Conversion in Late Antiquity: Christianity, Islam, and Beyond eds. by Arietta Papaconstantinou with Neil McLynn and Daniel L. Schwartz (review)

Conversion stories have recently become a source for some rabid Internet polemics, but this volume of well-nuanced articles provides solid evidence concerning what were in reality complex processes of identity change in late antiquity. The fifteen chapters are generally solid presentations of various aspects of conversion, and are thorough and well footnoted. All articles seem well edited, and there is a very substantial bibliography. As the title suggests, conversion is explored in relation to Christianity and Islam, but also to Judaism and Buddhism, and this breadth makes the work even stronger. Many parallels can be drawn, and several authors do indeed discuss the broader cultural trends and commonalities between religions with respect to identity change and conversion. The book is divided into five sections that focus on the principles of conversion, the practices, some symbols and institutions in conversion, and ambiguities in conversion processes, with a final section using Jerusalem as an exemplar of these themes.

Averil Cameron opens with a very good exploration of the political and social issues surrounding Christian and other conversions. She notes the religious ferment of the Middle East and the fact that clear-cut boundaries between faiths simply did not exist. Cameron also raises important questions about violence, exaggeration, status, and communication, and reminds us that even the notion of conversion itself needs clarification.

Polymnia Athanassiadi’s contribution then neatly explores some of these points in greater detail, investigating especially the psychological issues of conversion as a fashion, as a new identity, and as an untidy process. This is a fascinating essay as it covers new ground, and it also explores the protocols of conversion, coercion versus free will, and apostasy. The example of a barely converted bishop is used to show that boundaries were frequently crossed but not always in the same way.

Antonello Palumbo and Samuel Lieu present important aspects of identity in religious conversion in the second section. Palumbo makes comparisons between the conversion of Chinese Emperor Wu and the late repentance of Constantine, and notes the many similarities between their contexts and processes of conversion. While Wu’s identity shift to Buddhism ultimately failed, the author draws many parallels that call for further exploration: How did religious diffusion work? What were the political implications of the ruler’s conversion? Lieu focuses on the particular case of Manichaeism and its diffusion and persecution. The lack of any friends in high places significantly undermined this faith’s growth in China, and Lieu’s textual evidence opens the door to much more research on this understudied religion.

Several chapters highlight the ambiguities in conversion, and Elizabeth Fowden’s article on the ambiguities faced by rural converters among the Arabs is possibly the best in the volume. She notes the role of monasteries as places for common ground between Christians and Muslims, and how they persisted as ecumenical spaces in Islam. She explores the thinness of conversion among Christian Arabs and discusses the role of holy men in conversion, including their exorcisms and healings. Some religious behaviour could accommodate both faiths and this created liminal spaces that are frequently glossed over. Fowden thus provides some tantalising clues for further interfaith relations research.

Konstantin Klein analyses Jerome’s Vita Hilarionis and the conversion of the Arab village of Elusa from Venus worship to Christianity. Klein sees the identification of Venus in this context as a typical Romanising of an Arab goddess, possibly al’Uzza, and explores this conversion in the light of polytheism and the growing monotheism of the Arabian Peninsula. This leads to comparisons with later conversions to Islam, and the role of Peter Brown’s holy man in both cases.

In the final essay, Robert Schick analyses Muslim impacts on Jerusalem during the Umayyad period and notes that Christians were little affected, as the Muslim building projects mainly occurred on the neglected temple mount...