Contents -- The contributors -- A note on diacritics -- Introduction: Conversion: contours of controversy and commitment in a plural world -- Part I: Conversion: theoretical perspectives -- 1 Converting: stages of religious change -- 2 Conversion: inward, outward and awkward -- 3 Conversion: up from evangelicalism or the pentecostal and charismatic experience -- Part II: Conversion in the world's religions -- 4 Conversion as a process leading to enlightenment: the Buddhist perspective -- 5 Conversion to Judaism: a tale of the good, the bad and the ungrateful -- 6 Conversion from within and without in Chinese religion -- 7 Contra conversion: the case of the Zoroastrians of India -- 8 Conversion: a Hindu/Gandhian perspective -- 9 Conversion to Islam: the Qur'anic paradigm -- 10 Conversion in the Sikh tradition -- Part III: Conversion in Christianity -- 11 Conversion in Christianity: from without and from within -- 12 Conversion among charismatics -- 13 Charismatic conversion in the light of Augustine's Confessions -- 14 The Benedictine vow 'conversio morum' -- Part IV: Contemporary cases of conversion -- 15 Coming home and coming out Pagan (but not converting) -- 16 Continuing conversion: a personal journey -- 17 The story of Darshan Singh, a French convert -- 18 Belonging to a cult or new religious movement: act of freewill or form of mind control? -- 19 Being Hindu in North America: the experience of a Western convert -- 20 Cult conversions: controversy and clarification -- 21 Rediscovering Islam: a Muslim journey of faith -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z.