Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions

The interest in interdisciplinary research on the experience of religious conversion or spiritual transformation grows progressively. In light of this burgeoning area of study, this volume explores conversion or converting experience in the ancient Mediterranean with attention to early Judaism, early Christianity, and philosophy in the Roman empire. The contributions include both historical and philological reconstructions relying on source material and utilizing interdisciplinary approaches. Similarly, the authors analyze the literary use of the motif of conversion, the topic of philosophical conversion as well as ritual, social and embodied aspects of spiritual transformation.

Athanasios Despotis, 2006 Ph.D. at the University of Athens; 2012 Habilitation at the Univesity of Bonn is apl. Professor at the University of Bonn. He has published monographs and many articles on New Testament and Patristic Exegesis, including Bekehrungserfahrung und Bekehrungserinnerung bei Paulus und Johannes (Brill-Schöningh, 2021)

Hermut Löhr, Dr. theol. (1994), Habilitation New Testament (2001), University of Bonn, is presently professor (chair) for New Testament and Judaism in Antiquity at the University of Bonn. He has published monographs and articles on the Epistle to the Hebrews, early Christian and Jewish Prayer (Studien zum frühchristlichen und frühjüdischen Gebet. Eine Untersuchung von 1 Clem 59 bis 61, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2003), the Decalogue, early Christian moral thought, Pauline theology et al.