On-line Literature on Conversion between Religions

On-line literature collected, screend and commented by Mogens S. Mogensen.

Anthony, Dick & Thomas Robbins, "Conversion and 'Brainwashing' in New Religious Movements"
This article, which was later pubhlished in a revised edition in The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, ed. by James R. Lewis (2004), focuses on involuntary conversion from the perspective of the brainwashing theory. The article gives a summary of the research and presents a critique of it. Download.

Box, Rogier, Conversion Converted
The article summaries an article with the same name by Brad Kallenberg and his book "Live to Tell - Evangelism for a Postmodern Age", both of which contain an evangelical redeninition of conversion in a postmodern contest. Download.

Bromley, Bromley,  Brainwashing and Conversion
David G. Bromley, "A Tale of Two Theories: Brainwashing and  Conversion as Competing
Political Narratives", i Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (eds.), Misunderstanding Cults.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001, 318-348. Læs mere.

Calvert, Pamela, "Media and Metanoia. Documentary 'Impact' through the Lens of Conversion" (2003)
The article discusses the relation between communication and conversion, or rather attempts to undersand religtious communication through the media from modern conversion theories.  Download.

Conversion to Judaism
Download.

Converts to Islam
A website designed especialy for converts to Islam. Read more.

Current Dialgue 50 Februar 2008
This issue is devoted to the discussion of conversion. The issue contains documents from two conferences held in Lariano 2006 and Toulouse 2007 organised by The Pontifical Council ofr Interreligious Dialogue and the Programme on Dialogue and Cooperation of the World Council of Churches. Download.

Duin, Julia, "Daring Leaps of Faith" (The Washington Times)
Interviews and stories about converts from Islam to Christianity in the US. Download.

How to Become a Jew
En kort guide for dem, der overvejer at konvertere til jødedommen. Læs mere.

How to Convert to Islam and Become a Muslim
"The steps a person needs to take to accept Islam as his/her religion, enter its fold, and become a Muslim". Read more.

Ijuzu, Christopher I, "Conversion" in Traditional African Religions
Ijuzu discusses in this article, if you many talk about conversion in t raditional African religions. Download.

Inaba, Keishin , "Conversion to New Religious Movements" (2004)
This article by the Japanese sociologist of religion at Kobe University Keishin Inaba contains a reassessment of the Lofland/Skovnod conversion motifs and the Lofland/Start conversion process. Download.

Ipgrave, Michael, Reflections on Conversion in Interfaith Context
Michael Ipgrave, der er anglikansk præst med stor erfaring omkring dialog og mission i England, giver en spændende redegørelse for en række problematikker i forbindelse med omvendelse i dialogen mellem religionerne, hvor man ofte tager afstand fra eller forbigår omvendelse. Download.

James, William, The Variety of Religious Experience
Read (most of) the classic on conversion by William James online. William James - biography
is a 5-pages biography of William James with a short summary of his theories on conversion. Download.

Kreider, Alan, "Conversion and Culture in Early Christianity"
Alan Kreider analyses how the understanding and praxis of conversion was in the church in the first centuries. Download.

Leone, Massimo, "Religious Conversion and Identity. The Semiotic Analysis of Texts."
Download.

Lerer & Mayer, In the Footsteps of Ruth: A Sociological Analysis of Conversion to Judaism among American Jews
A research report from a research project on conversion to Judaism in the United States. Theire hypothesis is that conversion to Judaism contains two separate dimensions, a religious and a socio-cultural dimension. Download.

Lerner, Natan, Proselytism, change of religion, and international human rights
This 38 pages long article gives an excellent introduction to the field of conversion, apostacy, proselytism, evangelisation, mission and human rights (the article is printed in Emory International Law Review, 12, 1, pp. 478-561). Download.

Malony, Henry Newton, "The Psychology of Religious Conversion" (1998)
An interesting introduction to the psychology of religious conversion by a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, presented in a short 4-page paper at a conference on "Religious Freedom and the New Millennium", in Tokyo, Japan, 1998. Download,

Månsson, Anna, Becoming Muslim. Meanings of Conversion to Islam
Introduction to the book with an abstract. Read more.

Mason, John Edwin, ""Some Religion He Must Have": Slaves, Sufism and Conversion at the Cape"
Paper presented at a seminar i Georgia in 1999. "The more we learn about the role sufism played in the growth and consolidation of Islam at the Cape, the more probable it seems that we must revise our understanding of the grounds for and meaning of conversion." Read more.

Popp-Baier, U., "Narrated Embodied Aims. Self-transformation in Conversion Narratives - A Psychological Analysis".
The author uses Peter Stromberg' theories on conversion as an attachment om the convert's story to a religious canon in an analysis of the story of a convert to charismatic Christianity.  Read more.

Rambo, Lewis, "The Psychology of Religious Conversion" (1998)

A short lecture delivered at a Conference on "Religious Freedom and the New Millenium" in Berlin, Germany, May 29-31, 1998. Download.

Religious Conversion
Article in dictionary with brief survey on conversion i various religions.Read more.

Religious Conversion Bibliography
An up-to-date (2003) 80 page religious conversion biography (pdf), covering theoretical perspectives, ancient world, medieval world, conversions in many geographical areas, Jews, Muslims and modernity. Download.

Romain, Jonathan A. , Guide for Those Considering Conversion
Ten pieces of advice for those considering conversion, developed by the author of the book "Your God Shall Be My God. Religious Conversion in Britain Today" (2000), Jonathan Romain, who himself is a Jew. Download.

Sebastian, J. Jayakiran, "A Fresh Look at the Issue of Conversion and Baptism in relation to Mission"
Jayakiran of Gurukul Seminary endeavours to to situate and problematize various issues in relation to baptism, conversion, and mission in India today.In his conclusion he writes, that "Avoiding superficiality which skims the surface without dirtying oneself, a fresh look at these questions demands of us a faith commitment to the source of renewal, to that lonely and betrayed person, whose own baptism in the river Jordan, was a symbol of his commitment to being a part of messy human existence. Download.

The Conversion Crisis: The Current Debate on Religion, State and Conversion in Israel
"The current controversy surrounding pending Knesset legislation barring non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism in Israel is only the most recent attempt to determine by pre-state custom, legislation, judicial decision, or political compromise the definition and expression of Jewishness and Judaism in the Jewish State." Læs mere.

Theology, News and Notes: Conflicting Understandings on Christian Conversion (2003)
May 2003 issue of Theology, News and Notes, from Fuller Theological Seminary, is a special issue on conversion edited by Richard V. Peace. It contains articles by Gordon T. Smith ("Making Sense of Conversion"), Richard V. Peace ("Conflicting Understandings of Christian Conversion"), Brad J. Kallenberg ("The 'P'-word - Conversion in a Postmodern World"), Andrew Wingate ("Converting away from Christianity"), Newton Malony (Conversion as 'Psycholingtusitic Labeling'"), Lewis R. Rambo ("Researching Religious Conversion") and others. Download.

Trade and the Spread of Islam in Africa
A short survey article on the conversion of Africans to Islam. Read more.

World Council of Churches and the Vatican, Codes of Conduct for Conversion 
The World Council of Churches and the Vatican have started to cooperate in order to develop guidelines for conversion between religions - with a view to including representatives of other religions. The study project is entiteled "Interreligious reflection on conversion: from controversy to a shared code of conduct". Read more

Articles in English by Mogens S. Mogensen:

Migration and Conversion. The Conversion of Immigrants in a Danish Context (2007)
In Thormod Engelsviken & Thor Strandenæs (eds.), Mission to the World. Communicating the Gospel in the 21st Century.  Essays in Honour of Knud Jørgensen. Download.

Conversion between Islam and Christianity in a Danish Context
A paper presented at a conference in Aarhus in May 2002. Later printed as
Mogensen, Mogens S. Mogensen, "Conversion between Islam and Christianity in a Danish Context". In Theology and the Religions. A Dialogue, Viggo Mortensen. Pp. 287-317. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2003. Download.