Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill., 1999. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-103).

The Kyrgyz are a Mongolian, Turkic ethno-linguistic people group. The political and social changes of the post-soviet times have led to a great religious openness among the Kyrgyz. Within one decade the nunber of Kyrgyz Christians has grown from few dozens to over 3000. The intention of this work was to analyze the conversion process of the Kyrgyz converts to Christianity and to apply the results to further missiological activity. The religious background of the Kyrgyz, which is heavily influenced by Folk Islam, was presented in the first chapter of the paper. In the second chapter, interviews collected from Kyrgyz Christians were evaluated. The third chapter summarizes the most important findings of the work and makes them applicable for missionary work. The precise knowledge of the religious background of the Kyrgyz and intercultural communication that it is based upon it can essentially dismantle barriers for the acceptance of the gospel. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Religious experience is a narrative reality, while it certainly relates to doctrines and rituals, it is embodied by the stories people tell which express the meaning of conversion as understood by the converts themselves. In order to enter this narrative world we must engage the actual stories told by converts, making space for their narratives as they make meaning of their experiences and thus open windows on the emic perspective. Sometimes this happens through stories that are largely thematic—expressing conversion in mainly one metaphor. Other times, narratives may touch on many different ideas, allowing us to discern various internal structures, such as some of the factors leading to conversion. Nevertheless, as important as these narratives are, they are only part of the picture because religious conversion always takes place in context. Therefore, if we are to properly understand the deeply personal experience we call conversion, we must frame it within the social, cultural and historical currents swirling around that experience. The conversions in this study are rooted in the religious history of Central Asia, particularly the seventy-odd years of Soviet rule. By the end of that era, it is probably more appropriate to think in terms of localized islam, rather than a universal religion based on the text of the Quran. Not only so, but the once proudly distinct Muslim peoples, now living under Russian rule, had become enculturated into Russian patterns of life, thought, and worldview, a process referred to as Russification, something which had profound effects on the way some of them have experienced conversion away from their natal religion. This study examines both of these aspects, first the contextual and then the personal, through the stories of thirty-six Muslims who converted to faith in Christ in post-Soviet Central Asia. By exploring the deeply personal and the broadly contextual together, this study offers a clear view of the meaning of religious conversion, in a historical, social, and religious context. / Religious Studies & Arabic / D.Lit. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

This thesis looks at the development of Protestant and Evangelical encounter with Muslims from the earliest days of the Modern missions movement. Special attention is given to the dynamic equivalence model (DEM), which resulted in a new method for interpreting the Qur’an called the Christian Qur’anic hermeneutic (CQH). I begin with the early Protestant ministers among Muslims, such as Martyn and Muir. Pfander’s (1910) book, The balance of truth, embodies the view that the Qur’an teaches an irrevocable status of inspiration for the Old and New Testaments. The early and mid-twentieth century saw a movement away from usage of the Qur’an during Evangelical encounter with Muslims. Direct model advocates bypass the Qur’an and other religious questions for an immediate presentation of the gospel. The 1970s saw the development of the DEM, which produced significant changes in how Evangelicals encountered Muslims. Pioneers like Nida, Tabor, and Kraft implemented dynamic equivalence as a model in Evangelical ministry. Concurrently, Accad and Cragg laid groundwork for the CQH. The DEM creates obscurity in anthropology by promoting an evaluation of cultural forms as essentially neutral. This is extended to religious forms, even the Qur’an. Such a simple, asocial value for symbols is not sufficient to account for all of human life. Cultural forms, especially those intrinsically religious, are parts of a complex system. Meaning cannot be transferred or equivocated with integrity from one context to another without a corresponding re-evaluation of the entire system. Theological difficulties are also produced by the DEM and the CQH, and include the assigning a quasi-inspirational status to the Qur’an and a denial of unique inspirational status to the Christian Scriptures. If the gospel is communicated through the Qur’an, then it is difficult to deny some level of God-given status to it. Further, the Christian Scriptures are not unique as inspired literature. My proposal for how to use the Qur’an responsibly looks to Bavinck’s elenctics and is presented as Qur’anic pre-evangelism. Rather than communicating Biblical meaning through the Qur’an, Evangelicals can focus on areas of the Qur’an that coincide with a lack of assurance felt by Muslims in anthropology. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

Religious experience is a narrative reality, while it certainly relates to doctrines and rituals, it is embodied by the stories people tell which express the meaning of conversion as understood by the converts themselves. In order to enter this narrative world we must engage the actual stories told by converts, making space for their narratives as they make meaning of their experiences and thus open windows on the emic perspective. Sometimes this happens through stories that are largely thematic—expressing conversion in mainly one metaphor. Other times, narratives may touch on many different ideas, allowing us to discern various internal structures, such as some of the factors leading to conversion. Nevertheless, as important as these narratives are, they are only part of the picture because religious conversion always takes place in context. Therefore, if we are to properly understand the deeply personal experience we call conversion, we must frame it within the social, cultural and historical currents swirling around that experience. The conversions in this study are rooted in the religious history of Central Asia, particularly the seventy-odd years of Soviet rule. By the end of that era, it is probably more appropriate to think in terms of localized islam, rather than a universal religion based on the text of the Quran. Not only so, but the once proudly distinct Muslim peoples, now living under Russian rule, had become enculturated into Russian patterns of life, thought, and worldview, a process referred to as Russification, something which had profound effects on the way some of them have experienced conversion away from their natal religion. This study examines both of these aspects, first the contextual and then the personal, through the stories of thirty-six Muslims who converted to faith in Christ in post-Soviet Central Asia. By exploring the deeply personal and the broadly contextual together, this study offers a clear view of the meaning of religious conversion, in a historical, social, and religious context. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D.Lit. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

This thesis looks at the development of Protestant and Evangelical encounter with Muslims from the earliest days of the Modern missions movement. Special attention is given to the dynamic equivalence model (DEM), which resulted in a new method for interpreting the Qur’an called the Christian Qur’anic hermeneutic (CQH). I begin with the early Protestant ministers among Muslims, such as Martyn and Muir. Pfander’s (1910) book, The balance of truth, embodies the view that the Qur’an teaches an irrevocable status of inspiration for the Old and New Testaments. The early and mid-twentieth century saw a movement away from usage of the Qur’an during Evangelical encounter with Muslims. Direct model advocates bypass the Qur’an and other religious questions for an immediate presentation of the gospel. The 1970s saw the development of the DEM, which produced significant changes in how Evangelicals encountered Muslims. Pioneers like Nida, Tabor, and Kraft implemented dynamic equivalence as a model in Evangelical ministry. Concurrently, Accad and Cragg laid groundwork for the CQH. The DEM creates obscurity in anthropology by promoting an evaluation of cultural forms as essentially neutral. This is extended to religious forms, even the Qur’an. Such a simple, asocial value for symbols is not sufficient to account for all of human life. Cultural forms, especially those intrinsically religious, are parts of a complex system. Meaning cannot be transferred or equivocated with integrity from one context to another without a corresponding re-evaluation of the entire system. Theological difficulties are also produced by the DEM and the CQH, and include the assigning a quasi-inspirational status to the Qur’an and a denial of unique inspirational status to the Christian Scriptures. If the gospel is communicated through the Qur’an, then it is difficult to deny some level of God-given status to it. Further, the Christian Scriptures are not unique as inspired literature. My proposal for how to use the Qur’an responsibly looks to Bavinck’s elenctics and is presented as Qur’anic pre-evangelism. Rather than communicating Biblical meaning through the Qur’an, Evangelicals can focus on areas of the Qur’an that coincide with a lack of assurance felt by Muslims in anthropology. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The Kyrgyz are a Mongolian, Turkic ethno-linguistic people group. The political and social changes of the post-soviet times have led to a great religious openness among the Kyrgyz. Within one decade the nunber of Kyrgyz Christians has grown from few dozens to over 3000. The intention of this work was to analyze the conversion process of the Kyrgyz converts to Christianity and to apply the results to further missiological activity. The religious background of the Kyrgyz, which is heavily influenced by Folk Islam, was presented in the first chapter of the paper. In the second chapter, interviews collected from Kyrgyz Christians were evaluated. The third chapter summarizes the most important findings of the work and makes them applicable for missionary work. The precise knowledge of the religious background of the Kyrgyz and intercultural communication that it is based upon it can essentially dismantle barriers for the acceptance of the gospel. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

This research project focuses on conversions from Islam to Christianity in the Sudan. It first gives a biblical and theological understanding of conversion and then introduces the sociological and psychological understanding of such a change in religious affiliation. It discusses conversion as a spiritual decision process and develops a spiritual decision matrix for evaluating conversion processes of Muslims. The heart of the study is an analysis of the conversion processes of six converts with a Northern Sudanese background from different Muslim tribes. The interviews that were conducted with these converts are analysed in terms of five parameters: reasons for conversion; factors that led to conversion; stages in the conversion processes; problems encountered during the conversion processes; and results of the conversion. These parameters are compared with existing data from six studies of Muslims in other geographical areas who also converted to the Christian faith. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

Text in English / The Muslim population in South Africa has its origins in the 17th Century when they were initially brought in as slaves or political exiles by the Dutch colonisers. Christian-Muslim relations have not always been good and especially the topic of 'conversion' has often caused conflict between the members of the two faiths. Additional problems such as the apartheid era has caused many Christians, especially Africans, to question their faith and turn their back on Christianity by converting to Islam. There are other areas which have caused conflict in the relations such as mistrust, misinformation and discrimination. In South Africa's religiously pluralistic society people convert from Christianity to Islam, and vice versa, from a variety of motives. This study first discusses various Christian missiological debates on understandings of conversion and then surveys psychological approaches to the motivational structures of 'decision-making'. The heart of the study is the presentation and analysis of the conversion narratives of 20 converts (10 from Islam to Christianity and 10 from Christianity to Islam). These narratives are analysed in terms of five key conversion motives, as a result of which various patterns of conversion motives emerge. In church practice and missiology, conversion is often understood only in one direction (towards Christianity) and with only one valid motive, namely a strictly religious one. This study reveals, however, that such a view is inadequate. Conversion should rather be understood as a two-way movement and based on combinations of various motives. This study concludes with the presentation of a holistic missiological understanding of conversion which applies more adequately to the South African context. This new understanding of conversion may help to promote better understanding and respect between faith communities. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

This research project focuses on conversions from Islam to Christianity in the Sudan. It first gives a biblical and theological understanding of conversion and then introduces the sociological and psychological understanding of such a change in religious affiliation. It discusses conversion as a spiritual decision process and develops a spiritual decision matrix for evaluating conversion processes of Muslims. The heart of the study is an analysis of the conversion processes of six converts with a Northern Sudanese background from different Muslim tribes. The interviews that were conducted with these converts are analysed in terms of five parameters: reasons for conversion; factors that led to conversion; stages in the conversion processes; problems encountered during the conversion processes; and results of the conversion. These parameters are compared with existing data from six studies of Muslims in other geographical areas who also converted to the Christian faith. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)