Konversioner til jødedommen. Fortællinger om symbolsk religiøsitet og eksisterende identiteter

Resumé

Tales of Conversion and Modern Identities

The accounts of conversion to Judaism shed light on the lifestyle-based symbolic religiousness, the many aspects of Jewish identities, as well as the numerous factors influencing the process of conversion itself.

With this article and the survey that was conducted some years ago, it was my wish to kick in a contribution to the discussion of the development of modern Jewish identities and of the encounter and constant interchange between the Jewish and the non-Jewish. Originally, this article was designed to enter into a more conversion-scientific context. However, being very much focused on identity and much less on the science of religion, the article may not be ideally suited for that.

Thus, the main conclusions are that accounts of conversion can be used to cast light on the substance of Jewishness and of modern identities, and that it does not really make sense to isolate conversions as being ”pure” expressions of religious practices and religious acts. The conversions are influenced in numerous ways by societal movements both within and outside Jewish contexts. And last, but not least, it also contributes to research into Judaism and Jewish culture and history being considered as contributions to identity research and analyses of modern identities in general.