The Conversion of Soldiers of Christ Essay

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Christian Conversion

Many conversions always happen in the world of religion and theology. The existence of different religious teachings and mainframes necessitates that people make choices of one of the many of these groups. Christianity is one of the religious movements with teachings directed at meeting the specific standards of living as written in the Bible. The followers and teachers of this gospel seek to convince and sustain individuals as followers, making for their progression into spirituality. They also promote their development as one experience more teachings and ways of life associated with such a religion. Such activities also happen to people who have given their allegiance to Islam, Hindu, and many other religions. This research has sought to study two attempts of conversion to Christianity, detailing their differences and similarities as they happened.

The two conversions that have been studied and noted of their differences and similarities include one in the book titled "Baedae Opera Historica" and another in the book titled "Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints' Lives from Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages." "Baedae Opera Historica" details a process of conversation that proceeds within a context of relaying the need for one to be converted in a simple way of encountering the life and behavior of those who have been converted. The book is a collection of Augustine's questions to Gregory. Augustine is a man of God, probably a Christian, who needs to inspire as a way of converting. In the context, he is referred to as 'Blessed Augustine, Bishop of the Church of men of Kent.' He asks questions concerning the way of life of someone who is deemed a saint, as a reflection of the lives of the saints who lived in the antiquities. Gregory Pope of the city of Rome answers Augustine's questions. Augustine is equipped with questions that are enlightened within the context of making someone become converted in some way through the embrace of the new life under discovery. Gregory is using the scriptures, preferably as contained in the Bible, to annotate every answer that he has to respond to Augustine in his attempt to convert the readers of the same (Thomas & Thomas, 2010).

The other conversion, contained in the book "Soldiers of Christ," details the life of one saint by the name Sulpicius Severus, who narrates the life of the an individual called Martin of Tours. The conversion process involves detailing on the life of Sulpicius right from when he was young to the time that he acquired a complete acceptance and capability to become one of the saints of the time (King, 1566). Through a narration of the circumstances that Martin went through, Sulpicius is attempting to change the mind of the reader towards embracing the life of a Christian. Unlike the other conversion processes on the teachings of the Bible, Sulpicius has expressed how he has lived and how he has interacted with different lives. The explanations include living in the palace as he was born into a well-off family entering into thoughts and mainstreams of religion and Christianity through the current circumstances.

Sulpicius went through a time of confusion in his bid to realize what was at stake concerning religion and Christianity. He lived during a dangerous time of civil wars, a peasant uprising, vigorous imperial reorganization and barbarian incursion. During this time, with a mechanistic growth in secular life among the people, Sulpicius saw a process of development that came to the church, marred by significant importance, controversies in theologies, and aristocratic struggles among other occurrences that needed truth and direction. He had to choose sides and make a decision. Through a narration of his personal life, he is, in some way, trying to convert the listener. Besides, this conversion process dictates the life history and experiences of another person called Martin of Gaul. The lives of the people of Gaul had an impact on what was taking place amidst the intentions to have the gospel of the church spread. The conversion process is likely to happen in such a way that everything that is sensible to the nature of life has been expressed through the feelings and the daily conversations of the people (King, 1566).

Martin of Gaul is concerned with the lives of friends amidst the development of changes in the society that needed thoughtful conversations and interactions with different people, preferably Christians of that time. Through this process, depicting every degree of life and all the elements therein, a conversion process somehow occurs in the life of the reader.

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Unlike in the other reading, the immediate lives of the people, as phenomenological as possible, have been studied and hence subjected to a process of self-witnessing and interrogation, resulting in the intended conversion. Many people have been converted using this method of conversion.

Sulpicius is aware of his Martian writings as he uses them to make a conviction of the people who read it. Martin, in his engagements in a cult, depicts the influences of the early life that were accompanied by some forces within and without the lives of the people. In keeping with his writings, together with the exploration of the life of Martin and his spiritual engagements, Sulpicius is well aware of the actions he is taking towards making the reader have a conviction, and finally, make a judgment that will lead to possible conversion (King, 1566).

The study and the conversion process that is likely to take place in the book "Soldiers of Christ," is rather different from that under the story of Sulpicius. Ideally, we see Augustine engage Gregory in a process of questions and responses. The questions relate to the nature of life; the life experiences that people go through in the daily living and the ultimate texture of life as expressed in the Bible. It is the intention of the author of the book that at the end of the reader going through the conversation, he or she will be convinced to have a change of thought that will instill a sensational state of conversion. As perceived in this conversion attempt, the act of conversion is not time-bound. Conversion to any religion or spirituality, with a more specification of a conversion that happens in Christianity, is a process. Augustine is a bishop of a church of the people of Kent. He is called blessed. He takes on questions about the way of life of popes and other people who are converted to the life of a Christian. He asks a question like, "Whereas there is but one faith, why be there sundry customs of churches and one custom of masses be observed in the holy Roman Church, another in the Church of France?"

Such a question is elemental to the state of the existence of churches and the nature of the services and worship processes that are supposed to be followed by the saints of these churches. He calls them customs. It is indeed true that there might be some differences in customs leading to one peripheral faith in Christianity. Gregory gives directions as a way of seeking for conversation. He is knowledgeable on matters relating to the conduct of the popes, their behaviors in everyday life as they protect the interests of the different churches, preferably the churches of Rome and France. Moreover, Gregory gives directions on how Christians should worship, elevating different customs which are different but not with the one intention of being Christian and pursuing matters related Christianity. In all the two books, there are varied attempts to convert the reader.

The questions that Augustine ponders and asks Gregory be sensitive and applicable in every aspect of human life. He asks questions relating to the conduct of popes and every other individual who has been called to be a Christian. Such questions evoke the interests of the reader to embrace them. Besides, he asks questions regarding how Christians should behave even in the presence of non-Christians and others touching on the legal structures and mechanisms that are supposed to be followed by a Christian life. The questions enable Gregory to have a real and direct go at every bit of life, relaying what is required according to the Christian life, and according to the written scriptures in the Bible. In doing this, a process of conversion occurs through a process of conviction as people make choices concerning what the two specialists discussing have addressed.

The two scripts have rather divergent views and strategies to make conversions upon the audience who read them. The process of conversion that has taken place in "Soldiers of Christ" gives a conversation process that is meant to influence the ways in which audience perceive and should respond to the different aspects of life contained within the life of being a Christian. The conversion process happens via a perusal of the materials of Christianity, debating them within a public domain and deciding on which attributes are best to inform the practice chosen at any time.….....

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