Highlighting the 'powerful intertwinement of religion, politics, and morality' (to quote the editor) in Islam, this collection will help readers understand and appreciate the complex dimensions of the processes of moving in and out of Islam.
~CHOICE
[A] fascinating collection…Moving In and Out of Islam represents a valuable contribution to the scholarly discourse on contemporary conversion to, and deconversion from, Islam…this volume as a whole invites imitation: what it does for the study of Muslim conversions and deconversion in Europe and the Middle East underscores the need for similar work focusing on moving in and out of Islam in the North American context.
~Journal of Contemporary Religion
The contributors [to Moving In and Out of Islam] provide detailed examples and narratives of people converting from different backgrounds including from and within the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Through the evidence they assemble, the contributors seek to identify the struggles and consequences the converts face in a time of increasing politicization and radicalization of Islam.
~Middle East Journal
[A] timely volume…uniquely powerful in its field...This volume is a useful resource for students, lecturers and researchers interested in religious transformation, Islam and Muslims in Europe, non-religion, and Islamic studies in general. The breadth and depth of the assembled contributions make this a benchmark for studies of (de)conversion and Islam in Europe and beyond.
~Journal of Muslims in Europe
van Nieuwkerk has selected an interesting range of contributors who speak to the varied nature of 'moving in' and 'moving out' processes, which illustrates that these concepts are not fixed in how they are defined, experienced, and discussed in scholarly research...Moreover, the book fills an important gap by including non-belief and moving out of Islam to the academic study of religious transformation processes amongst Muslims. This volume is of relevance to anyone interested in looking beyond the motivations for religious conversion to Islam and gaining a deeper insight into religious change over the course of people's lives.
~Reading Religion
This excellent book is desperately needed to enhance and enrich the studies of how and why some people move into Islam and others move out. It will also be valuable for scholars of Islam and for those laypeople who are interested in or perplexed (or even disconcerted) by the growth of Islam around the world. I hope that journalists, State Department professionals, and others seeking a deeper understanding of the predicaments of various religious and political movements will read it. A fascinating and important contribution.
~Lewis R. Rambo, San Francisco Theological Seminary, author of Understanding Religious Conversion and coeditor of Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion
There is much room for reflection and learning within this engaging text. Van Nieuwkerk is to be commended for collating a comprehensive guide to the subject, and presenting this from so many previously under researched perspectives. This is a valuable contribution to existing literature on adopting and rejecting Islam.
~The Muslim World Book Review
