Abstract EN:

The question examined by this thesis is that of the experience of conversion in the Protestant Evangelical context and its role in the construction of a unique worldview. The study of several Evangelical groups, fruit of the work of Anglo-American missionaries in France, permits us to observe the variety and religious vitality of this transatlantic movement. It also reveals the dynamics by which these groups maintain the plausibility of their beliefs and their collective and individual sense of belonging. The experience of conversion, and of witnessing, is mot important among theses dynamics. Around this central question we privilege three orientations: the understanding of the mindset and religious experience of the North American Evangelical Missionaries, the examination of what is that these missionaries hope to accomplish and the ways in which they and their communities have been received by the French, the exposition of the influence of recent transformations in religious experience of the French on their work. By studying these Evangelical groups we wish to test, in the French context, the hypothesis of Christian Smith which suggests that a religious movement that unites both clear cultural distinction and intense social engagement will be capable of thriving in a pluralistic, modern society. We conclude that the Anglo-Saxon Evangelical missionaries have indeed been able to start communities in France which draw from their reading of the Bible, from their experience of conversion, and from their religious pilgrimage, convictions, perspectives, values and distinctive commitments which distinguish them in a positive and energizing way from their fellow citizens.