Author: Olli-Pekka Vainio

A religious conversion raises always a question on how the religious identity should be articulated in the given culture. In the late modern culture, typical choices are rugged individualism, which sets only very abstract, if any, directives for a genuine Christian way of life, or authoritarian conformism. The question is: How should the identity of a follower of Christ be articulated in our culture while avoiding both too severe and too vague expressions? In the Bible and in the subsequent spiritual tradition, conversion was understood as imitatio Christi. The reformer Martin Luther understood conversion as transformation into the likeness of Christ. This transformation is depicted through Christological rules and language, which then are linked to concrete forms of life. His account of conversion provides a well-developed and creative articulation of redeemed human agency, informed by Christological reflection, for late modern age.