Conversion in the New Testament
I am looking to determine passages when conversion happened. I think conversion should not be simply as a religious conversion, but also as a change of ethnicity to be a Christian. How can I find this using Logos?
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”change of ethnicity”? What are you meaning?
Bob
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Theoretically, the foundation of religious conversion is someone "convincing" you of their point of view. You are converted after you are persuaded. Put differently, religious conversion is predicated on and places a high value on intellectual knowledge. By doing this, it reduced religion to a purely academic issue. Naturally, this presupposes that individuals possess a high degree of intellectual capacity and that they have the ability to "freely choose" in accordance with their comprehension. However, the reality is that only a tiny percentage of people are amenable to intellectual conversion. Most people find that intellectual understanding is not very useful. Religion, in my opinion, is a contemporary concept that was nonexistent in antiquity. What scholars refer to as "religion" encompasses the following Graeco-Roman categories: national cult (national deities, priests, temples, animal sacrifice), familial traditions, voluntary associations, astrology and magic, and ethnicity. The labels of ancient ethnic groups were connected to the group's place of origin. To be converted means to see Jesus as your ethnic value. Steve Mason makes compelling claims that, regardless of one's motivation, becoming an Ioudaios would have been perceived as a transition from one ethnic group to another. Steve Mason's great work, "Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of Categorization in Ancient History," Journal for the Study of Judaism 38 (2007): 457-512, "argues that there was no category of 'Judaism' in the Graeco-Roman world and no form religion either. I hope this makes sense.
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I think you need to read a couple of introduction to religious studies volumes - one from an anthropological/sociological position and one from comparative religions. A volume on perennial philosophy would also help fill in a few gaps.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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I am not engaged in perennial philosophy. I have read these in the past few years.
Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask.
Stark, Rodney. Discovering God: The Origins of Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief.
Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion
Armstrong, Karen, A Case for God
This was in my intro to religious studies class. Prothero, Stephen. (2011). God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World & Herling, Bradley L. (2016). A Beginner's Guide to the Study of Religion (2nd ed.).
I read this one over the weekend as a suggestion from a friend. Paden, William. Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion. She said it brought forth a consensus using a better methodology. Are you familiar with it?
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That's a decent start; however, you've indicated some issues with comprehension. How would you rate your comprehension of these books? I ask because your question assigns rather uncommon understandings to ethnic, conversion, and religion. I can't really guide anyone to appropriate answers if I can't find a common vocabulary - an issue that occurs frequently in apologetics and polemics.
You see, I disagree strongly with your statement
Put differently, religious conversion is predicated on and places a high value on intellectual knowledge.
People are rarely convinced by the logic of intellectual knowledge - it is experiential knowledge and value-based logic that more frequently is behind conversion. If intellectual knowledge was the basis, Christianity would grow among the elite rather than the poor and the oppressed.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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I am looking to determine passages when conversion happened.
Perhaps James Parks' All the Turning Points in the Bible? Resource plus searchable Logos dataset. We used the phrase "turning point" because "conversion" has a lot of baggage and assumptions.
In Logos: https://ref.ly/logosres/fballconversions?art=fballconversions.nt
From the introduction:
[quote]
A turning point is a broad concept that includes a religious experience in a person’s, or group of people’s, life. The experience leads the person or group to make a positive change in their actions or beliefs. Some experiences catalogued can be classified as a conversion, where a person leaves one religious affiliation and affirms a new religious identity (e.g. Abraham and Paul). However, many of them are instances of a person reaffirming an established religious identity with renewed vigor in their devotion to the ethical practices required by their religion (e.g. the people of Israel). These religious experiences include instances like the following: an encounter with a prophet (e.g. the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:30), an interaction with a different community (e.g. Rahab in Joshua 2:9), or a dialogue with Jesus (e.g. Peter in John 1:42).
James Parks, All the Turning Points in the Bible, Faithlife Biblical and Theological Lists (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2021).
- Rick
Rick Brannan | Twitter: @RickBrannan
my books in print0 -
You asked about passages about salvation......
I think you have a bible... which probably has the words of Jesus in red. Read what Jesus taught about salvation. Such as:
Jesus taught one must live by the word of God - Luke 4:4, John 8:31.
Jesus taught one must believe in Him (Jesus) - John 11:25.
Jesus taught one must confess Him (Jesus) before men - Matthew 10:32-33.
Jesus taught one must repent of sin - Luke 13:3.
Jesus taught one must be baptized - Matthew 16:16 Mark 16:16. And Jesus Himself was baptized - Matthew 3:13-15 to fulfill all righteousness.
If Jesus taught it must be done.... then I don't understand where any man gets the right to not do it.
Salvation is that simple... if we read our bible. [8-|]
As to actual conversions... I would suggest a reading and study of the book of Acts which lists what happened in the 1st century...
Notice: (I'll summarize the book of Acts where people were converted or saved)
Acts 2:38-41.... Peter preached and that day about 3,000 souls were added to the church (particularly Acts 2:47).
Acts 8:12 - men and women were baptized...
Acts 8:13 - Simon was baptized....
Acts 8:35-39 - The Ethiopian Eunuch was baptized....
Acts 9:17-18 - Saul of Tarsus (later Paul) was baptized...
Acts 10:44-48 - Cornelius was baptized....
Acts 15:14-15 - Lydia was baptized....
Acts 16:30-33 - Philippian jailer was baptized....
Acts 18:8 - Crispus, ruler of the Synagogue and others were baptized....
Acts 19:1-5 - Disciples of John were baptized....
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And in keeping with what Jesus taught... Mark 16:16... then they were "saved" when they had done all that Jesus commanded them to do.
Hope this helps.
xn = Christan man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".
Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!
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