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Faith, Favour, and Fervour: Emotions and Conversion among the Early D ominicans
Author(s) -
Young Spencer E.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of religious history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1467-9809
pISSN - 0022-4227
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9809.12268
Subject(s) - sincerity , legitimacy , narrative , articulation (sociology) , order (exchange) , aesthetics , faith , variety (cybernetics) , period (music) , sociology , epistemology , social psychology , psychology , history , political science , philosophy , literature , law , art , computer science , finance , artificial intelligence , politics , economics
In the later M iddle A ges, the term conversio could be applied to a variety of different processes. One of its predominant senses meant affiliation with a particular religious order. This article explores the roles played by the emotions in thirteenth‐century conversion narratives, and focuses especially on those involving the early D ominican order. It argues that the emotional content in these narratives (ranging from fear to tears) performed crucial tasks, such as the authentication of a convert's sincerity, or the articulation of the order's legitimacy against its contemporary critics. While the emotions do not necessarily offer a more authentic historical account of any particular conversion, they are critical for understanding the many ways in which the experience of conversion accomplished meaningful personal and institutional ends during this period.