Overview
Conversion has played a central role in the history of Christianity. In this first in-depth and wide-ranging narrative history, David Kling examines the dynamic of turning to the Christian faith by individuals, families, and people groups. Global in reach, the narrative progresses from early Christian beginnings in the Roman world to Christianity's expansion into Europe, the Americas, China, India, and Africa. Conversion is often associated with a particular strand of modern Christianity (evangelical) and a particular type of experience (sudden, overwhelming). However, when examined over two millennia, it emerges as a phenomenon far more complex than any one-dimensional profile would suggest. No single, unitary paradigm defines conversion and no easily explicable process accounts for why people convert to Christianity. Rather, a multiplicity of factors-historical, personal, social, geographical, theological, psychological, and cultural-shape the converting process.A History of Christian Conversion not only narrates the conversions of select individuals and peoples, it also engages current theories and models to explain conversion, and examines recurring themes in the conversion process: divine presence, gender and the body, agency and motivation, testimony and memory, group- and self-identity, ""authentic"" and ""nominal"" conversion, and modes of communication. Accessible to scholars, students, and those with a general interest in conversion, Kling's book is the most satisfying and comprehensive account of conversion in Christian history to date; this major work will become a standard must-read in conversion studies.
Full Product Details
Author: David W. Kling (Professor and Chair, Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, University of Miami)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 25.70cm
, Height: 5.80cm
, Length: 18.00cm
Weight: 1.724kg
ISBN: 9780195320923
ISBN 10: 0195320921
Pages: 852
Publication Date: 24 July 2020
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Professional & Vocational
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
impressive in its chronological and geographical scope and in the effort it clearly entailed, A History of Christian Conversion...is comprehensive and engagingly written... * M.A. Singer, Minot State University, CHOICE *
Author Information
David W. Kling is the author of A Field of Divine Wonders: The New Divinity and Village Revivals in Northwestern Connecticut, 1792-1822; The Bible in History: How the Texts Have Shaped the Times; co-editor (with Douglas A. Sweeney) of Jonathan Edwards at Home and Abroad: Historical Memories, Cultural Movements, Global Horizons; and an area editor (American Christianity) for the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Miami.
