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Book Cover
Book
Author Stromberg, Peter G.

Title Language and self-transformation : a study of the Christian conversion narrative / Peter G. Stromberg
Published Cambridge [England] ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1993

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  248.24 Str/Las  AVAILABLE
Description xvi, 148 pages ; 24 cm
Series Publications of the Society for Psychological Anthropology ; 5
Publications of the Society for Psychological Anthropology ; 5
Contents 1. Introduction -- 2. Character and intention -- 3. Boundaries -- 4. Dreams -- 5. Miracles -- 6. Roles -- 7. Against a theory of volition
Summary Social scientists have long been fascinated by the Christian conversion, a form of religious experience that believers say both strengthens their faith and changes their lives. This study looks at the performance of conversion narratives and argues that the performance itself is central to the efficacy of the conversion. Through detailed analysis of a number of conversion narratives, Peter Stromberg shows how these narratives can be understood as a form of ritual, in which believers invoke central emotional conflicts and then attempt to resolve these conflicts by reframing them in terms of the language of Evangelical Christianity. Although the Christian conversion narrative is used as the primary example, the approach in this book also illuminates other practices - such as psychotherapy - in which people deal with emotional conflict through language
Analysis Christianity Religious experiences Conversion
Christianity Religious experiences Conversion
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 138-144) and index
Subject Conversion -- Case studies.
Conversion -- Christianity -- Case studies.
Language and languages -- Religious aspects -- Christianity.
Genre/Form Case studies.
Author Society for Psychological Anthropology.
LC no. 92034071
ISBN 0521440777