“When your heart is touched, it’s not a decision”

Abstract

This is a qualitative study of 17 Iranian Muslim converts to Christianity residing in Canada. The study asks how the sample narrativizes the meaning of religious conversion in their lives. Analysis reveals a six-fold thematic pattern, the underlying premise of which is the relationship between volition, cognition, and sensory experience (or religious emotion). There is a consensus among respondents that human knowledge is always limited, whatever the field of inquiry. In consequence, religious knowledge based on cognition alone proves to be an insufficient guide to matters of ultimate truth. It follows that conversion is frequently experienced and represented less as a rational choice than as a spontaneously gifted event in which cognition and volition are absorbed by what Azari and Birnbacher have so aptly expressed as a “[knowing] that feels like something.”

Rediscovering the Spiritual in Religious Conversion Studies

“…Extraordinary phenomena are frequently reported in the conversion stories of Muslims as well. 36 Muslim converts recount dreams, visions, and hearing the voice of Jesus both internally and audibly. "One night somebody touched my hands and told me: 'Do not be afraid.…”

“…Among people who have converted from another religion (Buddhism, Islam, or Hinduism) to Christianity, conversion stories regularly include accounts of a supernatural or existential experience with God. 1 Central to the purpose of missions is understanding the process of conversion. The call to make disciples of all nations 2 includes understanding how people respond to the gospel message and what attracts people to Jesus Christ as Savior.…”

What Kind of Christianity? A v Switzerland

“…They seem to have expected a particular narrative of conversion based on 'rational' arguments concerning the 'key aspects' of Christianity (or what they considered to be the religion's 'key aspects'). However, as scholars of conversion to evangelical forms of Christianity have shown, narratives of conversion in fact more often focus on "exploration and celebration of the inner, unique self" 15 , and are emotional as well as cognitive events 16 . For the applicant to stress the notion of honesty, and later to ascertain that "he would always retain the truthfulness of his faith, which nobody could take away from him" 17 , thus is in fact in line with evangelical conversion narratives.…”