Converting to pre-Islamic glory: historiography and national identity in the narratives of Iranian Christian converts in Denmark

A widely accepted view in the scholarship on religious conversion is that converting to a new religion involves a process of biographic reconstruction. However, conversion may also involve a reconstruction of other kinds of pasts. The article presents a study of Iranian immigrants in Denmark who, co...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs: Husbye Hansen, Sofie Alexandra Juliane (Auteur) ; Lindhardt, Martin (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Carfax Publ. 2023
Dans: Journal of contemporary religion
Année: 2023, Volume: 38, Numéro: 2, Pages: 243-259
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Dänemark / Iranien / Islam / Conversion (Religion) / Christianisme / Adaptation / Identité culturelle / Identité religieuse
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophie de la religion
BJ Islam
CA Christianisme
KBE Scandinavie
KBL Proche-Orient et Afrique du Nord
TK Époque contemporaine
Sujets non-standardisés:B Historiography
B Nationalism
B Islam
B Iran
B Christianity
B Conversion
Accès en ligne: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Résumé:A widely accepted view in the scholarship on religious conversion is that converting to a new religion involves a process of biographic reconstruction. However, conversion may also involve a reconstruction of other kinds of pasts. The article presents a study of Iranian immigrants in Denmark who, coming from an Islamic background, converted to Christianity. For these Iranians, conversion did not only entail a reinterpretation of their individual pasts, but also a narrative construction of Iranian history in which Islam plays the role of an alien and contaminating force. For these converts, leaving Islam and embracing Christianity was not seen as the rejection of an Iranian heritage or identity but rather as a way of reconnecting with a pre-Islamic golden age that harbored the essence of authentic Iranian culture. The article explores how conversion to Christianity can be a multifaceted project involving simultaneous and closely intertwined negotiations of both individual biographic and historical-national pasts.
ISSN:1469-9419
Contient:Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2023.2199578