Intricacies of the conversion process. Pathways of two Jewish converts to Catholicism in the 19th century

Abstract

The biographical account seems still to be the better method to restore reality's complexityinside a historical perspective, on condition it fits in the sociological construction of the field it integrates. The present article, based mostly on primary sources, tries to analyse the trajectories of Théodore Ratisbonne and Jacob Libermann, two Jews converted to Catholicism in the XIX century. Being both born in the same French region, but born inside families from opposed social origins, in a first moment, they both interpret their own itinerary as do all converts: their past life is completely insignificant until divine providence comes to redeem them from error, bringing in religion's illumination, which culminates with the baptism. They both adopt, at first, the perspective of the reference group to which they aspire to belong, striving t acquire the dispositions and the kinds of capital they need to frame in their belief. But the different environments they move in lead them to interpret the heritage they receive from a very different standpoint. The strict conformism to the rule and to hierarchy which typify Ratisbonne will make him a fundamentalist ultramontane; while Libermann, born and educated in a fundamentalist milieu, yearns for nuances, tries to think by himself and leads the congregation he founds from aliberal perspective.