Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Brown Classics in Judaica)

Originally published in 1933, Conversion is a seminal study of the psychology and circumstances of conversion from about 500 B.C.E. to about 400 A.D. A.D. Nock not only discusses early Christianity and its converts, but also examines non-Christian religions and philosophy, the means by which they attracted adherents, and the factors influencing and limiting their success. Christianity succeeded, he argues, in part because it acquired and adapted those parts of other philosophies and religions that had a popular appeal. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 5 Preface......Page 7 Contents......Page 10 Brown Classic in Judaica......Page 13 Introduction to the Brown Classics in Judaica Series Edition, by Jacob Neusner......Page 15 I. The Idea of Conversion......Page 21 II. The Idea of Conversion and Greek Religion before Alexander the Great......Page 37 III. Greeks in the East after Alexander......Page 53 IV. The Opposite Current......Page 68 V. The Path to Rome......Page 86 VI. How Eastern Cults travelled......Page 97 VII. The Appeal of these Cults......Page 119 VIII. The Success of these Cults in the Roman Empire......Page 142 IX. The Conversion of Lucius......Page 158 X. The Last Phase......Page 176 XI. Conversion to Philosophy......Page 184 XII. The Spread of Christianity as a Social Phenomenon......Page 207 XIII. The Teachings of Christianity as Viewed by a Pagan......Page 232 XIV. Three Types of Conversion: Justin, Arnobius, Augustine......Page 274 Notes......Page 292 Abbreviations......Page 294 II.......Page 295 III.......Page 297 IV.......Page 300 V.......Page 303 VI.......Page 305 VII.......Page 308 VIII.......Page 311 X.......Page 314 XI.......Page 315 XII.......Page 317 XIII.......Page 320 XIV.......Page 322 Index......Page 323