Abstract
This paper addresses the combination of theology and humanism by reflecting on Christian identity. Beginning with Paul Ricoeur's theory of fiction as a laboratory of 'imaginative variations' on the possibilities of ethical selfhood, I ask: if the world projected by the Christian scriptures overturns human possibilities, what happens to the Christian self's ethical responsibility? I analyse the motion pictures Fight Club, Memento, and The Matrix to interpret extreme cases or 'unimaginable variations' on the theme of conversion among broken, fragmented, and manipulated selves. I argue that The Matrix presents a form of conversion most conducive to fulfilling ethical responsibility.