Narrativization of Religious Conversion Experience in the Environment of Evangelical Protestantism in Ukraine

Abstract

In the context of this article and in the perspective of interpretational approach we have considered possibilities of sociological analysis of a religious conversion. Based on examples of Evangelical Protestantism communities functioning on the territory of Ukraine the author analyzes peculiarities of building and structuring conversion narratives, a strategy of representation of the religious experience, linguistic means and tools used in this process. A religious conversion is considered as a particular discursive practice or a religious communication related to producing a narrative, which on the one hand reflects changes occurring to a person who passed through a conversion experience, and on the other hand the narrative itself preconditions such changes by means of adaptation of a canonic language of the religious group. Conversion cases considered by the author allow making a conclusion about existence of steady communicative conversion models at the level of Evangelical Protestantism which determinative distinction is reconstruction of the biographical experience in compliance with the “plot” predetermined by a canonic discourse of the considered communities.