Conversion in Late AntiquityChristianity, Islam, and Beyond
Ed. Arietta Papaconstantinou;Neil McLynn;Daniel L Schwartz
Originally presented at the Mellon-Sawyer Seminar in Oxford, 2009-2010, these 15 papers offer a new comparative study of conversion: to Christianity, traditionally seen as a spiritual; to Islam, widely thought of as implemented ‘by the sword’; and to Buddhism. The study examines the principles of conversion, how it was handled by the state, ‘human ambiguities’, and symbols and institutionalization, with a final chapter on the effect of religious change on Jerusalem.