Reader question:

Please explain “Damascene conversion” in the following passages (The Wisdom of King, John Cassidy, The New Yorker, October 27, 2009):

In a previous post, I mentioned a speech that Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, gave last week, in which he appeared to endorse some of the ideas for breaking up big banks that Soros, Paul Volcker, and others have been putting forward. In the United States, King’s speech hasn’t received the attention it deserves, and I thought I would post some of it. First though, some background.

A former academic, King joined the Bank in 1991 as its chief economist and became chairman in 2003. Until the financial crisis erupted in 2007, he was a strong supporter of financial deregulation and allowing banks to merge as they pleased. During his term as chairman, the British banking industry, which has traditionally been dominated by a handful of giants, became even more of cartel. Now, following massive government bailouts of two of these flawed behemoths—Lloyds-TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland—King has had a Damascene conversion, or so it seems.

My comments:

Damascene conversion refers to a complete change in one’s beliefs. The phrase comes from the Bible, but first, a word about the New Yorker story.

In this story, the author says King is now supporting ideas about breaking up big banks, a stand that represents a far cry from his previous position regarding the running of banks. If I read it correctly, King used to advocate non-interference. Banks being banks, a quintessential part of capitalism, King believed that they are best left to their own devices. Now, he wants investment banks (at least) to be controlled in one form or other so that they become more prudent with OPM – other people’s money.

Alright, let’s get back to “Damascene conversion” the phrase itself. It derives from the story of Saint Paul’s conversion to Christianity. According to legend, Saint Paul was travelling to Damascus to persecute Christians when he was struck down by a blinding light... Soon after, he became himself a follower of Jesus Christ.

And because Saint Paul’s enlightenment, for lack of a better word, occurred on the road to Damascus, people also describe such sudden and total shift in ideas and beliefs as a “road-to-Damascus” experience.

Here are examples.

1. Damascene conversion (Has China had a green ‘Damascene conversion’? Spiked-Online.com, September 23, 2009):

There was something very peculiar about President Hu Jintao of China appearing before the United Nations in New York yesterday to declare his nation’s commitment to cutting its carbon emissions.

Hu is the leader of the most populous and most industrious nation on Earth. He oversees the world’s third largest economy (after the US and Japan) and the world’s largest exporting nation, which produces 60 per cent of the world’s mobile phones, 55 per cent of its DVDs, more than half of its digital cameras, and 75 per cent of its children’s toys. His country has a staggering two trillion dollars in foreign exchange (the largest reserves in the world), and as a result of the industrialization that has taken place over the past 30 years it now has 655 cities (compared with 193 in 1978), a life expectancy of 73.4 years (compared with 36.5 years in 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was established), a population of 1.3 billion (compared with 542 million in 1949), and 20.2 million students in higher education (compared with 117,000 in 1949).

Yet here was Hu speaking to the leaders of some far less productive nations, whose economies have been stagnating for many years and many of whom have become financially reliant on China, on their terms – in the language of lowering carbon emissions, achieving sustainability, and elevating the need to ‘clean up the planet’ over the naked pursuit of economic growth. Hu spoke, not in the language of a political leader of an industrious nation, but in the language of those Western-based international organizations and NGOs that problematize economic growth for having a dirty and allegedly devastating impact on the planet. ‘Global climate change has a profound impact on the survival and development of mankind’, he said. ‘It is a major challenge facing all countries.’

This curious event – which was tellingly welcomed by some greens as evidence of a ‘Damascene conversion’ amongst top Chinese officials to the climate-change cause – was revealing. It demonstrated that China is keen to be accepted into the international fold, and that it recognizes – whether in a calculated or genuinely internalized fashion – that the best way to achieve that is to make a very public pledge to be true and devoted to tackling climate change, the only unifying cause and source of moral purpose amongst Western nations today. And it also revealed that, despite their relative economic weakness, Anglo-American societies’ new green-leaning politics and morality are the dominant forces in the international sphere, to the extent that one of the most powerful nations on Earth – whose economic growth over the past 30 years has lifted 235 million people out of absolute poverty and thus has been responsible for 67 per cent of the recent total reduction in global poverty – feels the need almost to apologize to Western leaders and NGOs for creating a ‘carbon footprint’ in the process of achieving such mammoth things.

2. Road to Damascus (Soundtrack of my life: Bryan Ferry, The Observer, March 18, 2007):

The singer and style icon tells Will Hodgkinson that he listens to only one modern band - and that soul and Cary Grant were as important to him as Dylan.

Hold on I’m comin’, Sam and Dave (1966)

When I was at Newcastle University I hitchhiked down to London to see the Stax Roadshow, which featured Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and Sam and Dave. That was my Road to Damascus moment. They played one hit after another and this is the song I remember most clearly. Black soul music and the art school influence were the two things that I brought to Roxy Music - the pop artist Richard Hamilton, who was one of my tutors, directly inspired our song ‘In Every Dream Home a Heartache’ (from For Your Pleasure, 1973).

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

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