Religious Conversion
Contemporary Practices and Controversies
Published on 1. October 1999
Book
Paperback/Softback
348 pages
978-0-304-33843-6 (ISBN)
Description
Religious conversion has always been and remains today a controversial issue in many of the world's reigions. It has been promoted, condoned, banned but almost never ignored. Although it normally appears in a religious context, the language of conversion can be discerned at the heart of the new religious pluralism that is increasingly present at least in many Western societies. This volume explains the practices of various world religions and highlights some of the issues that cut across traditions and emerge in distinctive ways in different ways in different religions and cultural settings. The first three chapters offer students some theoretical perspectives, and are followed by accounts of the history of conversion in Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Chinese religion and Zoroastrianism, as well as descriptions of contemporary practice. Additonal chapters look in depth at personal stories of conversion, both within Christianity and from Christianity Eastern and New Age forms of religion. The book will be of interest to undergraduates as well as the general reader interested in gaining an insight into an enduring controversy that affects all religions.Christopher Lamb is Head of the Centre for Inter-Faith Dialogue at Middlesex University, London.
M. Darrol Bryant is Professor of Religion and Culture at Renison College, University of Waterloo, Ontario.
M. Darrol Bryant is Professor of Religion and Culture at Renison College, University of Waterloo, Ontario.
Reviews / Votes
"...the volume does an excellent job of distinguishing between ethnic and universal religions, pointing out that conversion is more apt to be associated with the universal religions...this is an excellent volume, one that should be on the shelf of any scholar or student interested in conversion. Perhaps its strongest point is that it is written in a style that makes it accessible both to scholars and to lay persons."--Hindu-Christian Studies, 14 (2001)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
538 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-304-33843-6 (9780304338436)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/1999
1st Edition
Continuum Publishing Corporation
€111.99
Available for download
Persons
M. Darroll Bryant, is professor of Religion and Culture at Renison College and Chairman of the Department of Religious
Studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
Studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
Content
Part 1 Conversion - theoretical perspectives: converting -stages of religious change, Lewis R. Rambo and Charles E. Farhadian; conversion, inward and outward, Donald Taylor; conversion - up from evangelicalism or the pentecostal and charismatic experience, Frank K. Flinn. Part 2 Conversion in the world's religions: conversion as a process leading to enlightenment - the Buddhist perspective, Christopher Lamb; conversion to Judaism - a tale of the good, the bad and the ungrateful slanders or saviours, Rabbi Rodney Marriner; conversion from within and without in Chinese religion, Jordan Paper; contra conversion - the case of the Zoroastrians of India, Homi B. Dala; conversion - a Hindu/Ghandian perspective, K.L. Seshagiri Rao; conversion to Islam - the Qur'anic paradigm, Yasin Dutton; conversion in the Sikh tradition, Doris R. Jakobsh. Part 3 Conversion in Christianity: conversion in Christianity - from without and from within, M. Darrol Bryant; charismatic conversion in the light of Augustine's confessions, Karla Poewe; conversion in an African tradition, Irving Hexham; the Benedictine vow "Conversio Morum", Dame Macrina Sitzia. Part 4 Contemporary cases of conversion: coming home and coming out pagan (but not converting), Graham Harvey; continuing conversion - a personal journey, Father Tim Edgar; the story of Darshan Singh, a French convert, Darshan Singh Rudel; belonging to a cult or new religious movement - act of freewill of mind control, Rev Martin Eggleton; being Hindu in North America - the experience of a western convert, Tamai Krishna Goswami; cult conversions - controversy and clarification, Lorne L. Dawson; rediscovering Islam - a Muslim journey of faith, Sophie Gilliat.