Unsettling the Self: the Paradoxes of Narrative Identity in Christian Testimonial Practice. (6th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hill, Graham W
• Is Part Of: Sociology of religion. Volume 82:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 208
• Page End: 239
• Publication Date: 2020-10-06
• Subjects: narrative -- identity -- religious experience -- conversion -- testimony; Religion and sociology -- Periodicals; Religion and sociology; Periodicals; 306.6
• DOI: 10.1093/socrel/sraa041
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1069-4404

Abstract

Abstract: Born-again conversion offers the paradoxical promise of self-transcending self-transformation, which takes narrative form when converts attempt to recount their experiences: how to tell a story of self-transformation, in which oneself is neither the author nor the agent of change? Existing scholarship suggests that conversion narratives work insofar as they resolve underlying paradoxes and stitch together a sense of coherent selfhood. This paper tacks in the opposite direction: the analysis focuses on the tendencies of conversion narratives to blur, blend and double over categorical bounds of selfhood, highlighting paradoxes rather than looking for their resolution. The paper contends, therefore, that conversion narrative practices facilitate converts' experience of conversion, not only insofar as they resolve paradox and stitch together coherent identity, but also insofar as they cultivate ephemeral experiences and explorations of narrative paradoxes that are inherent to—though often hidden from—most any attempt to find and feel identity.