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St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 4 | August 2012 of a Christian but not the core identity. That is, in their own worldview and self-awareness, their Christianity is only tangential; it is not at the core of who they are. Can we speak of “nominal Muslims” in the same way Is this a valid comparison when Islam and Christianity (or evangelical Christianity at any rate) have such different emphases on the relative importance of orthopraxis and orthodoxy Perhaps a better way of putting it would be to speak of “cultural” Muslims, embedded in Muslim majority communities and going with the flow of a religiously legitimated society without necessarily being deeply committed to Islam at a “core identity” level. However Muslims who live in a non-Islamic context, where their cultural assumptions are not taken for granted by wider society, are thereby prompted to distinguish between social and core identities. It is no longer so easy just to go with the flow of a Muslim social identity. This prompts migrants (or their children) critically to examine their assumptions and to make choices at the core identity level. Some decide to follow Islam in a committed, conscious way, some turn from Islam to another faith or atheism, and some continue to live with the unresolved cognitive dissonance of clashing worldviews. Thus all three identity levels have a religious element. Since Islam lays claim to all these areas in a holistic way, those who leave it face a daunting task of renegotiating each aspect of their identity. 3 Conversion and Identity 3.1. A transformed identity at each level Our understanding of Muslim conversion to Christianity is assisted by conversion studies, which incorporates insights from such fields as psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, missiology and of course theology. Perhaps the most influential scholar in recent years to write on the topic is the American Lewis Rambo. 74 He sought to 74 Lewis Rambo, Understanding Religious Conversion (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993). St Francis Magazine is a publication of Interserve and Arab Vision 528
St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 4 | August 2012 integrate insights from all these disciplines except for theology, whose methodology he judged to be incompatible with the rest. Rambo and others interpret religious conversion as a profound and radical transformation of identity at all three levels. We will now turn to an exploration, with examples, of what that identity transformation may look like in different instances. 3.1.1 Conversion at the “Core Identity” level One formerly Muslim friend from Uganda described to me the excitement he felt at his baptism: I felt I have died to my old sinful way, I have given myself to God and am now a new person. I am not the Firaz my friends knew, not the one whom Satan knew, but a new Firaz—forgiven, born again, controlled by the Spirit. The old Firaz is dead, the new one is alive in Christ. I came out of the water feeling I am a new person! To talk of a “new identity” does not mean that that the previous values and way of thinking are instantly obliterated. ‘Their old identity is not erased; rather, the new one is overwritten on it.’ 75 Complications emerge at this point, for it often takes a prolonged internal struggle as one's worldview is transformed. An example of this is to value humility above honor, or forgiveness above revenge. The claims of old and new world views compete to be heard and obeyed. This conflict or struggle takes places at the “core identity” level. Firaz still struggles at times with this. For him and others like him, deep level discipleship means choosing for the new worldview to win out over the old one whenever they conflict. This transformation at the core of his being will take years. But it can and will happen, so long as he has a clear and united core identity as Christ’s follower, and keeps feeding that identity day by day and year by year. 3.1.2 Conversion at the “Social Identity” Level One friend of mine from a Muslim background put “sheepalone” in his email address, and this seemed to me to symbolize his sense of 75 Rudolf Heredia, Changing Gods: Rethinking Conversion in India. London: Penguin Books (2007), 127. St Francis Magazine is a publication of Interserve and Arab Vision 529
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