Southern Baptist clergy discuss the nature of Christian conversion : $ba conceptual analysis

The proliferation of new religious movements in the West during the past few decades has stimulated social scientific interest in the phenomenon of conversion. Within sociology, conversion has been vaguely conceived, the sole source of definitive consensus being that the phenomenon involves radical personal change. Students of conversion have exhibited a lack of agreement regarding what changes an individual undergoes as a result of the experience and how the convert is to be located for research purposes. As a result, sociology has lacked disciplined analyses of conversion. The ambiguity of conversion prompted the undertaking of an interview survey of Southern Baptist clergymen to determine their understanding of the nature of the phenomenon and the methods they employed in identifying other Christian converts. It was discovered that a person's nonverbal behavior played the greatest role in witnessing their conversion to church authorities.