Review of Despotis & Löhr, Religious and philosophical conversion in the ancient Mediterranean traditions

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Religious and philosophical conversion in the ancient Mediterranean traditions.

Athanasios Despotis, Hermut Löhr, Religious and philosophical conversion in the ancient Mediterranean traditions. Ancient philosophy and religion, 5. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022. Pp. xi, 477. ISBN 9789004501768

Review by
Thomas Miller, Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP. thomas.marshall.miller@gmail.com

The possibility of conversion fascinates, inspires, and frightens: could the basic boundaries of our identities be less stable than we think? This volume collects sixteen papers on the topic, originally delivered at a 2018 conference at the University of Bonn. The essays are organized into five sections, which give some notion of the volume’s range: there are two pieces on “Interdisciplinary Conversion Research,” four on “Conversion in Ancient Judaism,” three on “Conversion in Philosophical Traditions,” five on “Conversion in the New Testament,” and two on “Conversion in Mystery Cults and Late Antiquity.”

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