προσήλυτος
prosēlytos
Greek
“The Greek word for a newcomer to Judaism became the English word for anyone converted to a new belief—and eventually, for the aggressive act of trying to convert others.”
Greek prosēlytos means "one who has arrived"—from pros ("toward") and elthein ("to come"). In the Septuagint, the 3rd-century BCE Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, prosēlytos translated the Hebrew ger, a foreigner who had come to live among the Israelites and adopted their laws. A proselyte was not born Jewish but had chosen Judaism.
The early Christian church debated fiercely whether gentile converts needed to become Jewish proselytes first—circumcised, observant of dietary laws—before becoming Christian. The Council of Jerusalem, around 50 CE, decided they did not. Paul's letters argue the point repeatedly. The proselyte question was the first great theological controversy of Christianity.
By medieval English, "proselyte" meant any convert to any religion. The verb "proselytize" appeared by the 1670s, and it carried a negative tone from the start. To proselytize was to push your beliefs on others—to seek converts aggressively. The word's meaning had shifted from the convert's perspective (someone who arrives willingly) to the converter's (someone who recruits).
Modern usage almost exclusively refers to the act of proselytizing rather than the person who converts. Laws in several countries restrict proselytism—India's anti-conversion laws, Russia's Yarovaya law of 2016, Bhutan's prohibition on religious persuasion. The Greek word for a willing newcomer has become the legal term for unwanted religious pressure.
Related Words
Today
The proselyte was once the newcomer—someone who walked toward a community and chose to join. Now the word describes the push rather than the pull, the recruiter rather than the recruited.
That reversal says something about how we think about belief. We trust the person who arrives on their own feet. We distrust the hand that beckons too eagerly.
Explore more words