Change of Heart: A Test of Some Widely Held Theories About Religious Conversion

Abstract

Classical social science descriptions of religious conversion focus on psychological stress, previous socialization, and various forms of direct social influence. This paper uses data about converts to Catholic Pentecostalism and a control sample to question the conventional wisdom. It shows how data can be organized to support classical claims, the systematically watches evidence fall away when the argument is organized more carefully. The paper closes with a theoretical critique of conventional arguments and suggestions for an alternative set of questions. These probe the circumstance and procedures by which a sense of ultimate grounding is affirmed or changed, at both an individual and a social level.