This project looks at memoirs, personal narratives, and testimonies of queer Christians and survivors of \"ex-gay\" conversion therapy. It discusses the narratives that have formed the canonical basis for Christian conversion theory, beginning with Paul's turn to Christ in the Book of Acts and St. Augustine's climactic conversion in the Confessions. William James has explained such acts of conversion as processes of uniting a \"divided self.\" Strikingly, one finds similar explanations in the narratives of queer Christians who, after a period of \"deconversion,\" have returned to Christianity. As a means of mapping conversion, deconversion, and a process I propose to call \"reconversion,\" \"Late Have I Loved You\" examines testimonies from former members of Exodus International, including Stranger at the Gate by Mel White and Outlove by Julie Rodgers, supplemented by online testimonies from other queer Christians. Insofar as they use and adapt the theological framework of conversion to encompass both coming out and discovering queer forms of Christian living, I suggest that these contemporary accounts can best be described as \"reconversion\" narratives. As such, they provide a valuable theoretical contribution to the nascent but burgeoning field of queer theology.
"},{"label":"Degree","value":["Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors"]},{"label":"Administrative Note","value":"Drupal Node ID: 33925