Conversion narratives and construction of identity among Christians in Malaysia

Francisco Perlas Dumanig; Maya Khemlani David; Ceasar Dealwis

doi:10.1515/mult.2011.015

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Conversion narratives and construction of identity among Christians in Malaysia

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Published/Copyright: August 25, 2011

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From the journal Volume 30 Issue 3-4

Abstract

Conversion narratives in the form of testimony are powerful means of consolidating and strengthening one's new religious identity (Beit-Hallahmi, Prolegomena to the psychological study of religion, Bucknell University Press, 1989; Rambo, Understanding religious conversion, Yale University Press, 1993; Stromberg 1993, as cited in Emmons & Paloutzian, Annual Review of Psychology 54: 377–402, 2003). Using conversion narratives is common among Christians in testifying how they came to know Christ. The testimony usually presents two distinct identities of the speaker: before and after accepting Christ as Lord and savior. These two distinct identities are examined in this paper to see how speakers construct themselves in the form of testimony. This paper specifically analyzes the moves and lexical choices used in the narratives. To carry out the study, 15 recorded conversion narratives were used.

Keywords:: conversion narratives; identity; religion; testimony; moves; lexical choices

Address for correspondence: Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Address for correspondence: Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Published Online: 2011-08-25

Published in Print: 2011-August

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https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2011.015

Keywords for this article

conversion narratives; identity; religion; testimony; moves; lexical choices