ABSTRACT
Following a discussion of the literature around ‘pre-conversion problems’, Chapter 7 builds on the concept proposed by Smilde of ‘imaginative rationality’ and the ‘subjective rationality’ of Stark and Finke in relationship to Kyrgyz conversion. Through the use of extended narratives, this chapter argues that religious conversion is concerned with complex situations, solutions and explanations. For conversion to have lasting results, converts need to discover solutions to their life circumstances and to find meaning through the process.
