Abstract
In this entry, the definition of conversion will be tackled first, followed by a discussion of the origin of the concept and its various dimensions. Phases in the development of the concept will be outlined, such as the development of the two paradigms of conversion research, and the shift from a focus on deprivation to network influence and from a realist to a constructivist stance. The entry also includes an overview of some current trends, such as work that takes the practical, emotional aspects of conversion seriously. It ends with a description of weaknesses in the existing research, and a few suggestions for future development.
References
- Bainbridge, W.S. (1992) The sociology of conversion, in Handbook of Religious Conversion (ed. H.N. Malony and S. Southard), Religious Education Press, Birmingham, pp. 178–191.
- Beckford, J. (1978) Accounting for conversion. British Journal of Sociology, 29 (2), 249–262.
- Bromley, D.G. and Shupe, A.D. (1979) “Just a few years seem like a lifetime”: a role theory approach to participation in religious movements, in Research in Social Movements, Conflicts, and Change, vol. 2. (ed. L. Kriesberg), JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 159–185.
- Edgell, P. (2012) A cultural sociology of religion: new directions. Annual Review of Sociology, 38, 247–265.
- Gooren, H. (2010) Religious Conversion and Disaffiliation: Tracing Patterns of Change in Faith Practices, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
10.1057/9780230113039 Google Scholar
- Hood, R., Jr., Hill, P.C. and Spilka, B. (2009) The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach, Guilford Press, New York.
- Jindra, I.W. (2014a) A New Model of Religious Conversion: Beyond Network Theory and Social Constructivism, Brill, Leiden.
- Jindra, I.W. (2014b) Toward an integrative theory of religious conversion: a review essay of the Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion by Lewis R. Rambo and Charles F. Farhadian (2014). Pastoral Psychology, 65 (3), 329–343.
- Jindra, I.W. (2018) The Lazarus Project and Grace Ministries: the role of religious non-profits in addressing personal and social problems. Pastoral Psychology, 67 (4), 443–452.
- Kerley, K.R. and Copes, H. (2009) “Keepin' my mind right”: identity and religious social support in the prison context. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 53, 228–244.
- Lofland, J. and Stark, R. (1965) Becoming a world-saver: a theory of conversion to a deviant perspective. American Sociological Review, 30 (6), 862–875.
- Paloutzian, R.F. (2005) Religious conversion and spiritual transformation, in Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (ed. R.F. Paloutzian and C. Park), Guilford Press, New York, pp. 331–347.
- Paloutzian, R.F., Streib, H., Murken, S., and Rössler-Namini, S. (2013) Conversion, deconversion, and spiritual transformation: a multilevel interdisciplinary view, in Handbook for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2nd edn (ed. R.F. Paloutzian and C. Park), Guilford Press, New York, pp. 399–421.
- Popp-Baier, U. (2001) Narrating embodied aims: self-transformation in conversion narratives – a psychological analysis. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 2 (3), 1–16.
- Rambo, L.R. (1993) Understanding Religious Conversion, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
- Rambo, L. and Farhadian, C. (eds) (2014) The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion, Oxford University Press, New York.
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195338522.001.0001 Google Scholar
- Richardson, J.T. (1985) The active vs. passive convert: paradigm conflict in conversion/recruitment research. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 24 (2), 163–179.
- Smilde, D. (2007) Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
10.1525/9780520940147 Google Scholar
- Snook, D.W., Williams, M.J., and Horgan, J.G. (2019) Issues in the sociology and psychology of religious conversion. Pastoral Psychology, 68 (2), 223–240.
- Snow D.A. and Machalek, R. (1984) The sociology of conversion. Annual Review of Sociology, 10, 167–190.
- Sremac, S. and Ganzevoort, R.R. (2013) Addiction and spiritual transformation. An empirical study on narratives of recovering addicts' conversion testimonies in Dutch and Serbian contexts. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 35 (3), 399–435.
- S. Sremac and I.W. Jindra (eds) (2020) Lived Religion, Conversion and Recovery: Negotiating of Self, the Social and the Sacred, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
10.1007/978-3-030-40682-0 Google Scholar
- Staples, C.L. and Mauss, A.L. (1987) Conversion or commitment? A reassessment of the Snow and Machalek approach to the study of conversion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 26 (2), 133–147.
- Stark, R. and Finke, R. (2000) Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
10.1525/9780520924345 Google Scholar
- Streib, H., Hood, R.W., Keller, B., et al. (2009) Deconversion: Qualitative and Quantitative Results from Cross-Cultural Research in Germany and the United States of America, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen.
10.13109/9783666604393 Google Scholar
- Stromberg, P. (1993) Language and Self-Transformation: A Study of the Christian Conversion Narrative, Cambridge University Press, New York.
- Winchester, D. (2008) Embodying the faith: religious practice and the making of a Muslim moral habitus. Sociological Forces, 86, 1753–1780.
- Yang, F. (2005) Lost in the market, saved at McDonald's: conversion to Christianity in modern China. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44 (4), 423–444.
- Yang, F. and Abel, A. (2014) Sociology of religious conversion, in The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion (ed. L.R. Rambo and C.E. Farhadian), Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 140–163.
