The Rambo Model

3.4 The Rambo Model

Refining Lofland/Stark‟s and Tippett‟s process-oriented model, Rambo develops a seven-stage model that readily assimilates the main components of a religious

conversion process, namely the cultural, social, personal and religious system, and integrates the different basic concepts that have been formulated from the sociological, anthropological and missionary understandings.

Rambo‟s data had been collected from a decade long investigation of religious conversion processes:

I also conducted numerous interviews with converts from a wide variety of backgrounds: men and women who had embraced the Unification Church, Jews who had become Christians and Christians who had become Jews, Japanese secularists who had adopted Christianity, and Chinese people with little or no religious background (because of official government discouragement) who had become Christians. I travelled extensively: to Japan and Korea to compare and contrast the experience and perception of conversion in those countries.... and to interview converts between Judaism and

Christianity (in both directions) as well as secular Jews who had adopted Orthodox Judaism (Rambo 1993: xi-xii).

Thus, unlike that of Lofland/Stark and Tippet, the Rambo Model is not based on a study of a specific group of respondents. What is also evident from the kind of data collected by Rambo is that, it confirms the earlier argument that a larger part of the theoretical framework of his model is based on Christian culture that essentially influences the exposition of the characters and definitions of the stages in the model.

The following conversion stages have been identified by Rambo as the fundamental stages in a religious conversion. The description of the stages given below is derived from Ram bo‟s definition of the stages:

Stage 1: Context

Context, according to Rambo, is an extremely influential stage as the factors, agents and forces which configure this stage can either facilitate or inhibit a conversion. Macro- context represents “The Big Picture” environment such as the state politics, religious and economic systems, while family, friends and neighbourhood of a person is considered to be the micro-context. Within these two kinds of contexts, Rambo identifies multiple factors – cultural, social, personal and religious – which can also influence one‟s decision to accept a conversion.

Stage 2: Crisis

The crisis stage can be initiated by religious, political or cultural forces. Mystical, near-death experiences, illness and healing can also trigger the crisis phase for a The crisis stage can be initiated by religious, political or cultural forces. Mystical, near-death experiences, illness and healing can also trigger the crisis phase for a

Stage 3: Quest

The crisis dimension is naturally followed by a stage of quest where a potential convert is in search of a better belief system to alleviate the crisis and a new means to deepen their religious commitment.

Stage 4: Encounter

The encounter stage presents the point of contact between a potential convert and a religious advocate. An advocate, according to Rambo, can be any individual, ranging from a family member, a working colleague, a close friend, a community member, or the religious advocates themselves. There are two kinds of mode of contacts which can facilitate the encounter stage: firstly, public means of contact; and secondly, the face- to-face contact. The public modes of contact relay religious information through mass media whereas the face-to-face encounter disseminates knowledge through friendship and kinship networks.

Stage 5: Interaction

The interaction stage allows a potential convert to experiment a new religious option under a controlled environment known as the encapsulation. The encapsulation strategy essentially limits the interaction of a potential convert outside the community of the prospective religion so the person can experience a closer relationship with the religious group and establish a sense of familiarity with the ritual practices. Successful The interaction stage allows a potential convert to experiment a new religious option under a controlled environment known as the encapsulation. The encapsulation strategy essentially limits the interaction of a potential convert outside the community of the prospective religion so the person can experience a closer relationship with the religious group and establish a sense of familiarity with the ritual practices. Successful

Stage 6: Commitment

Successful encounter and interaction stages will culminate to a religious commitment. This is seen as “the fulcrum of the change process” (Rambo 1993: 124) and a religious commitment is illustrated through a public declaration. Such declaration is to validate

the switch in religious allegiance and the consequent formal affiliation with the community of the new religion.

Stage 7: Consequences

This stage embodies the ongoing process of changes and transformations in the new convert‟s life after the public solemnisation. Profound or subtle psychological and theological changes will bring the convert to a new task of assessing the viability of

the religion. The outcome of this assessment task either will lead the convert to experience positive religious transformation, or it will raise questions which could be potentially destructive to the new religious life of the convert.

From the above descriptions of Rambo‟s conversion stages, his model of religious conversion seems to have a clear-cut sequence of stages. Rambo however insists “the

order of stages is not universal and invariant” (Rambo 1993: 165), primarily because the employment of the stage-model approach is “a strategy for organising complex data” (Rambo 1993: 17). Nonetheless, as will be seen in the following review, it is

inevitable for the existing studies to test and assess the stage sequence laid out by the model. Many found their findings are in contradiction with its propositions which inevitable for the existing studies to test and assess the stage sequence laid out by the model. Many found their findings are in contradiction with its propositions which

Thus, in view of the findings of the existing studies, it becomes clear that Rambo‟s insistence of his model as being not universal, but without providing concrete

explanations as to why there should be variations in the stage order, operates more like

a weak justification rather than a convincing hypothesis. As mentioned in section 1.4 in Chapter 1, this study will attempt to critically engage the Rambo Model and to offer plausible explanations as to why there will be variations in the stage order so that the propositions of the model can be exported across different types of religious contexts.

A detailed examination of the existing conversion studies will be presented in the following section.