ABSTRACT

This title, first published in 1988, examines accounts of religious conversion contained in the personal narratives of nineteenth-century American coverts to Roman Catholicism. Given their newly acquired status as members of an unpopular religious minority, a number of converts recorded their conversion stories in an effort to justify becoming Catholic and to defend the teaching and practice of their Church. This title will be of interest to students of nineteenth-century religious and social history.

chapter I|40 pages

The Shape and Style of Nineteenth-Century American Protestantism

A Context for Conversion

chapter III|45 pages

Personal Narratives of Conversion

A Distinctive form of Spiritual Autobiography

chapter IV|257 pages

Personal Narratives of Conversion

Analysis of the Texts

chapter V|29 pages

Conversion to Roman Catholicism

A Matter of Mind and Heart