The central theme of this book is the nexus between the self, the social, and the sacred in conversion and recovery. The contributions explore the complex interactions that occur between the person, the sacred, and various recovery situations, which can include prisons, substance abuse recovery settings and domestic violence shelters.

With an interdisciplinary approach to the study of conversion, the collection provides an opportunity for a better understanding of lived religion, guilt, shame, hope, forgiveness, narrative identity reconstruction, religious coping, religious conversion and spiritual transformation. This volume will be of interest to scholars and students of lived religion, religious conversion, recovery, homelessness, and substance dependence.

Autorentext

Srdjan Sremac is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Religion and Theology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and Co-Director of the Amsterdam Center for the Study of Lived Religion, The Netherlands.

Ines W. Jindra is Associate Professor of Social Work in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Gordon College, and also Visiting Scholar at the Boisi Center at Boston College, USA.

Inhalt

1. Negotiating of Self, the Social, and the Sacred in Recovery: A Lived Religion Perspective, Srdjan Sremac and Ines W. Jindra.- 2. Lived Religion, Worship and Conversion: Ethnographic Reflections in an Abstinence-based Christian Therapeutic Community, Andrew PJW Williams.- 3. "It Was Easier in Prison!" Russian Baptist Rehab as a Therapeutic Community, Monastery, Prison, and Ministry, Igor Mikeshin.- 4. Substance Use, Recovery and Closeness to God: Insights from the Retrospective Interview Technique, Anthony Blake Walker, Chun Z. Creaser and Diane VanCleave.- 5. The Domestic Violence Shelter and Alternation: The Importance of Socialization on the Victim-Survivor's Religion, V. Jacquette Rhoades.- 6. Tacit Conversion: A Linguistic Analysis of a Vipassana Meditator's Narrative of Self-Transformation, Masoumeh Rahmani.- 7. Embracing Islam to Improve and Restore the Vulnerable Subject: Religious Conversion as Hermeneutics of the Self. A Case in Prison, Géraldine Mossière.- 8. Post-Incarceration Syndrome and Religious Coping Behind Bars, Theo van Willigenburg.- 9. Conversion as a Safe Way Out of Crime in Peru, Véronique Lecaros.- 10. Translating Religious Conversions to Social Conversions: Money and Social Identity for the Homeless, Bosco B. Bae.