Explorations in Theology, Vol. 5: Man Is Created by Hans Urs von Balthasar

Author:Hans Urs von Balthasar [von Balthasar, Hans Urs]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781586176921
Published: 2016-01-05T16:00:00+00:00

CONVERSION

The following considerations offer no more than an initial reflection on an act that is familiar to all cultures, world views, and religions. Since they unanimously regard it as an extremely weighty decision, as the crucial turn in a person’s entire existence, our first step must be to discard its many pseudo-forms. Let us begin, then, by setting aside the spurious replicas, so that the genuine phenomenon can emerge into view.

Some people (not all of them mere youths) seem to switch effortlessly from one group or sect to another; if anything bothers them about the old group, they simply leave it for a new one. Of course, the new group’s recruiters may act as though their organization alone were true or the sole guardian of absolute truth, but the recruits themselves are often much more canny: “Why not give it a try?” Such shopping around is clearly a far cry from genuine “conversion”. Deciding to test the benefits of some product or dabbling, for instance, in meditation because “it works for me” is not the same as converting. Even if I submit for a time to a preferred form of psychic hygiene, what happens once it has done its job? What is to stop me from interrupting it like any other treatment and taking up some other practice instead?

Of course, there is a second set of cases that do not pertain to our discussion, since they actually represent the opposite of a conversion. Suppose I have been so cruelly disappointed by a practice or a creed or a religious community that my conscience bids me to renounce my membership. For present purposes, it makes no difference whether the reasons for my departure are objective or subjective, central or peripheral. In either case, the point is that I am turning away from my former belief and not, as the word con-version suggests, toward it.

A third, currently much talked-about phenomenon is dialogue: the exchange of viewpoints among the representatives of different world views, philosophies, and religions. Obviously, each participant in a dialogue will defend his own position, and he will marshal the most compelling arguments to persuade his listeners that he is right. This is part and parcel of any serious discussion, and there is no need to demean it absolutely as “proselytism”. People woo potential adherents on a variety of levels, which range from advertising for a commercial product to campaigning for a political party to preaching for a religious group or world view. Insofar as the latter two instances may represent a sincere invitation to reflect more deeply on, and to become better informed about, important matters, they may lead to a kind of “conversion” to the party or world view in question. Though an effort to win members may reflect nothing more than “group spirit”, it can sometimes express fidelity to a proper missionary task, such as Christ lays upon his disciples at the end of the Gospel, and in this case preaching is not merely an arbitrary preference or a private enthusiasm but an essential requirement.

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