Köckert C (2013)
Publication Language: English
Publication Status: Accepted
Publication Type: Journal article, Original article
Publication year: 2013
Original Authors: Köckert Charlotte
Publisher: Peeters
Book Volume: 62
Pages Range: 2005-2012
In his classic monograph Conversion. The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (1933), Arthur Darby Nock proposes an influential assessment of conversion in Antiquity. He identifies conversion as a specific feature of ancient Christianity and regards conversions to philosophy as exceptions within the pagan world. This paper collects and studies statements and accounts of ‘conversion to philosophy’ and seeks to establish their communicative and social functions. It, then, asks how Christian conversion narratives relate to the concept of ‘conversion to philosophy’, taking Cyprian of Carthage’s account of his conversion in Ad Donatum as an example. The paper argues that conversion narratives support the self-presentation as a philosopher or as a Christian and, furthermore, play an important role in the debate about the realisation of a philosophical or a Christian life.
APA:
Köckert, C. (2013). The Rhetoric of Conversion in Ancient Philosophy and Christianity. Studia Patristica, 62, 2005-2012.
MLA:
Köckert, Charlotte. "The Rhetoric of Conversion in Ancient Philosophy and Christianity." Studia Patristica 62 (2013): 2005-2012.
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