These papers explore new frontiers in conversion studies as scholars grapple with new mechanisms and contexts for the process of religious conversion and deconversion . The first examines conversions effected through engagement with The Urantia Book, a book of spiritual teachings said to have been communicated by celestial beings in the early 20th century. In recent years, engagement with the book has been augmented by AI-guided theological discussions that raise new questions about the limits and possibilities of digital conversion. The second re-examines the established view that religious conversion is a process through a longitudinal empirical study of Iraqi refugees in Finland who converted from Islam to Christianity, focusing on how their understandings of conversion changed over six years. The third uses a close examination of a novel religious ritual for effecting deconversion – debaptism – to explore what the (a)theology of (de)baptism reveals about consent and ecclesial belonging in secularizing worlds.
Religious conversion is a deeply personal and transformative process that encompasses cognitive shifts, mystical experiences, and intellectual awakenings. The Urantia Book fosters unique conversion experiences, often occurring outside institutional religious frameworks, through self-guided engagement with its teachings. This paper applies phenomenology, psychology of religion, and AI-based pedagogy to examine how individuals experience Urantia-based spiritual transformation. Drawing on William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience and James Fowler’s Stages of Faith, the study explores the psychological and developmental aspects of these conversions. Additionally, the paper investigates the role of artificial intelligence in mediating religious engagement through algorithmic exposure, AI-guided theological discussions, and adaptive learning systems. By integrating personal narratives, cognitive analysis, and technological mediation, this paper provides a multidimensional approach to religious conversion, contributing to broader discussions on faith development, digital spirituality, and the evolving relationship between AI and transformative belief systems.
Although the current academic discussion on religious conversion predominantly considers conversion as a process, the number of empirical studies that explore the same converts in different points in time remains limited. Also, there is still little research on the asylum seekers’ conversions from Islam to Christianity following the so-called 2015 refugee crisis. This article provides a longitudinal perspective through revisiting the experiences of Iraqi forced migrants in Finland, first interviewed in 2017–2018 and then six years later in 2023–2024. While religious conversion has been defined in various ways in different academic fields, faith traditions and societal contexts, this study takes a data-driven approach and analyzes what conversion means in these data. The results show that conversion can signify different things to different individuals, as well as the same individuals at different times, providing perspectives useful to academia and societal actors dealing with religion and forced migration.
In many Christian traditions, baptism is generally conferred on infants, who cannot consent to the sacrament. What happens if, as teenagers or adults, they later reject their initiation into Christian faith? This paper will reflect on the Debaptism Movement, which has been gaining popularity across the West in recent years. It will begin with a history of the movement, outline the ideologies, practices, and forms of community that draw nonbelievers together, and explore Christian responses. What can Christian communities learn from the beliefs and practices that undergird Debaptism, what do they reveal about the way Christians understand and live out their shared ecclesial life, and how might theologians seriously engage (a)theologies of baptism as they seek to dialogue with the modern, secular world?