| Abstract: | Christians who have undergone conversion experiences usually claim that the experience has not only strengthened their religious commitment, it has in addition transformed their lives. The idea that a person may be transformed through using a set of symbols (called an "ideology" here) is not limited to Christianity; many ideologies make similar claims. Using the example of the conversion experience, I argue that ideologies may indeed create a sense of self-transformation in the subject. This sense arises out of the fact that the subject is able to use the ideological language to resolve enduring problems of meaning in his or her life. Such problems are not, however, resolved once and for all; rather, the discourse of informants reveals that self-transformation is an ongoing process wherein ideological language is used to express and come to terms with persisting emotional ambivalence. |
