1.6.3
Conversion Experience
Conversion Experience
Conversion Experience
Conversion – turning-towards – is usually used to describe the process of someone turning away from past sinful behaviour and beginning a new life based on faith in God.
Meaning of repentance
Meaning of repentance
- Repentance, the word used in the Gospels to describe the action of leaving sin behind and beginning a new life in Christ, is translated from a Greek word metanoia, which has the sense of a turning away from sin, a complete and fundamental change of heart.
- So conversion is a foundational element of Christian life. It can be gradual or sudden, but most practising Christians have some experience of it.
St. Paul & Wesley's conversion
St. Paul & Wesley's conversion
- Radical examples of conversion can be found in St. Paul and John Wesley:
- St Paul: Originally called Saul, Paul was a Jew who persecuted Christians until a sudden experience of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. He described himself as a new man, a new creation.
- John Wesley: Initially aware that he did not have the same faith in a personal saviour that others had. He had a conversion experience in which he felt his heart warmed and felt trust in Christ that he had been saved from his sins.
William James: sick & healthy soul
William James: sick & healthy soul
- William James examines conversion in the light of his psychological account of the ‘sick soul’ and the ‘healthy soul’.
- The sick soul is a personality type that is depressive and pessimistic; the healthy soul is conversely optimistic about life.
- James claims that conversion affects the sick soul in a more profound and long-lasting way.
1Philosophy of Religion
1.1Ancient Philosophical Influences: Plato
1.2Ancient Philosophical Influences: Aristotle
1.3Ancient Philosophical Influences: Soul, Mind, Body
1.4The Existence of God - Arguments from Observation
1.5The Existence of God - Arguments from Reason
1.6Religious Experience
1.7The Problem of Evil
1.8The Nature & Attributes of God
1.9Religious Language: Negative, Analogical, Symbolic
2Religion & Ethics
2.1Natural Law
2.2Situation Ethics
2.3Kantian Ethics
2.4Utilitarianism
2.5Euthanasia
3Developments in Christian Thought
3.1Saint Augustine's Teachings
3.2Death & the Afterlife
3.3Knowledge of God's Existence
3.4The Person of Jesus Christ
3.5Christian Moral Principles
3.6Christian Moral Action
3.7Development - Pluralism & Theology
3.8Development - Pluralism & Society
3.9Gender & Society
3.10Gender & Theology
Jump to other topics
1Philosophy of Religion
1.1Ancient Philosophical Influences: Plato
1.2Ancient Philosophical Influences: Aristotle
1.3Ancient Philosophical Influences: Soul, Mind, Body
1.4The Existence of God - Arguments from Observation
1.5The Existence of God - Arguments from Reason
1.6Religious Experience
1.7The Problem of Evil
1.8The Nature & Attributes of God
1.9Religious Language: Negative, Analogical, Symbolic
2Religion & Ethics
2.1Natural Law
2.2Situation Ethics
2.3Kantian Ethics
2.4Utilitarianism
2.5Euthanasia
3Developments in Christian Thought
3.1Saint Augustine's Teachings
3.2Death & the Afterlife
3.3Knowledge of God's Existence
3.4The Person of Jesus Christ
3.5Christian Moral Principles
3.6Christian Moral Action
3.7Development - Pluralism & Theology
3.8Development - Pluralism & Society
3.9Gender & Society
3.10Gender & Theology
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