著者

中畑 邦夫 Kunio Nakahata

出版者

麗澤大学経済学会

雑誌

麗澤学際ジャーナル = Reitaku Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (ISSN:09196714)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.21, no.1, pp.55-68, 2013-03-10

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The purpose of this article is to outline the main studies on conversion, which plays an extremely essential role in Christianity. Here, I outline two theories about conversion. One is the study of the psychology of religion by William James, and the other is found in the Catholic theology of Bernard Lonergan. By outlining these two studies, we can find the distinctive characteristics of each theory, which are clearly opposed to each other.That is, James’ theory values personal factors in conversion, while Lonergan’s theory values institutional or communal factors in terms of political theory. So, these two theories diverge as liberalist and communitarian in terms of political theory. I support neither of these two theories. Instead, I suggest a third way which goes beyond then. It is an attempt to construe the process of conversion as one of tragedy in the sense of the thought of Nietzsche. At the end of this article, I give some brief comments on the thought of Simone Weil, who I think expressed her theory of conversion and her own experience of conversion itself as tragedy.