Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ri

Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Road, Box 132, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA
e-mail: Steven@SCBauman.com
conversions, taking place both for individuals and in revival meetings, were the most
widely known forms of religious change in the late nineteenth century and were understood
to involve primarily adolescents and young adults.
Research and publications regarding the psychology of conversion diminished
significantly from the 1930s until the 1970s. The reasons for this decline are complex
and beyond the scope of this paper. The ascendency of behaviorism, on the one hand, and
the hegemony of psychoanalysis in the therapeutic domain, on the other, played a role in
reducing interest in conversion. In Protestant circles, the Pastoral Counseling and Pastoral
Psychology movement had only a limited interest in conversion processes. Much has
changed since the time of these early classic studies of conversion. During the last three
decades research has expanded to include a wide range of scholars in anthropology, history,
psychology, religious studies, and sociology. Many of these scholars focused on new
religious movements and on religious change in various parts of the world, including the
resurgence of various religions and conversions instigated by missionaries and other
advocates of particular religions. Within the last decade, many psychologists have
advocated the need to go beyond the confines of particular religions to include various
forms of spirituality (Mahoney and Pargament 2004; Paloutzian 1981, 2005, forthcoming;
Paloutzian et al.2006; Pargament 1997; Pargament and Mahoney 2002; Zinnbauer and
Pargament1998). These scholars consider spirituality to be a more inclusive category or
phenomenon than traditional religious institutions.
The psychological study of conversion in the West can be divided into two broad
categories. The first—experimental—seeks to understand, predict, and control conversion
phenomena. This approach explores, for example, the roles of depression, suggestibility,
motivation, or other variables in the conversion process (Gorsuch1984; cf. Kildahl 1965;
Spellman et al.1971). The other major type is more theoretical and global in its quest to
understand the human predicament and uses broader case-study and clinical methods (e.g.,
Nelsonforthcoming). This approach may be called descriptive or phenomenological (cf.
Tarachow1955). While these two approaches are suggestive, their limited scope makes
clear the need for a broader theory of conversion, a theory that takes into account the
extension of the boundaries of psychology to include the resources of anthropology,
sociology, and other human sciences (cf. Rambo1999; Tweed 2006).