Surrender to Krishna : religious conversion and cultural change
Master Thesis
2000
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
The major purpose of this dissertation is to examine core ideas relating to theories of conversion into New Religious Movements and assess whether such can be broadened in respect of issues of individual and 'Wider cultural change, and in doing so consider the connections between religious experience as a cultural expression and other patterns of belief and meaning 'Within the total human experience. This is realised through the use of qualitative conversion narratives of four Hare Krishna devotees obtained in unstructured 'free attitude' interviews (conversations), and participational observations of that movement geared towards gaining an explorative, and where possible an indigenous picture of the life-world of Hare Krishna and assessing whether considerations of conversion, identity, meaning and belief evident in popular theory have any hold on that reality. On this basis it is suggested that conversion models do not adequately deal 'With questions of meaning and present a one dimensional picture of passive individuals being 'pushed' into conversion by social-psychological 'predispositions' or situational organisational and interactive forces, outside their control. It is argued that more emphasis needs to be paid to the specific belief systems and general 'ideological positioning' of both group and individual during conversion, in terms of the causal dynamics behind individual life-choices and the negotiated relationship between both parties over time, and that, if one employs such a shift, conversion becomes more recognisable as a site of self-transformation, and can accordingly be linked to micro as well as macro cultural change in modernity.
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Bibliography: leaves i-viii.
Reference:
Du Venage, J. 2000. Surrender to Krishna : religious conversion and cultural change. University of Cape Town.