CRUSOE'S RELIGIOUS CONVERSION
How sincere and how profound is Crusoe's conversion? Clearly, it is a long time coming, for he resists a succession of Providential warnings and deliverances. Discovering the barley and rice inspires him with religious feeling as long as he believes their growth miraculous; but once he finds the rational explanation for their appearing, he loses faith. Hence a wrathful God threatens him in a dream, he believes. But how are we to understand that dream of God? Is it a hallucination caused by fever? an expression of his terror at being alone which the illness brought out? or, what Crusoe takes it to be, a warning from God? Is Crusoe's warmest, most characteristic emotion, as William H. Halewood suggests, his anxiety for his soul, an anxiety which fully manifests itself in his dream of God?
Once the process of conversion begins, it follows a typical pattern. 
After his dream and the beginning of his regeneration, Defoe reviews his life (89-94) and his understanding and sense of God deepen. But reason alone is not sufficient to result in conversion, and Crusoe turns to the Bible; studying it reveals God's word and will to him, and he finds comfort, guidance, and instruction in it. For the first time in many years he prays, and he prays, not for rescue from the island, but for God's help, "Lord be my help, for I am in great distress" (88). After thinking about his life, he kneels to God for the first time in his life and prays to God to fulfill his promise "that if I called upon Him in the day of toruble, He would deliver me" (91). His next step toward conversion is asking for God's grace, "Jesus, Thou Son of David, Jesus, Thou exalted Prince and Saviour, give me repentance!" (93). He comes to realize that spiritual deliverance from sin is more important than physical deliverance from the island. A little later, when he is about to thank God for bringing him to the island and so saving him, he stops, shocked at himself and the hypocrisy of such a statement. Then he "sincerely gave thanks to God for opening my eyes, by whatever afflicting providences, to see the former condition of my life, and to mourn for my wickedness, and repent" (110). Does this incident indicate that Crusoe's faith is fervent and honest?
Crusoe shares his religion with Friday; is there any greater gift or expression of love than saving the soul of another? Crusoe is able to admit, humbly, that Friday is the better Christian. When he is delivered from the island by the English captain, he acknowledges God's power and Providence and "forgot not to lift up my heart in thankfulness to Heaven; and what heart could forbear to bless Him" (266). His gratitude to God on this occasion contrasts with his merely mouthing thanks to God for being saved from the shipwreck; does the difference in his response reflect an abiding faith in Defoe or does the difference in the circumstances account for the change?
No matter how you interpret his conversion, it is undeniable that Crusoe has lapses into an unregenerate state. After he comes across the single footprint, Crusoe is so terrified that he irrationally considers laying waste to his crops, livestock, and home; finds himself seldom able to pray; and loses his ability to create. When he realizes cannibals visit the island, he is so filled with hatred, rage, and fear that he becomes obsessed with bloodthirsty plans to annihilate them. These responses last for years.
So, is his physical survival more important to Crusoe than his relationship with God? Is it accurate to say that whenever his survival is threatened, his religious practice and sense of God's presence all but disappear? Even his conversion after his dream can be seen as a matter of self-preservation; is he terrified by God's threat into conversion? Do these responses indicate that his religion is a matter of convenience, an expression of fear, or perhaps a means to control his terror? Is Crusoe unknowingly using a relationship with God to substitute for human relationships?
When he dreams of rescuing a cannibal, he unhesitatingly sees the dream as Providence-sent. But when the dream becomes reality, he does not act completely in accordance with it; he does not take Friday into his home immediately. Does this indicate a deficiency in his faith in God, or is his behavior merely prudent and sensible?
It is understandable that the unregenerate Crusoe is willing to pass as a Catholic in Brazil; however, what explains his behavior after his conversion, when he seriously considers returning to Brazil and passing as a Catholic again, in order to regain his estate? True, he finally "began to regret my having professed myself a Papist, and thought it might not be the best religion to die with" (280). But still, his main reason for not going to Brazil is that he doesn't know what to do with the wealth he has accumulated in Portugal. In the conflict between economic motive and spiritual salvation, is the economic drive stronger? And if so, does it dominate only temporarily, sporadically, or consistently?
Do Crusoe's religious lapses necessarily indicate insincerity and a superficial conversion or are there other explanations? For example, is Defoe showing imperfect human nature and the difficulty of maintaining a religious spirit and of living in the light of conversion? Does conversion mean that the sinner becomes a saint and never falters? Or does conversion, rather, give the individual the strength to overcome spiritual obstacles and temptations, not immunity to them? In a fallen, evil world, does the saved sinner still have temptations to overcome, dangers to face, and sorrows to deal with, and is it this reality that Defoe is showing with Crusoe's temporarily falling away from God?
DEFOE'S FAILURE TO JUSTIFY PROVIDENCE
Even if we accept that Defoe's intention is to justify and honor Providence, the question still remains whether he carries out his intention. Leopold Damrosch, Jr. thinks not:
Defoe sets out to dramatize the conversion of the Puritan self, and he ends by celebrating a solitude that exalts autonomy instead of submission. He undertakes to show the dividedness of a sinner, and ends by projecting a hero so massively self-enclosed that almost nothing of his inner life is revealed. He proposes a naturalistic account of real life in a real world, and ends by creating an immortal triumph of wish-fulfillment.
Damrosch does not attribute Defoe's failure to carry out his intention to insincerity; rather it stems in part from a failure in Puritanism, which changed from an ideology which wanted to transform the world (e.g., founding Massachusetts Bay Colony as God's commonwealth on earth) to a social class motivated by self interest.
John Richetti offers a different explanation for what he sees as Defoe's failure. Richetti identifies Crusoe's mastery of himself and nature as the novel's central concern; this concern, he believes, invalidates Crusoe's religious beliefs and experience. Defoe was unable "to allow Crusoe to achieve and enjoy freedom and power without violating the restrictions of a moral and religious ideology which defines the individual as less than autonomous."
Is there an inherent conflict between Crusoe's religion and his economic concerns, one which Defoe may or may not have been aware of? Are diligence in making money and concern about worldly affairs necessarily incompatible with spiritual well-being and a sincere religious faith? Puritans debated these questions in terms of faith versus works, and some found ways to resolve the conflict. Stephen Charnock urged, "Tho we are sure God has decreed the certain event of such a thing, yet we must not encourage our idleness but our diligence." Defoe held similar views:
To be utterly careless of ourselves, and talk of trusting Providence, is a lethargy of the worst nature; for as we are to trust Providence with our estates, but to use, at the same time, all diligence in our callings, so we are to trust Providence with our safety, but with our eyes open to all its necessary cautions, warnings, and instructions. (Serious Reflections during the Life and Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe)
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM
For the Puritans, every happening had a spiritual meaning as well as, usually, a moral meaning. It was their duty to try to decipher these spiritual meanings. One reason for the Puritan practice of keeping a journal or diary was to make a permanent record of events, to be reviewed later for their spiritual meaning and to perceive patterns of meaning. As a sample of this way of looking at the world, I have listed some of the events in Crusoe's life with possible spiritual interpretations. It is up to you to decide whether Defoe and/or Crusoe saw any of them in this way.
