Abstract
Mass religious conversion refers to the conversion of a society and of its institutions. Individual religious conversions follow from this social contextual change. This article is an exercise in developing social science concepts for the analysis of mass religious conversion. It draws on comparative historical, social survey and autobiographical materials. The conversion of the Copts of Egypt to Islam following the Arab conquests and the Christianization of Europe from medieval times illustrate the roles of social shock, the breakdown of communal authority and how a hegemonic religious system is adopted to restore social order to a subordinate community. The centrality of missions in the Christian case is illustrated. Data from the National Jewish Population Survey of 1990 permit an examination of the contribution of change in economic, social organizational and kinship institutions to change in religious institutions. Autobiographies of converts from Judaism to Christianity reveal some psychological mechanisms for dealing with societal and institutional religious changes. The article closes with a short exercise applying concepts developed here to understanding the conversion of American Jewry to Christianity.
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Appreciation is expressed to the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry for the honor and opportunity to prepare this paper as the Marshal Sklare Memorial Ixctiire of 1996 and the coutecous and constructive comments of Deborah Hertz, Bernard Reisman and Robert Seltzer, discussants. The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute graciously provided me its good offices for revision of the test for publication. My colleagues Harold Bershady, Allen Glicksman and Shmuel Eisenstadt commented helpfully on an earlier draft.
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Klausner, S.Z. How to think about mass religious conversion: Toward an explanation of the conversion of American jews to christianity. Cont Jewry 18, 76–129 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02965481
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02965481