Lewis Rambo, Lucrecia de Leon, and the Politics of Conversion

Abstract

This article considers the social and political impacts, both intended and unintended, of research in the psychology of religion. The article offers a detailed account of a violent historical encounter between a young woman with unusual dreams (Lucrecia de Leon) and the judicial officials of the Spanish Inquisition that revolved around issues of mental health and functioning that psychologists of religion are actively studying today. This case raises questions about how other works in the psychology of religion, such as Lewis R. Rambo’s book Understanding Religious Conversion, might be applied in different social and political contexts, with both positive and negative possibilities. Raising awareness of these possibilities and collectively thinking through the consequences will give scholars in this field a better chance of diminishing the malign effects and perhaps even preventing them from occurring in the first place.