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Throughout its history, Hagia Sophia has been used as an Orthodox church, a Roman Catholic church, a mosque, and a museum. After a controversial decision in 2020, Hagia Sophia was converted back into a mosque. This article shows that Hagia Sophia's conversion into a mosque is more than a juridical action. By adopting a performative approach, it is argued that, through the conversion, the ruling Justice and Development Party seeks to achieve its two-fold agenda. Firstly, while reflecting the party's Islamic political vision that situates religion as an integral part of everyday life, this move reaffirms the JDP's position as the ultimate political authority that shapes Turkey's sovereign space. Secondly, the conversion fits into and perpetuates the JDP's instrumentalization of religion as a political tool to increase its power in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in line with its neo-Ottomanist agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on Roma mobilities within migration studies has, so far, not explored sufficiently the role of religion in ethnic mobilisation and minority politics, with all the attention on the political and social significance of Pentecostalism, especially in Romania. Through an ethnographic focus on the unexplored social worlds of Roma in Polish-speaking Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations, this article aims to bridge this gap and brings forward a unique perspective on the dynamics of transnational religious movements, ethnic mobilisation and the complexity of Roma experiences of mobilities. Merging conceptual perspectives on religious conversions in migratory contexts, theories of Roma religious and ethnic activism and the gendered dimension of resistance within patriarchal contexts, the article brings forward Roma narratives about conversions, the relatability of Witnesses’ teaching to Roma culture, as well its ability to resist some of its aspects. In our view, conversions are made meaningful through Roma's understandings of purity, piety and patriarchal family structure and a deeper significance of their marginalisation in wider society. At the same time, the movement's popularity is strongly linked to their migratory experience and their relations with non-Roma Polish-speaking members of congregations, pointing to the role of complex hierarchies of whiteness and belonging in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delves into the perception of monastics from Larung Gar Buddhist Academy of Western China concerning the intertwining relationship between Buddhism and science, along with the impact of this perception on their worldview and life trajectory. Many monastics at Larung Gar Buddhist Academy initially held a high regard for science, dismissing Buddhism as superstition. However, upon gaining a comprehensive understanding of Buddhism through various opportunities, they came to believe that certain tenets of Buddhism are compatible with science, even suggesting that Buddhism could address some of the methodological and epistemological limitations of science and offer solutions to some issues that science is unable to resolve. This ultimately led them to embrace Buddhism and renounce worldly life. This study employs a case study to investigate the understanding of the relationship between Buddhism and science amongst the general public in contemporary China, an area underexplored by previous scholarship that predominantly concentrated on the philosophical scrutiny of the apologetic discourses towards the reconciliation between Buddhism and science of influential Buddhist ascetics and lay practitioners. Also, this study endeavors to demonstrate that despite the ongoing secularization of contemporary Chinese Buddhism in the "public sphere", within the "private sphere" of Chinese Buddhism, there remain individuals who are pursuing the religious, sacred, and transcendental dimensions of Buddhism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why did translation matter for early modern translators themselves? Approaching Ottoman court translator and religious convert to Islam, Ali Ufkî's (né Wojciech Bobowski, ca. 1610–1677) intellectual endeavors, this article explores the multilayered relationship among translation, commensurability, and transmission of cultural knowledge by focusing on the translating subject. It argues that translation was an epistemic posture taken on by translators operating in complex cultural landscapes to navigate their self-assertion within the contours of cultural mediation in late seventeenth-century Istanbul. In so doing, it suggests reading translations beyond imperial logics and their concomitant historiographical terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on continuity in the practice of the conversion of Muslims and its social implications in Venice in the period 1750–1824. Neophytes were people of other religious confessions who converted and were baptized as Catholics. Among neophytes of Muslim origin in Venice at this time were enslaved people, formerly enslaved individuals, and free men and women, as well as others of uncertain status. While the article discerns patterns of continuity in the practice of the conversion of Muslims and the wider experience of enslaved people in Venice, it argues that significant changes occurred after the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. These developments emerged in response to the shifting political climate and legal reforms of the Napoleonic period (1806–1814) and the post-1814 period in which Venice came under Austrian rule, culminating in a reduction in the number of neophytes and enslaved people in the city. The geographical origins of the neophytes ranged from the Ottoman Empire and its regencies to Eastern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Atlantic. Sources from Venice's Pius House of Catechumens reveal the types of work the neophytes performed and indicate how changes in ownership dictated slaves' or former slaves' trajectories before their arrival in Venice. The article also highlights how religious conversion from Islam to Catholicism was a watershed moment for individuals, one that had a major bearing on their living and working conditions and, in some cases, their social status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In The Sources of Religious Insight, Josiah Royce assesses William James' pragmatic evaluation of exalted, private religious experience, advanced in The Varieties of Religious Experience as inadequate to encompass the full range of religious experience. Among other contributions, Royce adds social and communal experience to James' individualistic appraisal. Rather than tacking on to the familiar contemporary critical conversation about the Jamesian restriction to private experience, I argue that James and Royce are helpfully brought together through an understanding of religious conversion: James' foundational predicament of the "sick soul" returned to health through religious conversion gains depth and coherence through the attention Royce gives to overcoming alienation through communal participation. In our time of dislocation and self-preoccupation, drawing together these two seminal models of religious experience provides an instructive account of the individual's transformation by way of communal renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Psychological studies of religious belief were numerous at the turn of the century, but interest in the phenomenon dwindled in the following decades. In addition to a sensitivity to and awareness of religion, the people are also interested in the participation of religious communities in the development of policies directed against violent radicalization. Another important aspect is the fact that there is not one clear-cut pathway towards terrorism. "Radicalization that leads to terrorism" is a dynamic process "whereby an individual comes to accept terrorist violence as a possible, perhaps even legitimate, course of action". The factors that drive someone to radicalize towards terrorism or violence are varied and complex and combine uniquely in each case. It is, however, important to note that while these beliefs and behaviours may facilitate the movement towards terrorism, this outcome is not inevitable. Consequently, the study intends to find the religious radicalization and engagement of religious belief and conversion leads to active terrorism and political extremism in India. The acts of terrorism have been associated with extremism because they involve the direct targeting of non-combatants. The study examines the requirements for the successful formation and development of religious consciousness in society in general and each individual in particular. Based on the analysis of scientific literature and recent events in India, the author argues that the rapid growth of religious extremism and terrorism threatens the preservation of established religious traditions. The article stresses that religious conversion in India is a form of a socioeconomic emancipatory undertaking which examines the politics of religious conversion. The study situates religious conversion in the context of radical Hindu nationalism, it argues that Christian missionaries, in particular, have courted criticism, opposition, and violence from radical Hindus. Further, it probes the specifics of Christian conversion in India and also investigates the issue with other states (China, Africa, and Japan). Furthermore, the study effectively addresses the root causes and underlying drivers of violence in our societies under various states, including social, economic, and political inequalities and marginalization. Active secular and countermeasures against extremism and radicalism can guarantee pluralism and preserve ethnic and religious harmony. This article is devoted to the peculiarities of the formation of religious beliefs as a preventive measure against extremism and radicalism. A systematic and exact conceptualization is necessary to establish prevention/intervention programmes and effective techniques along with this process. This paper argues that education should be incorporated into such policies as a preventive measure that not only makes students resilient citizens but can also address the psychological, emotional, and intellectual appeal of narratives in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among a community of immigrants from the Eastern Indian states of Manipur and Mizuram, Bene Menashe, this article deals with how these immigrants have used ethnic identity to further integrate into mainstream Jewish and Israeli society. Originally known as the Kuki-Chin-Mizu, Bene Menashe claim to be descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, cut off from other Jews for 2,700 years. Several thousand members of the community have emigrated to Israel since the 1990s. Bene Menashe’s background as a singular community of East Asian immigrants in the peripheral town of KA and as recent converts to Judaism, as well as their Zomian (Upland Southeast Asian) background, are central to the community’s negotiation of ethnoreligious identity. Their efforts to integrate into contemporary Israeli society often contrast with the drive of Israeli cultural agents to emphasise the group’s lost tribal heritage, and the community has also both emphasised and sought to discard their previous ethnic identity. Bene Menashe in KA, this article shows, employ several strategies to further their ‘strategic assimilation’ into Israeli society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Theory and anecdotal evidence suggest that people undergo psychological changes before and after religious conversion and deconversion. Yet, existing research provided inconclusive evidence. Here, we examined psychological change before, during, and after institutional conversion and deconversion in a large‐scale longitudinal study. Method: We used 11‐wave longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of Dutch adults (N ~ 20,000) to assess changes in religious beliefs and practices, personality traits, and well‐being before, during, and after conversion to and deconversion from Christianity. Results: Converts (N = 181) increased in service attendance and prayer, but not in their belief in God, as they approached conversion. Deconverts (N = 450) declined in religious beliefs and practices before, during, and after deconversion. In terms of personality, converts displayed small, unexpected declines in emotional stability, extraversion, and agreeableness at time of conversion. Deconverts declined in agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness at time of deconversion. Neither group showed changes in their well‐being. Conclusion: The present findings suggest that psychological changes during religious conversion and deconversion are generally small and mostly manifest as changes in people's religious beliefs and practices. Findings are discussed in the context of person‐religion fit, meaning‐making, and sociocultural motive perspectives on religious change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the lens of cultural trauma, this paper aims to understand the emotional impacts associated with opposition to religious conversion. Following a theoretical discussion of the concept of cultural trauma, the paper analyses comments from eight in-depth interviews of converts to Christianity who have been Christians for at least five years and reside in Bangalore, India, several of whom were minors at the time of conversion. The findings reveal that religious converts face distress and trauma within interpersonal relationships with parents, relatives, friends, and community, which are impacted by their decision to convert. While the four relations seem to experience cultural trauma, the religious convert experiences cultural guilt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International human rights law guarantees individuals the right to freedom of religion or belief via "worship, observance, practice and teaching" (United Nations General Assembly 1966). Freedom of religion permits peaceful evangelism; it does not, however, protect acts of coercive conversion through bribery, promises of social benefits, or exploitation of another's "inexperience, trust, need, low intellect or naïvety" (Council of Europe 1998). In the predominantly Muslim population in Pakistan, conversion to Islam is encouraged, and the negligible implementation of legislation - albeit already deficient or discriminatory in essence - further emboldens Muslim men to kidnap girls from minority faith communities, whom they then subject to forced religious conversions and child marriages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the contributions of Fr Tom Daly, a Jesuit priest and philosopher, to the formation of authentic subjects. It discusses his understanding of subjectivity and authenticity based on the teachings of Bernard Lonergan. The article highlights Daly's experiences with homeless alcoholic men and his personal appropriation of a key text in the Spiritual Exercises. It also explores his discovery of Lonergan's book, Insight, and how it expanded his philosophical understanding. Daly's contributions focused on promoting authenticity, engaging in dialogue with secular thinkers, and addressing topics such as bioethics and human sexuality. His impact is seen through his facilitation of reading groups, teaching philosophy to schoolchildren, and mentoring others in their journey towards authenticity. [Extracted from the article]

In November 2023, the Groupe des Dombes, a Francophone ecumenical group, published its new study "De toutes les nations ... ": Pour la catholicité des Églises ("Of All Nations ... " For the Catholicity of the Churches). Its central affirmation, following a common reading of history, and as a result of the biblical exploration that group has undertaken together, is that "it is possible to affirm that the Catholic Church and the Churches of the Reformation form One Church, although in imperfect communion." This article recalls the history of the Groupe des Dombes, as a group gathering equal numbers of Roman Catholic and Protestant members, and sets out the main elements of the new study on catholicity. It concludes by discussing the central affirmation and returns to the calls for conversion, so important to the Groupe des Dombes, as a way to live together according to the gift of God: "For beyond themselves, the Churches have the common mission of bearing witness to the unity of humanity. The lived catholicity of the Church can be a sign of this." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locating the people's intense identity consciousness in the region within the larger Indian national identity crisis, this article deals with how the distinct religious identities and practices of the Hindus and Christians are forged in Northeast India. As a betwixt and between people (neither fully Indic nor Sino, but a combination), the people's new identities are shaped between South Asian Indic culture and East Asian Confucian values. While conversion has been attributed to Christianity mostly, the article shows how the people in the region converted from their Sino-Tibetan primal religion to Hinduism, forming distinct Hindu traditions. Similarly, the indigenized Christian communities have also made their faith their own producing distinct Christian traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identity and reality are socially constructed and maintained by both the individual and society. A primary way this occurs is through a process where people adjust their behaviors to meet the expectations of those around them and fit into an assigned place in life. People are not the sole creators of their destinies or their identities. Instead, their choices and how they develop identity are accomplished through social structures, interactions with others, and language used. Whenever people experience an event that damages their identity—like a history of substance abuse—they have difficulty redeeming themself and restoring their reality primarily because society is reluctant to let the person move past the injured or addicted identity. The author utilizes autoethnography and the idea of the antihero to show the social process where a spoiled identity can be reinterpreted into a new one. The article relies on dramaturgical analysis and the concept of social construction of reality, world-building, and world-maintaining. The author explores how his struggle with alcohol and subsequent religious conversion to Evangelical Christianity helped him establish a new identity, interpret previous mistakes, and build supportive connections. This study is significant because it emphasizes the sociological aspects of identity creation and restoration instead of individual ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Religion, Media, and Conversion in Iran" by Sara Afshari explores the reception of Farsi-language Christian television channels by Muslim audiences in Iran, analyzing their motivations, interpretations, and conversion processes. The book criticizes the role of media in religious conversion, emphasizing the broader social, cultural, and political context. It highlights the complexities of media reception and conversion processes, providing valuable insights into belief transformation in a tightly regulated environment like Iran. The research is relevant for academics, researchers, and religious media practitioners interested in understanding the impact of globalization and media on religious identity and belief change in authoritarian societies. [Extracted from the article]

This article focuses on the issue of conversion among war captives in the Ottoman Empire during the eighteenth century and examines the release process of captives in relation to religious conversion. Starting from the Treaty of Carlowitz, the article first discusses the changes in the release process of captives based on treaties. Since conversions were considered as exceptional cases in which the converted captives were excluded from release, methods and procedures to detect conversion, as well as manipulative and pragmatic practices in the application of conversions, are studied in detail. Hence the issue of whether conversions were made voluntarily or by force is evaluated with examples. Finally the study focuses on the issue of conversion among child captives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 988, under the leadership of Kinyaz Viladimer, Russians accepted Christianity through the Patriarchate of Constantinople and entered a new phase in their history. With Christianity, the Russians were introduced to writing and, most importantly, to religious texts. At the same time, this religious conversion also led to the acceptance of the belief of chosenness, which had spread to Christianity from Judaism. Nestor, a Russian priest who lived in the 12th century, wrote in his work that although Russians were the last community to accept Christianity, they would undertake important missions in the future. He also attributed a mission to the Russian society by referring to the biblical passage that the feet will be the head and the head will be the feet. However, in the mentioned centuries, the Eastern Roman Empire was still the center of Orthodoxy. For this reason, the Russian Orthodox Church would remain for many years as a Metropolitanate under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. However, the increasing Ottoman pressure on Constantinople from the 1400s onwards created several historical opportunities for the Russians. In particular, the Byzantine agreement with the Pope of Rome in Florence in 1439 mobilized the Russian Church. Using this agreement as a pretext, Moscow severed its relations with Constantinople. In 1453, the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the center of the Orthodox world, opened a new page in Russian Theo-politics. Russian priests believed that Nestor's prophecy had been fulfilled and Moscow developed the concept of the Third Rome. Appearing in the 16th century, the Moscow-Third Rome concept soon became the ideological basis for the formation of the Moscow kingdom. In this article, the concept of Moscow Third Rome, which is one of the important turning points in Russian history, is analyzed through an analytical method. The background of the concept, the conditions that led to its emergence, its historical development and its reflections on the present day are emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Christian missionaries working on converting Muslim Iranians to Christianity. Their methods are based on a logic of rupture and discontinuity with Islam, presenting Christianity as the solution to a moral-political crisis of Iranians in the Islamic Republic. Anti-Islam is the focus of this conversion discourse. In a transnational Christian network formed by Iranians and non-Iranians, the evangelical missionaries work with methodology that breaks and dialogues with society and the local culture of their target audience, presenting evangelical Christianity as an alternative for Iranians. This research was carried out based on participant observation in missionary groups and Christian churches for Iranians, via digital media and face-to-face, contributing to the understanding of the conversion of Muslims to evangelical Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the spiritual journey of Eldridge Cleaver, a former Black Panther and author, who became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in 1983. Cleaver's interest in Mormonism began in the late 1970s, and he eventually met with LDS missionaries and prominent members of the Church. Despite initial obstacles, Cleaver was baptized into the LDS Church in 1983 but became less active over time. The article discusses the challenges Cleaver faced, including feeling estranged in predominantly white wards, struggles in his political career, financial difficulties, and addiction to crack cocaine. Cleaver expressed admiration for the social practices of the LDS Church and desired a more equitable role for women. The article highlights the complexities of religious conversion and the unfulfilled potential of Cleaver's spiritual journey. [Extracted from the article]

This article charts the different modalities of political transgression that marked an act of religious conversion and inter-faith marriage performed by a Muslim female subject in contemporary India, and the subsequent misreading of this transgression; a misreading made possible by liberal political thought's delineations of the conceptual category of "interest". Existing legal, political, academic, and popular discourses have read the prominent 2016 event of the conversion of a Hindu woman named Akhila into Islam, as either the "false consciousness" of a "vulnerable" individual whose self-interests were unintelligible to herself, or, as an unambiguous case of a "mature" woman in a "modernising" Kerala "choosing" to opt for an inter-faith marriage and to convert; a liberal idiom of choice that thereby needs to be safeguarded via Constitutional provisions. The article, even while acknowledging the political need to adhere to the latter reading/constitution of the female (Islamic) subject's sovereign desire to convert, shows some of the limitations of both these ideologically antithetical positions. It argues that the desire of Hadiya (Akhila's new name after converting to Islam) to convert remains unreadable by both the right-wing Indian judiciary, backed up by Hindutva forces, as well as the "left-liberal" feminist intelligentsia that sought to support her autonomy. In fact, both these ideologically opposed stances often legitimised each other. By examining the legal debates that took place in the Indian courts, the article shows how construing Hadiya's act of conversion solely through the legal-juridical prisms of "religious freedom" and "choice", pegged to the concept of self-interest, is vigorously insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the complex Udmurt religious situation. The Udmurt, a minority group in Central Russia, have an animistic background and live today in different administrative units of the Russian Federation: they have their own Republic, Udmurtia, in which the majority of the population is composed by ethnic Orthodox Russians, but they live also, from West to East, in the Kirov oblast, in the Mari El Republic, in Tatarstan, in Bashkortostan, and in some smaller groups eastwards. In the core territory they were submitted to forced Evangelisation by the Orthodox Russians after their integration into Muscovy, in the 16th century. Eventually, the imposed conversion succeeded, while in regions where the dominant religion was Islam, and where many fled under pressure, they kept their original religious practice. This article investigates this group's religious affiliations and real practice today, between Orthodoxy and Islam, observing that where Islam dominates, animism thrives while where Orthodoxy dominates, different forms of syncretistic religious practice keep the former worldview alive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the phenomenon of religious conversion among non-Muslim nationalities in Kazakhstan following the collapse of the Soviet government and the resurgence of interest in Islam. Through sociologically in-depth interviews, the research reveals that low religious awareness, marriage to a Muslim, social influence, and the presence of a local Muslim community are pivotal factors driving this conversion process. Moreover, the study highlights the broader societal context, including post-Soviet spiritual quests and the quest for meaning, as contributing to the growing interest in religion. As a result of religious conversion, individuals from various backgrounds experience a profound transformation of their personal identity, transitioning from a Christian to a Muslim identity. This transformation fosters closer relations with the Muslim majority in Kazakhstan, promoting social cohesion and unity in a society where Islam has a significant presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While change and flexibility in ritual practices and traditions have been in some sense constitutive elements of Hmong religion, the religious landscape of the contemporary Hmong diaspora is marked by dramatic changes of an altogether new scale. These include the proliferation of a wide range of competing millenarian movements. Leaders of these movements vie for recognition by casting traditional Hmong ritual practice in a way that allows them to convey their ritual innovations as more authentic than traditional religious forms, underwritten by a genuine mandate of heaven. This requires religious activists to decouple the indexical relationship between traditional ritual and its objects (ancestors and a prosperous future) in order to forge new semiotic relationships between new ritual canons, orthographies, and the future of Hmong society. Hmong millenarian activism challenges conventional notions of 'conversion' and 'proselytizing', both because the intended audience is limited to fellow Hmong, and because the suasive practices in which these activists engage are actively trying to rework semiotic connections within a broadly shared Hmong matrix of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title of this essay is intended as ironic. The irony resides in the fact that while the agents of state‐run Jewish conversion in Israel are preoccupied with the sincerity of conversion candidates, they are also troubled by the sincerity of their own religious belief and conduct. This essay will explore ethnographically how these religiopolitical actors engage with semiotic and interactive strategies of self‐suasion in order to reconcile their Zionist and religious commitments with the moral toll that they pay for knowingly facilitating less‐than‐ideal conversions. The essay demonstrates that while these actors embody the Israeli state's national missionary impetus to convert newcomers, they rely on a variety of communicative practices that help them project the constructed sincerity of converts onto their own self‐suaded religious sincerity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of religious beliefs following traumatic events has been well documented. Much of the literature focuses on individuals with pre-existing belief systems and involves post-hoc analysis. It appears rare to identify a case prior to the inciting traumatic event, and especially when there is religious conversion. A unique case of an adolescent presented whereby the patient was already in treatment prior to the event, making pre- and post-traumatic narratives available. This case is also unique in that the patient adopted a religion different to that of their family of origin. Implications for treatment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 19th century, the conversion that took place in the West under the influence of various movements caused experts interested in the psychology of religion to address the subject and conduct research about it. In Western literature, religious conversion refers to changes in the religious era and means that an individual accepts a religion or rejects a religious value or belief. Religious exchange is divided into two ways: intra-religious and inter-religious transitions. In Turkish literature, the concepts of "conversion" and "salvation" are used for the changes that a person undergoes in the religious field. When an individual who belongs to a religion but does not fulfill the requirements of the religion starts to fulfill his religious duties again, it is called guidance or return to religion. The concept of conversion or conversion, on the other hand, is the situation in which an individual abandons his religious values and beliefs and adopts another religious value and belief. Individuals who experience changes in the religious field are called converts. Studies on the phenomenon of conversion have been and continue to be among the topics of interest in many disciplines, especially the psychology of religion. Conversion is one of the main topics that the psychology of religion deals with, and independent studies are carried out that examine different aspects of religious change through a well-known figure. The psycho-social reasons for the religious conversion process are grouped under three topics. The first is conversion as a solution to stress, and the second is the view that considers a process that covers a long period, such as the education that the individual receives from the family. The third view is that the individual gains the ability to interpret events differently because of being influenced by other people. While examining the religious change processes of individuals, the motives that cause change; the motives that are effective in the conversion process are examined from different perspectives such as the direction and duration of the change, and the consequences of the change. The aim of this study is to examine the cause, process, and consequences of Michaela Mihriban Özelsel's religious conversion from Christianity to Islam. In this context, a short biography of German psychologist Michaella Mihriban Özelsel and her story of becoming a Muslim were given and Özelsel's religious change was examined. Based on two works of Özelsel translated into Turkish, the data obtained in the study carried out by the literature review method were analyzed by content analysis and descriptive analysis method. In this study, it was concluded that Özelsel’s searches and inquiries during adolescence and his social interaction during adolescence were the most important motives that led to his conversion. In terms of conversion motifs, it has been concluded that Özelsel's religious conversion fits the intellectual and mystical type of reserve model from the motifs proposed in the literature. In this study, the religious conversion of Özelsel was evaluated according to various models and it was concluded the model that recommended by Köse, and his religious conversion concluded slow religious conversion model. Özelsel’s changes after his religious conversion were examined in terms of their beliefs, worship, attitudes, changes in social life, changes in cultural values and points of change were pointed out. Suggestions were also given to experts who could benefit from the findings of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Holy Qur'an is the last divine book and the last link in the chain of revelation. Sent for the guidance of mankind, the Qur'an aims at the salvation of its interlocutors in this world and the Hereafter. The last divine book was completed gradually over a period of twenty-three years. The verses and sūrahs were dictated by the Prophet (PBUH) to the scribes of revelation and the verses to be inserted between which verses of which sūrah were notified. In the meantime, the names of many surahs were specified and the Holy Qur'an took its final form with 114 surahs. As the Holy Qur'an has names, these suras also have names. In this context, some surahs have one name, some have two names, and some have more than one name. In this study, although subjective, six criteria were determined. These criteria are the first verses or word of the surah, a concise or strange word it contains, hurûf-u muqattaas, an important subject described in the surah or the main subject of the surah, a place mentioned in the surah or a special name. From this point of view, under which criterion 114 suras should be categorised is an issue that needs to be resolved. At the point of resolving this issue, it is of great importance to determine which criterion or criteria are taken as basis in the naming of suras. Due to its importance, in this study, the suras were categorised by classifying them under the determined criteria. As a result of this categorisation, it was determined which surah should be examined under which title. The aim of this study is to examine the sample suras within the framework of these criteria, which constitute the basis for the naming of the suras, and to draw attention to the criteria within which other suras should be evaluated. Literature review method is used in the article. In order to expand the study, some surahs were chosen as focal points, classical and modern tafsirs, works written on Ulûm al-Qur'an, history of tafsir and tafsir methodology books were scanned. In addition, other studies related to the subject have also been examined. The subject was explained in the light of the findings obtained as a result of the scanning. The research covers the explanation of issues such as the criteria taken as basis in the naming of the suras and for which suras these criteria are the main criteria. As a result of the study, it has been tried to determine which criteria are taken as basis when naming suras, how these criteria are used and which sura should be classified under which criterion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the mass religious conversions that took place in early-modern Iberia from the end of the fourteenth century had enormous consequences, one of which was the increasing racialisation of religion. Jewish and Muslim minorities were forced to receive baptism, and although in principle the Church made no distinction among people who had been baptised, in practice the presence of large numbers of recent converts to Catholicism called this theology into question. In the process, as I will demonstrate in this article, religion was racialised, as many people became convinced that religion (both beliefs and ritual) was biological and was transmitted by blood. To support this argument, the article will focus, as a case study, on the discussion about whether to deny baptism to the children of Moriscos (converted Muslims) in the years preceding the general expulsion from Spain of the Moriscos (1609–11). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "Muslim-Christian Polemics in Safavid Iran" by Alberto Tiburcio provides a detailed account of the life and work of Ali Quli Jadid al-Islam, a Portuguese Augustinian priest who converted to Islam in Safavid Iran. The book explores the complex relationship between the state, the ulama, and religious minorities in Safavid Iran, offering valuable context for understanding Jadid al-Islam's motivations for conversion. It also examines Jadid al-Islam's engagement with the dalāʾil al-nubuwwa tradition and his polemical writings against Christianity and Sufism. The book offers a nuanced analysis of the intellectual landscape of Safavid Iran, making it a compelling resource for those interested in Islamic intellectual history, religious studies, and early modern history. [Extracted from the article]

The first document, titled "The Soul Seeks Its Melodies: Music in Jewish Thought," discusses the historical evolution of the music motif in Jewish thought and explores the encounters between music, Jewish philosophy, and theology. The author, Dov Schwartz, presents a comprehensive conceptual framework for understanding the connection between Judaism and music. The book covers various trends in Jewish thought, including the changing evaluations of music, the role of music in Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah, and the importance of music in Religious Zionist thought. The second document, titled "Sounds of Apocalypse: Music in Poland under German Occupation," focuses on the exploitation of music in the territories absorbed into the greater German Reich and in the countries occupied during World War II. The author, Katarzyna Naliwajek, examines the role of music as a tool of propaganda, myth, and reality during this period. The book provides a comprehensive exploration of musical life under German occupation and its impact on Polish society. [Extracted from the article]

The International Journal of Asian Christianity has released its second issue, which focuses on two main themes: the political engagement of Asian Christianity and the unique encounter between Asian cultural worlds and Christianity. The first set of articles explores the political history of Vietnam, the theological reflection on peacemaking in Southeast and East Asia, and the division among Christian leaders in the Philippines during President Rodrigo Duterte's time. The second set of articles examines the religious identity formation of the people of Northeast India and the materiality of Marian devotion in South India. The final article discusses the experiences of Hindu women participating in prayer groups in Kolkata and challenges the conventional definition of what it means to be a Christian. The authors provide valuable insights into the complexities and issues surrounding Asian Christianity. [Extracted from the article]

The present study investigated the parent‐child relational repercussions of converting to religion, switching, or deconverting from religion. Qualitative research indicates that these religious changes may negatively affect parent‐child relationship quality, however, few quantitative studies investigate this issue. Subsequently, we utilized structural equation modeling to test if changes in religious identification during adolescence and emerging adulthood predicted worse parent‐child relationship quality using three waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (N = 2,352). We found that deconversion between Waves 1–2 significantly predicted poorer parent‐child relationship quality at Wave 2 and father‐child relationship quality at Wave 3. Further, deconversion between Waves 2–3 significantly predicted poorer mother‐child relationship quality at Wave 3. Autoregressive cross‐lagged models indicated an association between deconverson and father‐child relationship quality. Deconversion had a significant indirect effect on parent‐child relationship quality through decreased parental warmth and mother‐child religious belief similarity. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the special section Comparative X: Religious and Gendered Transitions, linking the experiences of religious exes and transgender people through their mutual and different uses of "X" to mark liminal identity and status. Reframing religious disaffiliation through the lens of transition, the article presses on the overlap and intersection of religious and gendered movements to connect these different but related crossings as Xes. Through this crossed and comparative framework, it offers a way of looking at the norming systems of religion and gender together through the movements of those who cross them. Expanding comparative studies in religion through the interfaithless, it introduces comparative ex-religious studies as a new subfield. Drawing on the literature of religious disaffiliation and queer and transgender studies in religion, the article considers how changing the orientation through which we approach religion from its Xes might lead to a better understanding of how the normative structures of "religion" and "gender" shape one another transitively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the importance that Islamic legal texts and prescriptive literature from the seventh/thirteenth and eighth/fourteenth centuries assign to the family, especially the mother, in forming religious identity. It approaches this question by analyzing the phenomenon of the non-converting family, or the family's retention of their Jewish or Christian religion after the father's conversion to Islam. The article describes and contextualizes instances in which the family did not convert along with the father against the background of seventh-/thirteenth- and eighth-/fourteenth-century Syria and Egypt. It summarizes some of the measures that were introduced to punish non-converting families of new Muslims and contrasts these with the rulings relating to conversion in an eighth/fourteenth-century legal compendium. The legal rulings focus on positive motivation to convert rather than punitive measures but reflect a similar concern to promote the conversion of the family as a whole. They also reflect a particular concern that the wife of the convert and mother of the household should convert, a feature which is related here to the influence that mothers are held to have exercised over the religious identity of the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrorism is typically included among the grave societal challenges resulting from radicalisation of certain groups. The phrase 'radical converts' typically evokes an image of a convert to Islam, whereas an individual converting from Islam to other religions is not associated with a terrorist threat. When it comes to threat assessment, the conversion of Christianity to Islam is typically deemed a potential warning sign. On the contrary, the Islam-to-Christianity path is typically dismissed as a marker of extremist attitudes. This paper challenges the unidirectionality of this assumption and provides a reconceptualised framework for assessing the potential terrorist threat posed by converts. It does so by firstly exploring the problem of instrumental conversions and subsequently contextualising them through the 2021 Liverpool bombing case study. The findings based on a survey and interviews with key stakeholders confirm that instrumental conversions do not exclude engagement in political violence and that conversions to rather than from Christianity should also be taken into consideration when formulating policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four Icelandic narrative texts with historical and thematic ties to the conversion of Norway and the Faroe Islands to Christianity are examined from the vantage-point of converts' prior statements of their belief only in their own might and main. Disillusionment with the 'old gods' is the common reason given for such professed self-reliance, which does not, however, exclude opportunistic assistance from magical objects. Conversion to the Christian religion by an authority figure is largely transactional in nature, with only low-key emotional engagement. The objective of these texts, written some century and a half after their events, is the full discrediting of heathendom and promotion of skepticism of advantage in the existential void of individuality. Life as a Christian appears unchanged for the saga principals and, in a tacit recall of archaic belief, the soul's redemption does not seems to cancel out the body's destiny. The clerical authors of sagas of Icelanders occupied an exposed position comparable to the men of might and main, in that they had to negotiate an accommodation between heathen story-telling matter and its conventions, and a Christian world view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with a seventeenth-century manuscript copy of the Qur'an from Malta held at the University of Pennsylvania (Ms. Codex 1904). The manuscript's copyist can be identified with Muḥammad al-Tāzī, also known as Baldassare Loyola Mandes (1631–1667), an alleged Moroccan prince who converted to Christianity and gained considerable fame in Catholic countries for his missionary activity and anti-Islamic polemics. In spite of the large number of contemporary sources and modern studies on him, some aspects of his life still remain elusive. Several passages of the accounts of his Islamic past appear nebulous, and, in particular, his royal descent continues to raise doubts. On the one hand, the University of Pennsylvania Qur'an represents a unique document of his pre-conversion life. On the other hand, it bears witness to a peculiar but little-studied form of manuscript production in early modern Europe, represented by books copied by Muslim scribes under conditions of captivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the largely overlooked mass conversion of Jews in Spain during the late 1300s and early 1400s, shedding light on a significant but lesser-known event in Jewish history. Topics include the historical context of the mass conversion, the factors leading to it, and the aftermath, including the impact on Jewish communities and the complex identities of the converted Jews, known as conversos.

Is it possible to disengage from street gangs in communities and districts where gang organizations rule? We argue that disengagement is possible when this process does not alter the social order that allows street gangs to continue controlling and establishing the rules that govern economic activities and relationships in the barrios they control. We explore the process of gang disengagement under criminal governance in El Salvador, a country plagued by the powerful MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs. We conducted a survey with nearly 1,200 people with a history of gang membership and 25 in-depth interviews with former gang members. We find that disengagement through religious conversion allows the gang to continue exerting power over the deserters, while at the same time enforcing religious commitment to the congregation. The religious community provides the normative framework that reassures the gang that its former associates will not act against it, consolidating its local authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late Qing Dynasty, religious periodicals by Western missionaries were made legal in China, and subsequently became an important manner of their missionary cause. Among them, Child's Paper 小孩月报 (1875–1881) by John Marshall Willoughby Farnham, a Protestant missionary from the United States, endeavoured to convert child readers by carrying children's stories of moral and emotional education. By concentrating on the educational elements of Child's Paper, this article inspects how conversion was achieved via the intertextual interpretation of Christian doctrines within these educational elements. Specifically, how the image of little Christians and urchins, respectively, represents salvation and redemption in Christian morals. This article holds that the missionaries' stress on the authority of Christian discourse in the education of Chinese children makes evident an increasing emphasis on the reformative effects of Christianity on Chinese children. Moreover, the conversion-education efforts by missionaries also construed helping Chinese children gain a cross-cultural perspective on Western religion, and arguably inspired later Chinese intellectuals' to create newspapers for the purpose of the pre-primary education of Chinese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious conversion is a multifaceted phenomenon that has captivated scholars, theologians, and social scientists alike. With the aim of delineating and comprehending the variables associated with personal and social transformation, this paper employed an exploratory quantitative inquiry within a sample of participants affiliated with a Protestant church, chosen for its relevance to analogous experiences within worldwide congregations. The findings present antecedent factors that exert a favorable influence on the conversion process of parishioners, establishing a pronounced correlation between overall satisfaction and perceived benefits observed among regular church attendants. Antecedents to religious conversion are deeply rooted in a complex interplay of personal and social factors. Conversion paths are shaped by existential questioning, crises, or a search for meaning, with key roles played by social factors such as family, peers, and exposure to belief systems through preacher pressure. The benefits of religious conversion are equally multifaceted and can encompass various dimensions of an individual's life. Spirituality often becomes a source of solace and resilience, helping individuals navigate adversity. On the emotional level, conversion may provide a sense of belonging, inner peace, and a framework for understanding the world and life's challenges. Adopting a new faith enhances community support and is influenced by cultural and entertainment experiences, contributing to the decision to convert. However, understanding the antecedents and benefits of religious conversion offers valuable insights into the dynamics of faith and human transformation under the global challenges and guidance for religious marketing in the religious postmodern pluralism era. Further research is essential to examine the diverse experiences of religious conversion and their long-term impacts on well-being and societal cohesion, ultimately concluding that it is a multifaceted process influenced by numerous antecedents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to describe and analyze the discursive performance of a group of leaders and ministries that composed the recently extinct interdenominational organization Exodus Brazil, whose work was traditionally justified by the supposed objective of bringing emotional relief to christian people in conflict with homosexuality, through religious conversion. Based on digital monitoring and discursive analysis of theological and political postures, in the context of Jair Bolsonaro government (2019-2022), it aims to analyze the representations about homosexuality constructed on the digital networks Facebook and Instagram, in order to prove the hypothesis that they constitute expressions of religious homophobia, whose social visibility was favored by the broader context of political conservatism experienced by the country in recent years. Under this emphasis, the results achieved add theoretical and empirical elements to the discussion on the exchanges between religion and politics in Brazil, led by new actors and their operating strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a book review of "Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria" by Mark E. Gerrien. The reviewer discusses Gerrien's interpretation of Origen's theology, focusing on key aspects such as divine foreknowledge, Origen's spiritual readings of Scripture, and his insights on prophecy. The reviewer praises Gerrien's analysis and argues that it will inspire further research into early Christian conceptions of knowledge, prophecy, and Christology. The book is recommended for scholars and students of patristic theology. [Extracted from the article]