The Complexity of Conversion; Intersectional Perspectives on Religious Change in Antiquity and Beyond; Marianne Kartzow; Valerie Nicolet

Edited by

Valérie Nicolet [+–]

Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris

Since 2013, Valérie Nicolet is “maître de conférences” at the Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris, where she teaches New Testament and Ancient Greek. In her research, she focuses on the Pauline letters. At the moment, she is working on the rhetorical construction of the law in Galatians. Her scholarship highlights interdisciplinary approaches, more prominently with philosophy, and recently, with queer theory. She has published a book on the construction of the self in Romans (Constructing the Self: Thinking with Paul and Michel Foucault, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2012).

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow [+–]

University of Oslo

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow is professor of New Testament Studies at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, Norway. She has published Gossip and Gender: Othering of Speech in the Pastoral Epistles (2009) and Destabilizing the Margins: An Intersectional Approach to Early Christian Memory (2012). Her research interest includes Gender theory, social history and studies of sacred scriptures.

Today, conversion is a contested religious, political, and personal phenomenon, and that was also the case in the ancient world. Using several primary sources (Jewish and Christian) and case studies, this volume discusses what this change could have meant for various individuals or groups of people in the ancient world and argues that conversion can best be understood through an intersectional perspective, an approach that includes gender, class, ethnicity, and age, as well as political and economic elements in its analysis of conversion.

The volume also acknowledges that a discussion of conversion benefits from taking into account conversion’s history of reception. Case studies from the reception history as well as contemporary examples of contested conversions (for example, from Christianity to Islam or vice versa) are also brought to the table.

In sum, the book addresses the complexity of conversion, using a range of cases, texts and theories, and initiates a dialogue between ancient sources and present concepts or practices. Close readings of ancient texts play a central role in the project. Yet, the book also considers how sacred texts and their receptions have influenced the way we generally think about conversion as religious change.

Series: Studies in Ancient Religion and Culture

Chapter 1

What Is So Complex About “Conversion”? [+–] 1-20

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow,Valérie Nicolet £17.50

University of Oslo

Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris

Conversion is a contested religious, political, and personal phenomenon. There is more at stake than simply a private question concerning which god, or gods, one wants to recognize and serve. Furthermore, the meaning of conversion changes across time and place. Conversion requires embodiment of new social and religious practices, but also a total change of orientation, a change of worldview, a change in lifeworld. Yet many people are, and were, not in control of their own lives. They find, and found, themselves in a position where they do not have the agency to control their loyalty to a certain religious system. What does conversion mean for them? This book addresses the complexity of conversion and uses a range of cases, primary sources, and theories, to do so. It also initiates a dialogue between ancient sources and current concepts or practices. The essays in this volume are interested in interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and cross-historical perspectives. Early Christian and Jewish texts play a central role in this volume, but the volume also discusses how sacred texts and their reception influence the way we think, more broadly, about conversion as religious change.

Chapter 2

Shedding Religious Skin: An Intersectional Analysis of the Claim that Male Circumcision Limits Religious Freedom [+–] 21-39

Karin B. Neutel £17.50

University of Oslo

Karin Neutel is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Theology (University of Oslo). She has published A Cosmopolitan Ideal: Paul’s Declaration “Neither Jew nor Greek, neither Slave nor Free, nor Male and Female” in the Context of First-Century Thought (2015). Her current project analyses recent circumcision debates in both Europe and the US and examines how references to Paul are used by those involved in public discussions surrounding the practice and legitimacy of male circumcision.

In debates on the issue of the circumcision of boys, some people argue that the practice is a violation of the freedom of religion. This article analyses this argument from an intersectional perspective, and shows how it relies on particular assumptions about masculinity and religion.

Chapter 3

Complex Interactions: Conversion and Interreligious Dialogue in the Norwegian Context [+–] 40-58

Anne-Hege Grung £17.50

University of Oslo

Anne Hege Grung is Associate Professor in Interreligious Studies and Practical Theology at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo. She teaches gender and interreligious relations and interfaith chaplaincy, and is presently doing research on the discourse of violence against women among the religious leadership and feminist NGOs in Lebanon. In 2015, she published the book Gender Justice in Muslim-Christian Readings: Christian and Muslim Women in Norway Making Meaning of Texts from the Bible, the Koran and the Hadith. The article “Negotiating Gender Justice Between State, Religion and NGOs: A Lebanese Case” was published in 2018.

This essay explores the process of creating a text that communicates a joint declaration on the right to conversion. It was put together by a Contact group bringing together the Islamic council of Norway (ICN) and the Church of Norway (CoN) and released in 2007. In this context, a question highlights the connection between conversion, identity politics and the discourse on immigration: who has the authority to decide whether a person is a convert or not?

Chapter 4

Conversion in Mystery Religions? Theory Meets Mysteries and Conversion [+–] 59-98

Gerhard Van Den Heever £17.50

University of South Africa

Gerhard van den Heever has been a full professor at the University of South Africa, since 2012, after a long career as senior lecturer and associate professor, as well as a short stint as minister in a church. He teaches courses in New Testament and Early Christian Studies. His research focuses on the Gospel of John in its Graeco-Roman context, Greek and Roman religions–especially the transformations in religious formations from the classical to the Late Antique period, history of religion, and contemporary theory of religion. He is currently editing a collection of essays, After Religion, which deals with theorizing historiography of religion in Antiquity. Current projects include an international colloquium on Mapping Transformations towards a Christian Late Antiquity, as well as a publication of essays on Twilights of Greek and Roman Religions.

This essay significantly redescribes and retheorizes mystery religions, religion, and conversion. The concepts of conversion and mystery religions are problematized through redescriptive theorizing of religion. Focusing on Apuleius/Lucius’s ‘conversion’ in The Golden Ass, and the cases of Late Roman aristocrats’ initiations into mysteries, this essay argues that ‘conversion’ is not an applicable term to use for entry into mystery cult group membership; and second, that perhaps it is best to abandon the term conversion, even for Christianity and Judaism. What is conventionally thought to be indicated by ‘conversion,’ are normal processes of social formation and identity maintenance.

Chapter 5

“Leap, Ye, Lame for Joy”: The Dynamics of Disability in Conversion [+–] 99-122

Anna Rebecca Solevag £17.50

VID Specialized University, Stavanger, Norway

Anna Rebecca Solevåg is Professor of New Testament Studies at VID Specialized University in Stavanger, Norway, where she is director of the PhD program in Theology and Religion. In her research, she studies the intersections of gender, class, dis/ability, age and ethnicity, exploring the complexities of identity and negotiations of power taking place at these crossroads. Solevåg is the author of Negotiating the Disabled Body. Representations of Disability in Early Christian Texts and Birthing Salvation. Gender and Class in Early Christian Childbearing Discourse.

The article shows how miraculous stories of healing have been used to encourage conversion and that healing has functioned as a metaphor for conversion in the history of Christianity. It analyzes two cases: the early Methodist movement and the Gospel of Mark. These two examples complicate the term “conversion” as a category for religious change. They also question for whom such narratives functioned as an impulse towards religious change: people with disabilities or the able-bodied?

Chapter 6

Reading a Complex Identity in Conversion: Interpretations of the Ethiopian Eunuch [+–] 123-140

Minna Heimola £17.50

Independent Scholar

Minna Heimola has a Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from the University of Helsinki. Her dissertation was on “Christian Identity in the Gospel of Philip” (2010). She has published Raamattu ja rasismi (Bible and Racism) in 2016, focusing on the issues of identity, gender, and race. Currently, she is studying to become a social worker.

In her article, Dr. Minna Heimola studies the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts from the point of view of intersectionality. The article examines how the Ethiopian’s identity is deliberately ambiguous, which has led to a broad variety of different readings of the character, some of them emphasizing his high status and other of his lowly foreign origin. This ambiguity opens the door for conversion.

Chapter 7

Creating a New Sex: Women Bodies in Conversion [+–] 141-161

Valérie Nicolet £17.50

Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris

In the book of Acts, one finds conversions of individuals, in the sense defined by William James at the beginning of the 20th century. These personal conversions are sometimes coupled with the baptism of the household surrounding each single individual. Relying on reflections on the body inspired by Judith Butler, this contribution imagines how conversion can impact the silent, invisible and nameless bodies mentioned in stories of household conversion. This article looks at the way conversion affects gender and how conversion can inform a theoretical reflection on agency, subjectivity and power.

Chapter 8

Conversion in/to the Wilderness: The Case of the Egyptian Slave Girl Hagar in Early Christian and Jewish Texts [+–] 162-184

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow £17.50

University of Oslo

In this article, intersectionality is employed to map and compare Jewish and Christian texts that talk about Ishmael’s mother Hagar and her ambiguous role as an insider/outsider. Her insider/outsider position or conversion cannot be understood without looking at intersections of gender, sexuality, class, and ethnicity. She is a foreign slave, a potential female seducer, but her character is not completely limited through these marginal descriptions. Her role as the mother of Abraham’s firstborn son potentially gives her a privileged position, although she is often devaluated with the help of gender, sexuality, status, or ethnic origin.

Chapter 9

The Complexity of Aseneth’s Transformation [+–] 185-211

Kirsten Marie Hartvigsen £17.50

University of Oslo

Since 2016, Kirsten Marie Hartvigsen is senior lecturer at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research (University of Oslo) where she teaches Religious Education. In her research, she has focused on the Gospel of Mark and the novel Joseph and Aseneth. At present, she is working on how the Bible is taught in Norwegian public schools. She has published two monographs that highlight interdisciplinary approaches, Prepare the Way of the Lord: Towards a Cognitive Poetic Analysis of Audience Involvement with Characters and Events in the Markan World and Aseneth’s Transformation.

In the ancient novel Joseph and Aseneth, the female Egyptian protagonist undergoes a profound transformation to be able to marry Joseph, the Hebrew patriarch. Aseneth separates herself from her Egyptian traditions and cult and becomes Hebrew. Hartvigsen explores Aseneth’s transformation using insights from theories on conversion and intersectionality.

Chapter 10

Leaving the Traditions of the Fathers: Perspectives on Conversion from a Christianity That Did Not Survive [+–] 212-234

Kristine Toft Rosland £17.50

University of South-Eastern Norway / University of Oslo

Kristine Toft Rosland is assistant professor of Christianity, Religion, Philosophies of life and Ethics (KRLE) at the University of South-Eastern Norway and a PhD candidate at the faculty of theology at the University of Oslo. Her ongoing PhD project “Reading the Apocryphon of John in its Manuscript Context” is influenced by perspectives from New Philology and it explores the Apocryphon of John through the lens of the monastic hypothesis of the Nag Hammadi codices.

This chapter discusses how the late antique revelatory dialogue The Apocryphon of John–representing a form of Christianity rejected by the heresiologists–may have helped converts make sense of their experiences of changing religious allegiance through its engagement with the themes of humanity’s heavenly origin and struggles with evil forces.

Chapter 11

Spatial Conversion and Christian Identity in Late Antiquity [+–] 235-246

Anna Lampadaridi £17.50

Institut Protestant de Théologie (Paris) and the Institut Catholique (Paris)

Anna Lampadaridi holds a PhD in Hellenic Studies (Byzantine Literature) from the University Paris Sorbonne–Paris IV (2011). In Paris, she has participated in various research programs (UMR 8167 Orient et Méditerranée / IRHT / Labex Resmed). She is a member of the Institut Français d’Études Byzantines (IFEB) and of the editorial board of the Revue des Études Byzantines. She teaches Ancient Greek at the Institut Protestant de Théologie (Paris) and the Institut Catholique (Paris). She is currently a Newton International Fellow (British Academy) at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on Late Antique and Byzantine Hagiography. She won the 2019 Prix Marguerite and Charles Diehl (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres) for her monograph: La conversion de Gaza au christianisme: La Vie de S. Porphyre de Gaza par Marc le Diacre (BHG 1570). Edition critique– traduction–commentaire (Subsidia Hagiographica 95), Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 2016.

This paper discusses the development of a particular form of conversion narrative in Late Antiquity. It focuses on the Life of Porphyry of Gaza by Mark the Deacon (BHG 1570) that offers an interesting case to look into the conversion of pagan space into Christian space, as an attempt to legitimate history.

Chapter 12

Concluding Remarks [+–] 247-255

Valérie Nicolet £17.50

Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris

My concluding reflections about the essays in the present volume emphasize the complex dimensions attached to conversion. It is worth exploring it with an intersectional lens (as the authors have done in this volume) because it did not and does not mean the same thing depending on age, gender, social status, familial status, and race. All these dimensions should be considered to complicate our accounts of what conversion is/can be. I am convinced (and the two first articles of the volume highlight this) that the diversity of yesterday, described in the present volume, can make us aware of and attentive to the diversity of today. When one thinks of conversion, one needs to reflect on different modes of conversion for different groups and to keep in mind that one can participate in different religious memberships, without losing one’s identity. This volume offers case studies to showcase this diversity of conversion.

End Matter

Index of References 256-257

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow,Valérie Nicolet FREE

University of Oslo

Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris

Index of Modern Authors 258-259

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow,Valérie Nicolet FREE

University of Oslo

Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris

Index of Subjects 260-265

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow,Valérie Nicolet FREE

University of Oslo

Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris

Reviews

Offers something new and worthwhile to scholarship on conversion in antiquity.
Matthew Thiessen, McMaster University

Makes a significant contribution not only to the discussion of ancient conversion experiences but also to the discursive framework in which we as modern scholars try to understand those experiences.
Zeba A. Crook, Carleton University

This book offers a broader understanding of conversion as well as new terms, such as "religious change" and "multiple affiliation". Far from denying the existence of the phenomenon of conversion in the ancient world, this book shows its various aspects, employing the notions of inclusion and exclusion. The phenomena of conversion are linked to mechanisms that create "insiders" and "outsiders". The authors of this volume show that these mechanisms, then as now, are not only controlled by personal by personal choices, but are also linked to complex realities that involve cultural, social, economic and ethnic affiliations.
Études théologiques et religieuses

The volume offers variety and is a valuable read for anyone working with theories of conversion and identity.
Catholic Biblical Quarterly

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The Complexity of Conversion

Intersectional Perspectives on Religious Change in Antiquity and Beyond

Valérie Nicolet [+–]

Institut protestant de théologie, faculté de Paris

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow [+–]

University of Oslo

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