How Does Mass Conversion Work

[Roland Francis]

This is a long-standing question in my mind which I have never, out of a hesitation of appearing foolish, or not confident that I would be asking it to the right person, ever asked before. But if I don’t get the answer here, I know I may not get it anywhere else.

The question is this;
Have I been brainwashed into thinking, simply put, that missionaries and saints of old went to foreign lands, talked to the heathens and converted them happily to Christianity merely “by the grace of God”.

In the Indian context, stories about St Francis, St Thomas, St José Vaz and various others come to mind. They land, they befriend parts of the local population, they learn enough of the local language and before you know it, they have converted large swaths of the population to Christianity. Did they have sufficient funds sufficient to induce, given by their host kings, or were they dealing with disgruntled parts of the local people which made them easily vulnerable.

I understand how conversion worked on a kingdom or empire level. The king or emperor embraces the new religion, converts all his subjects and his conquered peoples by example, favour, bias or just plain old force and violence.

A one on one, or one on many system of conversion that worked very well with the saints, completely flummoxes me.

Is there also a good book that can explain this?

Roland.

[V M]

This is relevant: https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/Sunlight-is-the-Best-Disinfectant/191202

I highly recommend Barretto Xavier's book, especially, to understand the fundamental questions of how so many Goans underwent conversion in the 16th + 17th centuries. 

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[Roland Francis]

Thank you VM. 

I am definitely going to read both Baretto and Machado one by one and then listen to Menezes’ podcast interviews. 

How do I get a hold of the latter? Are they on You Tube.

Roland.

On Jul 4, 2023, at 9:51 PM, V M <vmi...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[V M]

https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/1064525

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[John de Figueiredo]

Hi Roland,
I have written a series of articles on how mass conversions work. Will send you the references.
Best,
John

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 4, 2023, at 9:39 PM, Roland Francis <roland....@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> This is a long-standing question in my mind which I have never, out of a hesitation of appearing foolish, or not confident that I would be asking it to the right person, ever asked before. But if I don’t get the answer here, I know I may not get it anywhere else.

[Roland Francis]

I appreciate you - as the Americans now say John.

Roland.

> On Jul 4, 2023, at 10:24 PM, John de Figueiredo <john...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Roland,

> To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/35F7D19D-B45B-4858-A556-97D7185B880C%40sbcglobal.net.

[Amita Kanekar]

There is Angela Barreto Xavier's excellent article on Chorao in the early 16th century. I think some of it is included in her recent book Religion and Empire.

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[fredericknoronha]

[1] Check out Rudolf C Heredia's work "Changing Gods: Rethinking Conversions in India" (Penguin, New Delhi, 2007 ISBN 9780143101901). 

You can find a brief review of the same here:  https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1669232/price-review1.pdf

[2] Rowena Robinson has authored or co-authored a couple of books on the topic:
Religious Conversion in India : Modes, Motivations, and Meanings  

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religious-conversion-in-india-9780195689044?lang=3n&cc=it

and 

Conversion, Continuity and Change Lived Christianity in Southern Goa

http://t.ly/Ea_2

One of Dr Rowena's talk is here online (which touches the subject):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZCcOcsVafg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZCcOcsVafg

[3] Alexander Henn's work is 

Hindu-Catholic Encounters in Goa: Religion, Colonialism, and Modernity

http://t.ly/m-eun

[4] Robert S Newman's work has also looked at how people cope after/despite changes in religion. His two-volume work is called 'Goan Anthropology'. Some excerpts of particular chapters could be find online.

[5] To understand the approach towards of our ruling ideology at present, The Brotherhood of Saffron is insightful. It's available online at: 

https://archive.org/details/TheBrotherhoodInSaffronWalterK.AndersenShridharD.Damle

[6] A summary of Alan Machado's recent work on the Goa Inquisition is here: 

https://ia802603.us.archive.org/1/items/goa-inquisition-amp/final-summary-alan.pdf

Rgds, FN

[Eugene Correia]

Is Angela Barreto Xavier's book available in Goa? During my visit to Dogears earlier this year, I didn't see a copy of the book. I had bought Alan Machado's at his talk at Margao. In the overall issue of Christianity flourishing in India and other places in the East, it must be understood that the one of the functions of the Church is to spread the religion wherever possible.

In this regard, the Portuguese felt to help establish the church and convert people who they thought of the populace being "heathen". Hinduism was not so wide spread and India was a cauldron of native religions. Similarly, missionaries were dispatched to the dark continent of Africa.

Inquisition may have played some part, but Alan Machodo's book expands on the intricacies of this so-called "unholy" act. Saint Jose Vaz didn't come from outside India, but a native-born Goan. He was helpful in establishing Chrisitanity in Sr Lanka. 

Eugene Correia

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[Anthony da Silva]

Rico,

Great job of pulling so much relevant lieterature together. Indeed it serves as a good backdrop for this complex concept of “ mass conversions”.As you know well the concept is ostensibly religious, but actually muiti-dimensional with political, geographical, economic and cultural underpinnings. 

I am glad this topic is coming alive even if stirred for other reasons by fundamentalist and autocratic political leaders. 

Tony.

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