Religious Conversion and Disaffiliation Tracing Patterns of Change in Faith Practices

by Gooren, Henri

• ISBN13: 9780230104532
• ISBN10: 0230104533
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The conversion career, defined as all episodes of participation in religious organizations during a person's life, is a new and systematic approach to conversion and disaffiliation as a dynamic process. It is a tool to analyze the interplay of factors between the individual actor, the religious organization, and the wider social and cultural context.This book is the first in over a decade to attempt a systematic synthesis of the field of conversion studies, encompassing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, and theology. Gooren analyzes conversion and disaffiliation in a worldwide comparative framework, using data from North America, Europe, and Latin America.

Author Biography

Henri Gooren is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He is the author of Rich among the Poor: Church, Firm, and Household among Small-Scale Entrepreneurs in Guatemala City (1999) and has written numerous articles, mostly dealing with various religions in Latin America.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction The Appeal of Conversion	p. 1
A Hothead in a Disordered World	p. 1
The Conversion Career	p. 3
A Resurgence of Religion?	p. 5
Secularization, Globalization, and Transnational Religion	p. 6
The Religious Perspective: Distinguishing Form and Function	p. 8
Conversion in Christianity	p. 10
Conversion and the Religious Organization	p. 11
Conversion and Disaffiliation in Modern Fiction	p. 15
Methodology and Caveats	p. 16
Aim and Structure of the Book	p. 18
Approaches to Conversion	p. 19
Introduction	p. 19
William James: Conversion as the Healing of a Divided Self	p. 20
Lofland and Stark: The Original Process Model of Conversion	p. 22
Travisano: Conversion as the Disruption of Identity	p. 24
Straus: Active Conversions by Religious Seekers	p. 25
Greil: A Socialization-and-Social-Networks Approach to Conversion	p. 26
Heirich: Conversion as a Paradigm Shift	p. 27
Bromley and Shupe: A Role Theory of Conversion and Commitment	p. 28
Long and Hadden: Conversion and Commitment as Specific Types of Socialization	p. 29
Snow and Machalek: The Convert Role Within a Specific Universe of Discourse	p. 30
Richardson: Paradigm Conflict between Active and Passive Conversion Approaches	p. 33
Rational Choice Conversion Models: Gartrell and Shannon, Stark and Finke	p. 35
Rambo: A Holistic, Interdisciplinary, and Open Process Model of Conversion	p. 37
A Critique of Conventional Conversion Approaches	p. 40
The Conversion Career	p. 43
The Need for a New Approach to Conversion	p. 43
The Bias of Scholarly Discipline	p. 45
Synthesizing Conventional Conversion Approaches	p. 46
The Conversion Career	p. 48
The Methodology of the Conversion Career Approach	p. 52
Conversion and the Religious Market	p. 53
Introduction	p. 53
The Micro-Level: The Rationalist Actor	p. 54
The Meso-Level: The Competitive Religious Organization	p. 56
The Macro-Level: The Religious Economy and the Religious Market	p. 59
The Religious Market Model and Conversion	p. 63
Conclusion: Connecting Religious Demand and Supply	p. 65
Stories of Conversion and Disaffiliation	p. 69
Introduction	p. 69
Parental Religion	p. 70
Seekers and Shoppers	p. 77
Committed Converts	p. 86
Confessing Leaders	p. 96
Disillusioned Disaffiliates	p. 102
Conclusion	p. 110
Conversion Careers in Latin America	p. 115
Introduction	p. 115
Pentecostal Conversion Careers in Latin America	p. 116
Charismatic Catholic Conversion Careers in Latin America	p. 120
Mormon Conversion Careers in Latin America	p. 122
Pentecostal Disaffiliation	p. 124
Mormon Disaffiliation	p. 125
Catholic Disaffiliation	p. 126
Conclusion	p. 127
Conclusion	p. 131
Introduction	p. 131
Conversion and the Religious Organization	p. 131
The Converting Subject	p. 135
Levels and Patterns of Religious Activity	p. 136
The Religious Factor in Conversion	p. 138
General Conclusions and Recommendations	p. 140
Notes	p. 143
References	p. 157
Index	p. 171
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.