This volume investigates the complex nature of religious conversion in late antique and early medieval Europe, challenging the traditional view of conversion as a singular, momentous event. The book examines how ancient and early medieval writers often represented conversion as a personal, transformative experience, yet contributors to this volume uncover evidence of gradual and incomplete social processes underlying these narratives. The historical scope spans from second-century Roman Hellenism, exemplified by Justin Martyr, to the ninth-century reform programs of Carolingian reformers, utilizing diverse points of entry such as baptismal orations, inscriptions, and early Byzantine ethnographic writings.

This collection of essays by leading scholars, including an afterword by Neil McLynn, is designed to ignite conversations among students of religious conversion and related processes of cultural interaction. The contributors explore the concept of conversion in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, a period where its utility is vigorously debated. By examining historical texts and uncovering gradual social processes, the volume aims to deepen specialist knowledge and spark new thinking across various sub-fields. The diverse approaches and historical settings treated here promise to foster discussion well beyond the specific historical periods covered.