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Based on various accounts of conversion experiences, this study first attempts to go beyond an analysis of conversion as a change in affiliation. But unable to verify the experience of change, the author is led to revise his method in order not to be trapped by the " commemorative naturalness " of the conversion accounts. So he stresses the retroactive dimension of the accounts in relation to the experience by paying particular attention to their speech patterns (Sorokin). The research then shows that the conversion account is a reproductive, even a productive, remembering. And as for this reproduction, it is seen that the converted talk about their conversion according to already transmitted narrative models which depend on their socio-economic, and consequently their cultural situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes whether the principal narrative variants of the conversion stories correlate positively with differentiations in social class and cultural conditioning. The first variant is the structure of salvation, distinguishable by the implicit or tacit use of themes such as death and crisis on the one hand and savior and happiness on the other. The story of conversion can be considered a dialectic narrative and it is possible to hypothesize that the variant is to some degree analogous with the structural dichotomy of the myth. A second mode of expression could be considered the divine call or vocational structure. As with the structure of salvation, the story refers to an initial event but uses no terms showing radical dichotomy. The convert typically speaks of a divine call which he answered with a decision. Thus the event of this narrative variant is considered a mediator and ultimately a call. The third variant speaks of belonging to a country, a religion or a group. Its focus might be on the group integration, a solidarity and on the event of baptism, which allowed the convert to become like everyone else. This variant undoubtedly refers to an event being experienced, but the event is presented as the experience of aggregation with a group or a social order.