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The following is a list of notable people who converted to Christianity from a different religion or no religion. This article addresses only past voluntary professions of faith by the individuals listed, and is not intended to address ethnic, cultural, or other considerations.
List of notable converts to Christianity
From Agnosticism or Atheism
- Kirk Cameron - Actor, star of Growing Pains (former Atheist)
- Bruce Cockburn - Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer/songwriter
- Francis Collins - physician-geneticist, noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes,and the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (former Atheist)
- Ulf Ekman - Swedish pastor and founder of the charismatic church Livets Ord ("Word of Life")
- Tony Fontane - popular recording artist in the 1940s and 1950s (former Atheist)
- René Girard - philosophical anthropologist
- Joy Gresham - American writer and wife of C.S. Lewis (former Atheist)
- Tamsin Greig - English actress
- Khang Khek Leu (also known as Comrade Duch) - Cambodian director of Phnom Penh's infamous Tuol Sleng detention center
- C.S. Lewis - prolific writer; well known for the The Chronicles of Narnia series, and for his apologetic Mere Christianity.
- Norma McCorvey - "Jane Roe" in Roe v. Wade
- Josh McDowell - Christian apologist
- Alister McGrath - Biochemist and Christian theologian. Founder of 'Scientific theology' and critic of Richard Dawkins in his book Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life
- William J. Murray - author and son of atheist activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair
- Bernard Nathanson Medical doctor who was a founding member of NARAL, later becoming a Pro-Life proponent.
- Anne Rice - author of Interview with the Vampire
- Lee Strobel - Author of The Case for Christ
- Monty White - British Young Earth Creationist
From Buddhism
- David Yonggi Cho - Korean Christian leader; Senior Pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church.
- Jaruvan Maintaka - Auditor-General (Thai: ผู้ว่าการตรวจเงินแผ่นดิน) of the Kingdom of Thailand
- Don Stephen Senanayake - Sri Lankan independence activist
From Hinduism
- Tal Brooke - Christian apologist
- Sister Nirmala- succeeded Mother Teresa as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity in March 1997.
From Islam
The World Christian Encyclopedia estimates that, within the United States, there may be as many as twenty thousand converts from Islam to Christianity every year. Additionally, Ahmad Al-Katani suggests in an interview on Aljazeera that in Africa, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity every year. Furthermore, although there are Christian converts in the Middle East, there are currently no definitive figures available as Christian converts are usually persecuted in this region (and may keep their conversion hidden from society), and therefore can not be reliably numbered.
- Utameshgaray of Kazan - khan of Kazan Khanate
- Nonie Darwish - freelance writer
- Mehdi Dibaj - Iranian pastor and Christian martyr
- Ghorban Tourani - former Iranian Sunni Muslim who became a Christian minister. He received the death penalty for Apostasy in Islam
- Jean-Bédel Bokassa - Central African Republic Emperor (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity)
- Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila - American football player
- Qadry Ismail - former American football player
- Raghib Ismail - former American football player
- Tunch Ilkin - former American football player
- Carlos Menem - former President of Argentina
- George Weah - Liberian soccer player (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity)
- Tuğçe Kazaz - Turkish model; Miss Turkey 2001
- Abo of Tiflis - 8th century convert later beheaded as a martyr
- Mehdi Dibaj - Iranian pastor and Christian martyr
- Felix, one of the Martyrs of Córdoba with Aurelius and Natalia
- Mark A. Gabriel - writer on Islamic affairs
- Daveed Gartenstein-Ross- converted from Judaism to Islam to Christianity; counter-terrorism expert
- Mathieu Kérékou - President of Benin (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity)
- Begum Samru - powerful lady of north India, ruling a large area from Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh
- Hussain Andaryas - Afghani Christian activist
- Abdul Rahman - Afghan convert to Christianity who escaped the death penalty because of foreign pressure
- Emir Kusturica - Bosnian film director
- Lina Joy- former muslim from Malaysia fighting to make her conversion legal
- Zachariah Anani - former Muslim Lebanese militia fighter
- Malika Oufkir - Author, activist and former prisoner of the Moroccan Royal Family.
- Ruffa Gutierrez - Filipina actress, model and former beauty queen (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity)
- Hakeem Seriki (AKA Chamillionaire) - American rapper
- Walid Shoebat - author and former member of the PLO
From Judaism
The Jewish Encyclopedia gives some statistics on conversion of Jews to Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodox Christianity (which it calls "Greek Catholicism"). Some 2,000 European Jews converted to Christianity every year during the 19th century, but in the 1890s the number was running closer to 3,000 per year, — 1,000 in Austria Hungary (Galizian Poland), 1,000 in Russia (Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania), 500 in Germany (Posen), and the remainder in the English world.
- Abd-al-Masih, a convert martyred for his faith
- Michael Solomon Alexander - former Rabbi and first Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem
- Petrus Alphonsi - physician in ordinary to King Alfonso VI of Castile
- Juan Alfonso de Baena - medieval Castillian troubadour
- Eduard Bendemann - German painter
- Sir Julius Benedict - English composer
- Leo de Benedicto Christiano - medieval financier
- Theodor Benfey - German philologist
- Michael Bernays - German professor of literature
- Gottfried Bernhardy - German philologist and literary historian
- Ludwig Börne - German political writer and satirist
- John Braham - English tenor opera star
- Moritz Wilhelm August Breidenbach - German jurist
- Julius Friedrich Cohnheim - German pathologist
- Isaac da Costa - Dutch language poet
- Jehuda Cresques - Catalan cartographer
- Ferdinand David - German virtuoso violinist and composer
- Ludwig Dessoir - German actor
- Benjamin Disraeli - British Prime Minister and leader of the British Conservative Party in the 19th century
- Alfred Edersheim - Biblical scholar
- Rachel Felix - French-Swiss theatre actress
- Pero Ferrús - Castilian poet
- Achille Fould - French financier and politician
- Jacob Frank - 18th century Jewish reformer
- Heinrich von Friedberg - German jurist and statesman
- Ludwig Friedländer - German philologist
- Arnold Fruchtenbaum - Founder of Ariel Ministries
- Eduard Gans - German philosopher and jurist, exponent of the conservative Right Hegelians
- Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt - German astronomer and painter
- Heinrich Heine - German writer
- Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle - German physician, pathologist and anatomist
- Samuel Aba of Hungary - Third King of Hungary
- Jorge Isaacs - Colombian writer, politician and soldier
- Heinrich Jacoby - German educator
- Georg Jellinek - German legal philosopher
- Paul S. L. Johnson - American scholar and pastor
- David Kalisch - German playwright and humorist
- Felix Philipp Kanitz - Austro-Hungarian naturalist, geographer, ethnographer, archaeologist and author of travel notes
- Leopold Kronecker - German mathematician and logician
- Hermann Lebert - German physician
- Karl Lehrs - German classical scholar
- Osip Mikhailovich Lerner - 19th century Russian intellectual and lawyer
- Fanny Lewald - German author
- Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger- Cardinal, former Archbishop of Paris
- Heinrich Gustav Magnus - German chemist and physicist
- Ludwig Immanuel Magnus - German mathematician
- Felix Mendelssohn - composer (1809-1847)
- Karl Friedrich Neumann - German orientalist
- Francis Palgrave - English historian
- St. Paul - author of many New Testament epistles
- Corey Pavin, PGA golfer
- Friedrich Adolf Philippi - German Lutheran theologian
- Lorenzo Da Ponte - Italian librettist
- David Ricardo - English political economist
- Moishe Rosen - Founder of Jews for Jesus
- Anton Rubinstein - Russian pianist, composer, and conductor
- Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky - Episcopal Bishop of Shanghai, founder of Saint John's University, Shanghai, bible translator
- Martin Eduard von Simson - German jurist and politician
- Dan Spitz - lead guitarist of the heavy metal band Anthrax
- Friedrich Julius Stahl - Prussian jurist and conservative thinker
- Edith Stein - Nun, martyr, saint.
- Rahel Varnhagen (born Rahel Levin) - writer and saloniste
- Otto Weininger - Austrian philosopher
- Joseph Wolff - German missionary
- Sir Moses Ximenes - 18th century English merchant
- David Levy Yulee, United States Senator from Florida
- Israel Zolli - former Chief Rabbi of Rome
From Manichaeanism
From Paganism
Paganism is a term which, from a Western perspective, has come to connote a broad set of spiritual or cultic practices or beliefs of any folk religion, and of historical and contemporary polytheistic religions in particular.
While the term has historically been used to denote adherents of any non-Abrahamic faith, for the purposes of this list, only adherents of non-major polytheistic, shamanistic, pantheistic, or animistic religions will be listed in this section.
- Aebbe the Elder - Scottish monastic founder.
- Saint Alban - first Christian martyr in Britain.
- Saint Apollonius - 2nd century Roman Senator, Christian apologist and martyr.
- Charles Atangana - paramount chief of the Ewondo and Bane ethnic groups in Cameroon; first Ewondo to be baptised.
- Francis Cardinal Arinze - Nigerian Roman Catholic cardinal.
- Athenagoras of Athens - philosopher and early Christian apologist.
- Saint Barbara - Orthodox Christian martyr.
- Saint Bavo - eremitic monk who lived during the Dark Ages.
- Borivoj I of Bohemia - Duke of Bohemia (852/853 - 888/889).
- Boris I of Bulgaria - Bulgarian ruler and monk.
- Pertinax of Byzantium - Bishop of Byzantium from 169 until his death in 187.
- Clovis I - early king of the Franks; first converted to Arianism, and later to Catholicism.
- Coelia Concordia - last Roman Vestal Virgin.
- Commodianus - Latin language poet; first praciced Judaism, and later converted to Christianity.
- Constantine I (the Great) - Roman Emperor who legalized Christianity in the Edict of Milan in 313.
- Constantine of Cornwall - 6th-century king of Dumnonia.
- Saint Constantine of Strathclyde - King of Strathclyde, and later abbot of Rahan.
- Samuel Ajayi Crowther - first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria.
- Saint Cyriacus - early Christian saint.
- Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite - judge of the Areopagus and early Bishop of Athens.
- Raedwald of East Anglia - King of East Anglia from about AD 599 to about AD 625.
- Sigeberht of East Anglia - King of East Anglia from AD 631 to 634.
- Leif Ericson - Icelandic Viking explorer.
- Saint Eustace - early Christian who was martyred, with his family, in a brazen bull.
- Evodius - early Bishop of Antioch who (according to tradition) first called the disciples of Christ "Christians".
- Gaius Marius Victorinus - Roman philosopher.
- Gelelemend - A prominent Lenape convert to the Moravian Church.
- Riderch Hael - King of Strathclyde who established the first See of Strathclyde at Glasgow.
- Hone Heke - Māori chief and war leader in New Zealand.
- Honoratus - former Archbishop of Arles.
- Horapollo - one of the last leaders of Ancient Egyptian priesthood.
- Jogaila - former King of Poland.
- Saint Julius the Veteran - early Christian martyr.
- Queen Kaʻahumanu - Hawaiian monarch, wife of Kamehameha I.
- Helen Kalvak - Inuit artist from Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada.
- Ethelbert of Kent - King of Kent.
- Jomo Kenyatta - first Prime Minister and President of Kenya.
- Vladimir I of Kiev - Grand Prince of Kiev.
- Guthrum of East Anglia - King of the Danish Vikings in the Danelaw.
- Lactantius - early Christian author.
- Saint Ludmila - Orthodox Christian saint and martyr.
- Bernard Mizeki - African Christian missionary and martyr.
- Justin Martyr - early Christian apologist.
- Peada of Mercia - King of southern Mercia; helped found the monastery at Peterborough.
- Tāmati Wāka Nene - Māori chief who fought as an ally of the British in the Flagstaff War.
- Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba - Queen of Ndongo and Matamba in the 16th century.
- Leonard of Noblac - Frankish noble in the court of Clovis I.
- Rollo of Normandy - Founder of Viking province of Normandy.
- Samson Occom - Mohegan minister.
- Edwin of Northumbria - King of Deira and Bernicia.
- Saint Olaf - King of Norway.
- Saint Pancras - early Roman Christian martyr.
- Saint Pantaleon (Panteleimon) - early Christian physician and martyr.
- Pocahontas - Native American celebrity in 17th century London.
- Polycarp - early Christian bishop.
- Rabbula - early Bishop of Edessa.
- Ranavalona II - Queen of Madagascar.
- Rorik of Dorestad - Danish Viking leader.
- Rumwold - legendary "infant saint".
- Sabinian of Troyes - Christian martyr.
- Joseph Shabalala - lead singer, founder and musical director of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
- Cenwalh of Wessex - King of Wessex.
- Cynegils - Anglo-Saxon king of the West Saxons.
From Sikhism
- Sadhu Sundar Singh - Indian Christian
- Bakht Singh - Indian Christian
From Zoroastrianism
- Mar Abba, Metropolitan bishop and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
Notable converts who later changed their faith
The people listed in this section made a conversion to Christianity which was notable and had a significant impact on their careers, public, or private lives. They, however, did not continue in the Christian faith for life. As noted under individual entries, some converted to another religion, returned to a prior religion, or renounced their faith. Some entries are also listed here because the faith of their later lives is sufficiently disputed, and it appears unlikely that they continued to practice a Christian religion.
- Bob Dylan - popular musician who later reconverted to Judaism
- Larry Flynt - American publisher and pornographer; converted under the auspice of Ruth Carter Stapleton.
- Duleep Singh - Maharajah of Punjab (later re-initiated into Sikhism in 1886).
See also
- List of people by belief
- List of Catholic converts
- List of notable converts to Hinduism
- List of notable converts to Islam
- List of notable converts to Judaism
- List of notable converts to Sikhism
- List of ex-Christians
- List of former Muslims
Notes and references
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- Sin: An Honest Mistake?, by Kirk Cameron
- [http://www.nndb.com/people/069/000098772/
- Interview: Francis Collins
- UlfEkman.org
- Lyric Tenor: The Tony Fontane Story, by Charles Culbertson; Wonderful Words of Life: Hymns in American Protestant History and Theology By Richard J. Mouw, Mark A. Noll
- René Girard:A Biographical Sketch, by James G. Williams
- ;
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0340067/bio
- "The Killer and the Pastor" article from Time.com
- biography on official website
- statement of William J. Murray
- Nathanson, Bernand Aborting America (1981 Pinnacle Books)
- Interview with a Pentitent from Christianity Today
- http://www.leestrobel.com/bio.html
- My Spiritual Pilgrimage from Theistic Evolution to Creationism by Monty White
- Profile of Rev. David Yonggi Cho
- "God's on My Side" at nationmultimedia.com
- http://www.pmoffice.gov.lk/pms1.html#05
- Spiritual Counterfeits Project page on Tal Brooke
- "Indian-born nun to succeed Mother Teresa" at cnn.com
- Barret, David, cited in Duin, Julia. "Daring Leaps of Faith". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2006-08-13..
- , (Video) for english translation, see ,
- "Үтәмешгәрәй". Tatar Encyclopaedia (in Tatar). Kazan: The Republic of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences. Institution of the Tatar Encyclopaedia. 2002.
- Friedman, Lisa. "Ex-Muslim calls on her people to reject hatred", Los Angeles Daily News, 5 June 2005. (reproduced)
- I Love Jeddah in the Springtime Time magazine
- Qadry Ismail's bio on TheGoal.com
- Article on Raghib Ismail: Rocket shows strong path
- Carlos Menem- Biography
- http://www.haber7.com/haber.php?haber_id=191607&comments=allce
- ^ Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. "The Penguin Dictionary of Saints", 3rd edition. New York:Penguin Group, 1995. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.
- Daveed Gartenstein-Ross biography on his website
- BBC- Benin's 'magical' leader
- The Indian Mutiny and the British Imagination by Gautam Chakravarty · Cambridge, 242 pp ISBN 0521832748
- "He saved me - The story of Hussain Andaryas from Afghanistan". Retrieved 2006-08-17.
- http://english.aljazeera.net/news/archive/archive?ArchiveId=21687
- Article about Kusturica's religion on pionirovglasnik.com
- News of Kusturica's baptism on passagen.se
- Pressly, Linda (November 15 2006). "Life as a secret Christian convert". BBC News.
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- Malika Oufkir: the American Making of a Moroccan Star
- Ruffa Gutierrez reaffirms her Christian faith
- ^ Holweck, F. G. "A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints". St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
- Alexander's Apostasy: First Steps to Jerusalem. by Brian Taylor, from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain
- "Alphonsi, Petrus." Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906
- "Baena, Juan Alfonso De." Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906
- ^ Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906
- Gregorovius, Ferdinand. Rome in the Middle Ages Vol. IV Part 1. 1905.
- Hamy, Bulletin de Géographie, 1891, pp. 218-222.
- Robert Blake, Disraeli, 3. Norman Gash, reviewing Blake's work, argued that Benjamin's claim to Spanish ancestry could not be entirely dismissed. Norman Gash, review of Disraeli, by Robert Blake. The English Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 327. (Apr., 1968), 360-364.
- Brian Dutton, Joaquín González Cuenca (editors), Cancionero de Juan Alfonso de Baena (Madrid: Visor Libros, 1993), 534-544.
- Arthur Mandel: The Militant Messiah: The Story of Jacob Frank and the Frankists: Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press: 1979: ISBN 0-391-00973-7.
- Friedberg, Heinrich, von) Jewish Encyclopedia
- Online bio - http://www.ariel.org/bioagf.htm
- Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Gans, Eduard.
- Kristó Gyula – Makk Ferenc: Az Árpád-ház uralkodói (I.P.C., 1996, ISBN 963-7930-97-3).
- Carvajal, Mario. Vida y pasión de Jorge Isaacs. Manizales, 1937.
- Duncan Kelly, "Revisiting the Rights of Man: Georg Jellinek on Rights and the State". Law and History Review vol. 22, no. 3 (Fall 2004).
- A Brief Biography of Paul S.L. Johnson from the Present Truth Library, which catalogues the works of Paul S.L. Johnson.
- http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=87&letter=K Kanitz, Felix Philipp] Jewish Encyclopedia, Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906.
- Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Lehrs, Karl.
- Adler, Jacob, A Life on the Stage: A Memoir, translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, ISBN 0-679-41351-0. p. 200.
- Duquin, Lorene Hanley, A Century of Catholic Converts, Our Sunday Visitor: Huntington, Indiana, 2003, pp. 114-116.
- http://bpsports.net/bpsports.asp?ID=5477
- Online Bio at http://www.jewsforjesus.org/about/headquarters/moishe
- Moffett, Samuel Hugh, History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. 2: 1500-1900, Orbis Books: Maryknoll, New York, 2005, pg. 476.
- Garcia, Laura. “Edith Stein — Convert, Nun, Martyr.” Crisis 15, no. 6 (June 1997): 32-35
- http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/yulee.html
- ;
- God's Invisible Hand: The Life and Work of Francis Cardinal Arinze, an Interview with Gerard O'Connell, pp. 12–21 (Ignatius Press, 2006) ISBN 978-1-58617-135-3
- http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc8p.htm
- D.H. Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford 1978). ISBN 0-19-282038-9.
- ,
- ,
- http://www.lituanus.org/1987/87_4_04.htm
- [http://www.carleton.ca/gallery/Creature/Bios.html}
- Green, John Richard. "A short history of the English people".
- Allen, Grant. "Anglo-Saxon Britain".,
- ,
- ,
- Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book III, chapter 7.
- Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades: Revisited, Clinton Heylin, pgs. 491-520; Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, Howard Sounes, pgs. 324-326, 356; The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd edition), Nigel Williamson, pgs. 112-113; Jewsweek: Bob Dylan's Unshakeable Monotheism -- Part III: The 1980s; Encyclopedia Britannica: Bob Dylan; Bob Dylan Finds His Source, from Christianity Today, Noel Paul Stookey, January 4, 1980; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
- Bob Dylan: Tangled Up In Jews
- Biography.com: Larry Flynt
- Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail: Maharajah Duleep Singh.