In his classical monograph „Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion …“ (1933), Arthur Darby Nock proposes an influential definition of conversion and assigns conversion more or less exclusively to the Christian religion in contradistinction to pagan cults. Although he records „conversions to philosophy“ as exceptions within the pagan realm and acknowledges an approximation to the idea of conversion in the mystery cults, he regards conversion as a specific and unique feature of ancient Christianity which contributed to its success.
This paper studies ancient Christian conversion narratives and thereby aims at challenging Nock’s theory from two different angles.
Firstly, Christian conversion narratives have to be read as participating in a conversion discourse which can be grasped also in popular literature (e.g. Lucian’s satiric works; Dion Chrysostom’s speaches), in philosophical protreptics and in the works of Graeco-Roman moral philosophers (e.g. Epictet, Cicero, Seneca), or in the hagiographic Vitae philosophorum.
Secondly, the source material available to us can be read as supporting the view that narratives of Christian conversion in a narrow sense are related to individuals of exemplary status and thereby serve a specific function: They contribute to the late antique debate about the specifics of a Christian life.
The paper argues for a restricted use of the term „conversion“: Especially after Constantine, becoming a Christian did not necessarily imply conversion.
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