All-inclusive studies often focus o

All-inclusive studies often focus on geographical areas in which Christianity or Islam
gain ascendancy. In the case of Christianity, these include explorations of the
Christianization of the Roman Empire (MacMullen1984), British Isles, Europe, Russia,
Latin America, and the Philippines. A recent book, edited by Armstrong and Wood (2004),
has a title that captures the essence of this discussion: Christianizing Peoples and
Converting Individuals. Studies of conversion to Islam include such geographical areas as
Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Africa, South East Asia, India, the Malay Archipelago, Britain, Europe,
Pastoral Psychol (2010) 59:433–445 441
and so forth (see Bulliet1979; Levtzion 1979). Few of these studies emphasize individual
experience, but rather the roles persons might play as missionaries, emissaries, leaders
(charismatic or otherwise), or traders. Most focus on Christianization or Islamization, in
other words, the creation of social, cultural, religious, and political environments in which
individuals, families, communities, and societies flourish as Christian or Muslim zones of
influence and power. Many such studies are, of course, historical, but there are also
examinations of the processes of Christian or Islamic conversion using various
interpretative models such as the diffusion of innovation theory by Bulliet (1979).
In the study of Islamization other theoretical explanations for Islamic conversion include
the use of force, attractiveness of Islam as a movement for the liberation of slaves and
soldiers, compliance with new political regimes, desire for the privileges of Islamic political
power (e.g. tax relief), influence of traders (through intermarriage and patronage relation-ships), and attractiveness of monotheism (especially for those from“pagan”and“primal”
religions), the provision of mystical and transcendent experiences through such things as
Sufi modes of spirituality. In the case of Christianization, explanations for conversion
include experiences of healing, the attraction of communities of grace and fellowship, the
appeal to women of new understandings of the role of women, and the deployment of
various forms of persuasion, coercion, and force.