The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (567 page)

Contemplation
.

In modern Western use, mental
prayer
that is non-discursive and thus distinct from
meditation
. At this stage, prayer usually begins to be less the fruit of human effort and more the result of direct divine
grace
, a distinction suggested by the traditional contrast between ‘acquired’ and ‘infused’ contemplation.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Contraception
:

see
BIRTH AND POPULATION CONTROL
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Conversion
.

Conversion is a process common to all religions in its preliminary sense of ‘conversion of manners’—i.e. the turning of one's life more deliberately toward the goals of the religion in question. But conversion also has a stronger sense, namely, the transfer of a person (or group of people) from one religion to another, or from no religion to belief. Conversion in that stronger sense is an extremely complex phenomenon, having a different status and priority in different religions. Judaism, for example, became highly resistant to seeking converts, not least because Judaism is a particular vocation to one people, and gentiles are
already
members of the
Noachide
covenant, and have no need to undertake the laws of
Torah
in addition.
In some religions the imperative to convert others is non-negotiable. In Christianity it is tied to the view that there is no other way to salvation (John 14. 6). Such conversion involves
baptism
. In a comparable way, Muslims are under obligation to make known the will and the way of
All
h
, revealed in the
Qur’
n
; yet ‘There is no compulsion in religion’ (Qu’
n 2. 256/7), and Muslims recognize that the People of the Book (
Ahl al-Kit
b
) should be treated with respect, and that they are not obliged to convert to Islam.
The psychology and neurophysiology of conversion are understood, as yet, only in very preliminary ways. At one extreme, the techniques associated with the term
brain-washing
were explored in connection with religious conversion by W. Sargant,
Battle For the Mind
(1957). At the other extreme, conversion may be undramatic and a consequence of a long process of reflection. Between the two is the phenomenon of ‘snapping’, in which a convert to one religion or religious movement is precipitated into several others in rapid succession.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Convocations
.

The two provincial assemblies (Canterbury and York) of the clergy of the
Church of England
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search