeover admit that a sense of internal consistency is preserved in the conversion process.

Relationship between Individual Experience and Social Communication

What precisely changes in the process of radical change that constitutes a conversion? Is conversion an act of consciousness that alters the convert's worldview or his or her identity? Or is it a social occurrence expressed in a change in group membership, in conversion narratives, or in demonstrative acts, the psychological side of which, however, remains impenetrable for scientific analysis? If conversion is conceived as a psychological change, the question becomes how individual experiences can be conveyed and how the diffuseness of the individual experience relates to the structure of the communication act. If conversion is defined as a social process, the question is whether the external, visible change corresponds to an internal transformation, and in how far the researcher can grasp this internal transformation.

Relationship between Individual Autonomy and Societal Compulsion

The distinction between individual experience and social communication leads to a third question pertaining to the relationship between individual autonomy and societal compulsion in the conversion process: Is conversion more externally determined or more the result of individual spontaneity? How active or passive is the individual in the conversion process? Is it conceivable for a conversion to be brought about entirely by external societal compulsion, as proponents of a brainwashing approach have suggested? Or must the individual not always also be actively involved in the process? Furthermore, can we still speak of conversion if, in contrast, the act rests solely on individual intentions? What is the relationship between societal circumstances—political opportunities, restrictions, social networks, communicative discourses, cultural ruptures, and so on—and individual spontaneity?

Relationship between Crisis and Personal Transformation

This question again partly depends on whether conversion is conceived as a change invariably reacting to problems, crises, contradictions, and tensions—be they social or individual in nature—or if the possibility is conceded that conversions can also occur independently of tensions and problems. How is the relationship between crisis and personal transformation in the conversion process defined?

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