Conversion in the New Testament: Paul and the Twelve

by Richard Peace, David M. Scholer (Foreword by)

This inspiring look at conversion in the Bible offers promising new changes in the way we view-and do-evangelism today. In order to be effective in evangelism, one must clearly understand the dynamics of conversion. Richard Peace here examines two very different conversion experiences-Paul's and the twelve disciples'-and explains their implications for contemporary evangelism. By showing how conversion can take place either suddenly or gradually over time, Peace gives good reasons, and suggests practical ways, to replace one-sided evangelism techniques with more wholistic methods.

Genres: Theology

413 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating!

Peace sets out to lay a kind of biblical/theological/practical methodological exploration of conversion in the New Testament. Integrative studies like this one are hard to do, and if executed well can be so useful. I'll be coming back to this one.

Read it for a sermon series on the Gospel of Mark but got much more than preaching fodder.

Peace's assertion at the outset was certainly true for me: for how often Christians talk about conversion, and for how central it is to the faith, we don't often explore exactly what it is and how it works.
I was grateful for his exploration of Paul's Damascus road experience, convicted by the ways that that paradigm has become a one trick pony in our understanding of Christian faith, and encouraged by his outline for a second paradigm of conversion as evidenced by the disciples in the gospel of Mark.
I've already used some of these insights in conversations about spirituality and about Christian faith and they seem to offer help for those on the journey.

[Graydon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peace argues for a distinction between “encounter” evangelism - modeled after the apostle Paul’s conversion, and “process” evangelism - modeled after the disciples’ conversions. He also offers great ideas for reforming both models. A great read for those involved in church life!

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's primary focus is an examination of the aspects of conversion in the New Testament, and especially looked at Paul's instantaneous conversion vs the Twelve's conversion (what he calls process conversion). The conversion elements of the Twelve are taken from the Gospel of Mark, so there is also quite a bit of deep scholarly discussion of the structure, style and progression of Mark (quite a bit as in over half of this book). That said, it is by no means an easy read. However, Peace makes some great points, especially on the current approach to evangelism primarily focusing on a Pauline-type conversion experience vs a Twelve-type slow and progressive conversion experience. Most people come to know Christ through the latter, but since it is harder to pinpoint and define it is often misunderstood or unrecognized and hardly ever applied to evangelism methods. In the last chapter, Peace provides some practical ways to apply this knowledge to revising current evangelistic practices in the Church. Peace worked on this book for decades before publishing it, and the time on research shows.

It would be possible to just read the first couple chapters of the book and last couple chapters of the book to get the gist of Peace's research and advice if you don't feel like reading through all the scholarly Biblical research of Mark in the middle (though that has some very interesting points too, and I'm glad I read it...I do have some background in reading this type of material though since I had an emphasis in Bible in college and have helped my husband study for Greek and other things in seminary). It is a must read for anyone who especially works in evangelism, outreach or discipleship.

[Angus Mcfarlane · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to Peace, the book of Mark describes the ‘unfolding conversion of the twelve. What Mark sought to communicate in his gospel was the process by which these twelve men gradually turned, over time, from their culturally derived understanding of Jesus as the great teacher to the amazing discovery that he was actually the Messiah who was the Son of God. In showing how the twelve turned to Jesus, step by step, Mark was inviting his readers to undergo the same journey of conversion.’ In terms of implications, Peace is concerned that ‘in its evangelistic work the church has sought to replicate in others what happened to St. Paul: a sudden, point in time transformation based on an encounter with Jesus.’ Thus, the focus has been on “Will you accept Jesus” with little room for understanding who Jesus is. The book is focused on consideration of 1. what is conversion; 2. as expressed in the New Testament; 3.through textual analysis within the evangelical theological paradigm. With respect to Mark, Peace describes the overall focus as a turning from a misunderstanding of who Jesus is to a full and radical new understanding of who eh is. On a secondary level, Mark also traces the correct means of responding to who Jesus is in terms of repentance, faith and discipleship.

[Ben Holloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peace argues that conversion to Christianity should be defined operationally. In other words, we can only apply the term to some event that displays certain features. In the case of conversion, Peace argues that conversion takes place when a person has insight, turns from the old life to Christ, and experiences a transformed life. His paradigmatic example of conversion is Paul and he argues that the same conversion process occurs in the lives of the disciples. Peace concludes that if conversion is such a process, then evangelistic practices of the church should reflect it - more long term relational ministry and a reduction of 'crusade' style evangelism to name a couple.

Peace knows what evidence he must supply in order to make such an argument and goes to great lengths to establish it. However, the success of an operational definition is dependent on the lack of counter-examples. Unfortunately, there are quite a few. One can think of a few examples of people who have been converted but have not experienced at least part of Peace's processes, insight, turning, or transformation. Does a severely disabled person experience a sufficiently similar process to Paul? If not, then they cannot be converts. But we wouldn't want to conclude that a severely disabled person cannot convert to Christianity. And there may be examples of people who have experienced all three and yet remain unconverted. What of the person who apostatizes? Are we to think they really converted or was it fake?