Religious Conversion: Religion Scholars Thinking Together

Religious conversion is once again an issue of pressing global importance. This unique book addresses one of the most difficult questions in interreligious relations, exploring the key issues relating to conversion across the major world faiths.

Working together an international cast of religious scholars and leaders of Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim traditions, discuss the key questions relating to the nature, methods, and effects of religious conversion. In a series of chapters, the history, development and current position on conversion of each major religious tradition is clearly explained and then put into dialogue with other traditions. Questions about religious freedom, legal considerations, and the future for religious conversion are also addressed.

Illuminating and thought–provoking, Religious Conversion is based on a ground–breaking project initiated by the World Council of Churches developing our understanding of a controversial topic that shapes societies and cultures around the world for centuries, now and for centuries.

Notes on Contributors vii

Introduction 1

Shanta Premawardhana

Part I: Preliminary Considerations 7

1 Thinking Together: A Story and a Method 9
M. Thomas Thangaraj

2 Defining Religious Conversion 21
M. Thomas Thangaraj

3 Models of Religious Belonging 32
Rita M. Gross

4 Conversion Sought and Feared 45
Hans Ucko

Part II: Views from Five Religious Traditions 61

5 Buddhists on Religious Conversion: A Critical Issue 63
Mahinda Deegalle

6 A Christian Perspective on Conversion 83
Jay T. Rock

7 Conversion from a Hindu Perspective: Controversies, Challenges, and Opportunities 98
Anantanand Rambachan

8 Islamic Perspectives on Conversion: Aid Evangelism and Apostasy Law 119
A. Rashied Omar and Rabia Terri Harris

9 Jewish Perspectives on Conversion 142
Amy Eilberg

Part III: Conversion and Human Rights 159

10 Conversion and Religious Freedom 161
S. Wesley Ariarajah

11 The Right to Religious Freedom and Proselytism: A Legal Perspective 177
Ravin Ramdass

Part IV: Looking to the Future 197

Epilogue: To Learn and to Encourage: Insights from the Thinking Together Group 199
Shanta Premawardhana

A Study Guide 205
Deborah Weissman

Index 212

Shanta Premawardhana is President of the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE) in Chicago, a member of the governing board of the National Council of Churches, and a member of the board of trustees of the Parliament of the World s Religions. He was the director of the Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation programme of the World Council of Churches during which time he convened the Thinking Together group of religious scholars. He has published numerous articles on religion, interreligious dialogue, and Christian mission, and is co–editor of Sharing Values: A Hermeneutics for Global Ethics (2011).