Advocating New Moralities: Conversion to Evangelicalism in Ukraine

Abstract

Narratives of how one became a believer are oft repeated in the course of witnessing. In postsoviet Ukraine the narratives of recent converts to evangelical Protestantism reflect certain patterns in attitudes toward the past. Although there is widespread agreement among scholars that conversion involves 'radical change' and introduces a 'new universe of discourse' there is little consensus about the level on which this change occurs and the specific themes of this discourse (Snow and Machalek, 1984; Yamane, 2000). In the first postsoviet cohort of converts in Ukraine radical change is reflected in a rejection of the past and the notions of morality that characterised it. Conversion provides a platform on which to rupture and discard inherited moralities, memories and relationships .. and a justification for doing so on higher moral grounds. Religion, as a web of ideas, beliefs and behaviours, can also serve as the basis for a new social contract and a new moral code. This article uses conversion narratives to explain the appeal of evangelicalism in a traditionally Orthodox land by analysing the 'cultural conditioning' created by the Soviet experience which has prompted individuals to turn to evangelicalism in order to reconstitute their lives after the fall of the Soviet system. J I argue that conversion narratives reveal a critique of the moral code and social contract created under socialism. Converts advocate a change of inherited moralities via observance of Christian doctrine and membership in the faith-based communities that have been created on the ruins of socialism. This article is based on ethnographic research in evangelical communities in Ukraine conducted from June 2000 to June 2002 and is informed by interviews in Ukrainian or Russian with 63 recent converts to the Baptist faith and 17 recent converts to Pentecostalism.