Literary Depictions of Religious Conversion
Literary depictions of religious conversion explore the profound theme of individuals undergoing significant shifts in identity and belief systems. This transformative process can be sudden or gradual and often involves a departure from established norms to pursue a deeper spiritual connection. Various North American authors have illustrated this theme through narratives that encompass a wide range of religious traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and indigenous belief systems. Historical roots in early American literature reflect the intense religious experiences of Puritan figures, while works by contemporary writers capture diverse interpretations of conversion.
Literature often portrays the struggle for spiritual fulfillment, as seen in John Steinbeck's characters and Flannery O'Connor's exploration of grotesque religious experiences. Additionally, figures like Malcolm X and N. Scott Momaday illustrate how conversion can intersect with ethnic and cultural identity. Modern narratives further expand on conversion, including themes of personal salvation and the quest for enlightenment. Ultimately, literary representations of religious conversion offer a rich tapestry of human experience, reflecting the complexities of faith and personal transformation.
Literary Depictions of Religious Conversion
Introduction
Religious conversion is one of the great themes of literature. North American writers of diverse identity have described acts of conversion to the world’s major religions—Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and many Eastern and American Indian faiths. Religious conversion is a radical change of identity. It involves rejecting accepted ways in order to nurture a connection with the spiritual. This conversion may be sudden or a slow, meditative process. People experiencing conversion grow into a spiritual life, sometimes alienating themselves from their community.
Historical Roots
Settlers from England came to America to escape the hypocrisy of established churches. Early American Puritans such as John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards describe intense religious experiences, insisting on personal conversion in order to fully sanctify oneself and accept God’s will. Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Charity (1629) describes the hope that colonial New England might become a “city upon a hill” upholding high standards of Christian behavior before the rest of the world. Edwards’ Divine and Supernatural Light (1734) argues that saving grace comes only from the mind’s supernatural illumination.
American Indian literature contains many vision quests analogous to Christian conversions. Black Elk and John G. Neihardt’s Black Elk Speaks (1932) tells the story of the Oglala Sioux holy man’s instruction in sacred lore by medicine men who strived to retain the sacred identity of his nation. Black Elk’s book also describes his conversion to Catholicism.
Modern Expressions
John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939) describes tenant farmers from Oklahoma on an arduous westward journey. Accompanying them is Jim Casy, a former preacher who recounts being transformed by God. Although Casy has lost his faith, he functions as a spiritual healer and shows the powerful influence of his conversion. Some writers move away from tradition in their religious conversions while others move toward orthodoxy. T. S. Eliot’s cycle of poems Four Quartets (1943) is composed of religious and philosophical meditations. Especially in one quartet, “Little Gidding,” the poet undergoes a dramatic reevaluation of his concepts of time, faith, and God at the site of a seventeenth-century Anglican community.
Thomas Merton converted to Roman Catholicism and became a Trappist monk at a Kentucky monastery. Merton depicts his conversion in The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). Flannery O’Connor’s novels and stories describe many ecstatic religious experiences, especially those that are grotesque in nature. Wise Blood (1952) concerns a young fanatic who tries to establish a church in rural Georgia. The Violent Bear It Away (1960) presents the fanatical mission of a boy intent on baptizing another boy. Many of O’Connor’s short stories, such as “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” or “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” show the inner turmoil of characters searching for a mystical revelation.
Many conversions correspond to ethnic and racial identity. Malcolm X, a civil rights leader and preacher, describes his conversion in The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965). The book movingly tells of Malcolm’s self-education while in prison and how his sense of self-worth was enhanced by his conversion to Islam. N. Scott Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969) describes the Kiowa creation story. Torn between two worlds of American Indian and white, Momaday’s vision quest is a conversion and an attempt to recover his tribal identity.
Conversions need not be ethnic or orthodox. Peter Matthiessen describes his trek to Tibet in quest of spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment in The Snow Leopard (1978). The animal is considered sacred by Buddhists. Maya Angelou’s All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986) is an autobiographical account of her stay in Ghana at the time it won its political independence. Angelou’s spiritual journey to Africa strengthens her identity as an African American. Anne Tyler’s Saint Maybe (1991) tells the story of Ian Bedloe’s conversion in the Church of the Second Chance, where he seeks a personal salvation.
John Wray's novel Godsend (2018) follows a young American woman and convert to Islam as she travels to Pakistan disguised as a young man to study the religion, ultimately becoming involved in radicalism. In the historical novel The Damascus Road (2019), author Jay Parini provides a fictionalized account of Saul of Tarsus, or Saint Paul. The work explores Paul's early life as an adherent of Judaism and a persecutor of the early followers of Christianity through his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus as well as his subsequent missions to spread the message of Jesus.
Bibliography
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Review of The Damascus Road, by Jay Parini. Kirkus Reviews, 21 Jan. 2019, www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jay-parini/the-damascus-road/. Accessed 29 Aug. 2019.
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Gallagher, Susan, and Roger Lundin. Literature Through the Eyes of Faith. HarperCollins, 1989.
Garner, Dwight. "In 'Godsend,' an Idealistic Young Woman Gets Tangled Up in Trouble in Afghanistan." Review of Godsend, by John Wray. The New York Times, 8 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/books/review-godsend-john-wray.html. Accessed 29 Aug. 2019.
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O’Connor, Flannery. “Catholic Novelists and Their Readers.” Mystery and Manners, edited by Sally Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzgerald, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1961.