Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors



1 Leaving Religion: Introducing the Field

 Daniel Enstedt, Göran Larsson and Teemu T. Mantsinen



Part 1: Historical and Major Debates

2 Leaving Hinduism

 Clemens Cavallin

3 Leaving Buddhism

 Monica Lindberg Falk

4 Leaving Religion in Antiquity

 Jörgen Magnusson

5 Leaving Judaism

 Lena Roos

6 Leaving Christianity

 Teemu T. Mantsinen and Kati Tervo-Niemelä



7 Leaving Islam

 Christine Schirrmacher



Part 2: Case Studies

8 Leaving Hinduism: Deconversion as Liberation

 Michael Stausberg

9 Leaving Theravāda Buddhism in Myanmar

 Niklas Foxeus

10 Leaving Vipassana Meditation

 Masoumeh Rahmani

11 Leaving Orthodox Judaism

 David Belfon

12 Leaving the Amish

 David L. McConnell

13 Leaving Evangelicalism

 Philip Salim Francis

14 Leaving Pentecostalism

 Teemu T. Mantsinen

15 Leaving Roman Catholicism

 Hugh Turpin

16 Leaving Mormonism

 Amorette Hinderaker

17 Leaving Islam for Christianity: Asylum Seeker Converts

 Nora Stene

18 Leaving Islam from a Queer Perspective

 Erica Li Lundqvist

19 Leaving New Religions

 Carole M. Cusack

20 Non-Religion and Atheism

 Caleb Schaffner and Ryan T. Cragun



Part 3: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

21 Historical Approaches to Leaving Religion

 Ryan Szpiech

22 Geographical and Demographic Approaches to Leaving Religion

 Lily Kong and Orlando Woods

23 Statistical Approaches to Leaving Religion

 Isabella Kasselstrand

24 Sociological Approaches to Leaving Religion

 Daniel Enstedt

25 Psychological Approaches to Leaving Religion

 Kyle Messick and Miguel Farias

26 Narrative and Autobiographical Approaches to Leaving Religion

 Peter G. Stromberg

27 Media and Communication Approaches to Leaving Religion

 Teemu Taira



Index

About the Author

Daniel Enstedt, Ph.D. (2011), University of Gothenburg (Sweden), is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at that university. His research focus is mainly on contemporary religion and the sociology of religion, especially in the field of lived religion. He has studied apostasy and Islam in Sweden, religion and digital media, sexuality and Christianity, and new expressions of spirituality in Sweden.

Göran Larsson, Ph.D. (2000), University of Gothenburg (Sweden), is Professor of Religious Studies/History of Religions at that university. He has published extensively on Islam and Muslims in Europe in both past and present. Besides the study of Islam and Muslims, Larsson has also published on religion and media, migration, global conflicts and theoretical and methodological issues.

Teemu T. Mantsinen/, Ph.D. (2014), University of Turku (Finland), is Researcher of the Study of Religion at that university. His previous works include studies on Pentecostalism, social class, social transformations, migration, and Orthodox pilgrimage.



Contributors are: David Belfon, Clemens Cavallin, David McConnell, Ryan T. Cragun, Carole Cusack, Daniel Enstedt, Monica Lindberg Falk, Miguel Farias, Niklas Foxeus, Philip Francis, Amorette Hinderaker, Isabella Kasselstrand, Lily Kong, Göran Larsson, Erica Li Lundqvist, Jörgen Magnusson, Teemu T. Mantsinen, Kyle Messick, Masoumeh Rahmani, Lena Roos, Caleb Schaffner, Christine Schirrmacher, Michael Stausberg, Nora Stene, Peter G. Stromberg, Ryan Szpiech, Teemu Taira, Kati Tervo-Niemelä, Hugh Turpin, Orlando Woods.

Reviews

"The volume’s scope is impressive, its structure is cogent and complementary, and its contributors offer approachable analyses of deconversion and disaffiliation. Readers new to the field will encounter accessible explanations of basic concepts and core debates, while those familiar with scholarship on apostasy will find a battery of case studies to examine and challenges to meet." - Kristian Klippenstein, in: Nova Religio 24:1, 2020.

"The anthology takes a broad approach, encompassing historical debates on topics of conversion, contemporary case studies from a range of traditions, including established institutions like Catholicism, new religious or spiritual practices like Vipassana meditation, asylum seekers leaving Islam for Christianity, and chapters approaching the topic from a range of subfields within religious studies. (...) The anthology offers a berth for studies that are topical and important. (...) I would still recommend this book to religious studies scholars looking for a work dealing with the complexities of religious identity in historical and contemporary contexts, who are also interested in a handbook for undergraduate students introducing the available methodological and theoretical approaches within religious studies." - Evelina Lundmark, Uppsala University, Sweden/University of Kent, UK, in: Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion 56: 2, 2020.

"Now that the study of conversion has a well-established niche in religious scholarship, it is only natural that the reverse phenomenon, namely the study of ‘deconversion' (‘disaffiliation’, ‘losing religion’), should emerge. This volume indicates clearly that this developing field of inquiry can yield significant insights into the dynamics of the contemporary religious scene. (...) By drawing attention to the need to study the phenomenon of leaving religion, by providing an impressive range of intriguing case studies, by highlighting the problems encountered by scholars engaging in such studies, and by suggesting theoretical and methodological ways of addressing these problems, the entire volume provides nothing less than an initiation into a promising field of inquiry taking shape within the academic study of contemporary religion."

- Theodore Pulcini, Dickinson College, USA, in: Journal of Contemporary Religion, 35:3 (2020).