Global Missiology - Vol 18, No 2 (2021) April Conversion or Proselytization? Being Maasai, Becoming Christian 1 Joshua Robert Barron Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2021 Abstract Conversion is part of Christianity’s DNA. Scholarly discussions about the meaning(s) and nature of Christian conversion perhaps reflect a popular—and historical—confusion about conversion vis-à-vis proselytization (e.g., Goodman 1994; Cornelli 2017, 413). Nonetheless, proselytization and conversion are not the same. Culture plays an important role in proper Christian conversion because this conversion, or “the turning to Christ what is already there” in the words of Andrew Walls, takes place within the context of culture. By contrast proselytization is the mere exchange of one human culture for another and was rejected by the Apostles. Because “the gospel enriches the culture,” in African contexts “Christianity should strengthen and reaffirm one’s African identity” (Falconer 2015, 161). After exploring these themes, I will propose a model to discuss Christian conversion within the Maa language and culture of the Maasai people of East Africa. Key Words: contextualization, conversion, Maasai Christianity, proselytization Introduction Scholars typically use the term “‘conversion’ to describe changes in ‘established customs’ or ‘religion’” (Kling 2020, 588). By ‘conversion’ some mean a change of affiliation or of institutional membership, and others mean a change of conviction (Ikenga-Metuh 1987, 19). Indisputably, “conversion establishes new boundaries” (Rambo and Farhadian 2014, 2). Outside of the academy, the term ‘conversion’ is often used as mere “‘theological slang’ for when a person decides to become a Christian” (Hull 2016, 20), Muslim, or some other religious affiliation. But what does ‘become a Christian’ mean? For many, it means abandoning one’s own culture and becoming, essentially, a foreigner. But that is the path of proselytization, not of conversion. Eugene Hillman, a former Spiritan missionary among the Maasai, offers a pertinent warning: “In so far as one preaches the gospel as it has been developed within one’s own culture, one is preaching not only the gospel but one’s own culture. In so far as one is preaching one’s own culture, one is asking others not only to accept the gospel but also to renounce their own culture and accept one’s own” (Hillman 1993, 7). Renunciation of one’s own culture in order to adopt another culture is the very definition of proselytization, as “proselytes take on the cultural forms of the tradition they join” (Burrows 2011, 107). We should note from the beginning the biblical distinction between the two models: epistrofē (ἐπιστροφή) expresses the idea of conversion whereas prosēlútisē (προσηλύτιση) means proselytization. The Council of Jerusalem determined once and for all that “the followers of Jesus are not proselytes. They are converts” (Walls 2004, 5). In the Maa language of the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania, the equivalent quotation is ime ilasujak le Yesu ilmeek. Ilooyelieki e ilata ninche. As the Maa language does not distinguish between “proselytes” and “converts” terminologically, however, I could not translate Walls’s observation literally. Instead, I have used ilmeek (“despised foreigners”) and ilooyelieki e ilata (“anointed adoptees,” literally “those who are anointed with oil”), for reasons I will explain below.