Religious conversion: A critique of current major social science models of conversion and a Christian anthropological response

Abstract

This dissertation develops an interdisciplinary and integrated model of conversion to account for both normative and descriptive elements. Using the theological and philosophical components of grace, and the intellectual, volitional, bodily, and relational aspects of the human person, both a general Christian model of conversion and a particular Christian model of Christian conversion are presented. This model is employed as an interpretive framework for critiquing and synthesizing with an attachment model of conversion, Lofland and Skonovd’s (1981) conversion motifs, and Richardson’s (1985) active-passive paradigms of conversion. All of these social science models have elements that diverge and converge with a Christian understanding of the person. The dissertation concludes with the description of a Christian synthetic model of conversion, which also incorporates a developmental perspective of religious transformation and includes early, middle, and late conversion-related attachment experiences.