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Religious conversion is once again an issue of pressing global importance. This unique book addresses one of the most difficult questions in interreligious relations, exploring the key issues relating to conversion across the major world faiths.
Working together an international cast of religious scholars and leaders of Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim traditions, discuss the key questions relating to the nature, methods, and effects of religious conversion. In a series of chapters, the history, development and current position on conversion of each major religious tradition is clearly explained and then put into dialogue with other traditions. Questions about religious freedom, legal considerations, and the future for religious conversion are also addressed.
Illuminating and thought-provoking,
Religious Conversion is based on a ground-breaking project initiated by the World Council of Churches developing our understanding of a controversial topic that shapes societies and cultures around the world for centuries, now and for centuries.
List of contents
Notes on Contributors vii
Introduction 1
Shanta Premawardhana
Part I: Preliminary Considerations 7 1 Thinking Together: A Story and a Method 9
M. Thomas Thangaraj 2 Defining Religious Conversion 21
M. Thomas Thangaraj 3 Models of Religious Belonging 32
Rita M. Gross 4 Conversion Sought and Feared 45
Hans Ucko Part II: Views from Five Religious Traditions 61 5 Buddhists on Religious Conversion: A Critical Issue 63
Mahinda Deegalle 6 A Christian Perspective on Conversion 83
Jay T. Rock 7 Conversion from a Hindu Perspective: Controversies, Challenges, and Opportunities 98
Anantanand Rambachan 8 Islamic Perspectives on Conversion: Aid Evangelism and Apostasy Law 119
A. Rashied Omar and Rabia Terri Harris 9 Jewish Perspectives on Conversion 142
Amy Eilberg Part III: Conversion and Human Rights 159 10 Conversion and Religious Freedom 161
S. Wesley Ariarajah 11 The Right to Religious Freedom and Proselytism: A Legal Perspective 177
Ravin Ramdass Part IV: Looking to the Future 197 Epilogue: To Learn and to Encourage: Insights from the Thinking Together Group 199
Shanta Premawardhana A Study Guide 205
Deborah Weissman Index 212
About the author
Shanta Premawardhana is President of the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE) in Chicago, a member of the governing board of the National Council of Churches, and a member of the board of trustees of the Parliament of the World's Religions. He was the director of the Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation programme of the World Council of Churches during which time he convened the Thinking Together group of religious scholars. He has published numerous articles on religion, interreligious dialogue, and Christian mission, and is co-editor of
Sharing Values: A Hermeneutics for Global Ethics (2011).
