BL639.C6585

Papers originally presented at a conference held in Ebeltoft, Denmark, December 1st-4th, 2012, at Aarhus University.

In life and death: choice and conversion in the cult of Dionysos -- Becoming Christian in Carthage in the Age of Tertullian -- Conversion in the oldest Apocryphal acts -- Human and divine agency in conversion in apologetic writings of the second century: to dance with angels -- Ontological conversion: a description and analysis of two case studies from Tertullian's de Baptismo and Iamblichus' De mysteriis -- Agents of apostasy, delegates of disaffiliation -- Change and continuity: reading anew Augustine's conversion -- The devil is in the details' Hellenistic mystery initiation rites: bridge-burning or bridge-building? -- Conversion, conflict, and the drama of social reproduction: narratives of filial resistance in early Christianity and modern Britain -- There and back again: temporary immortality in the Mithras liturgy -- Identity formation through catechetical teaching in early Christianity -- The role of religious education in six of the pagan religions of the Hellenistic-Roman period -- Educating a Mithraist -- Observations on late antique rabbinic sources on instruction of would-be converts -- The role of philosophy and education in apologists' conversion to Christianity: the case of Justin and Tatian.

For decades, Arthur D. Nock’s famous definition of conversion and his distinction between conversion and adhesion have greatly influenced our understanding of individual religious transformation in the ancient world. The articles in this volume – originally presented as papers at the conference Conversion and Initiation in Antiquity (Ebeltoft, Denmark, December 2012) – aim to nuance this understanding. They do so by exploring different facets of these two phenomena in a wide range of religions in their own context and from new theoretical and empirical perspectives. The result is a compilation of many new insights into ancient initiation and conversion as well as their definitions and characteristics.