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Review
... fresh, blunt, and highly persuasive account of how the West was won for Jesus --Newsweek
Compelling reading --Library Journal
... sure to generate spirited argument --Publishers Weekly
Compelling reading...highly recommended. --Library Journal
This book raises, simply and brilliantly, just the kinds of questions anyone concerned with early Christianity should ask. --The Christian Century
Compelling reading --Library Journal
... sure to generate spirited argument --Publishers Weekly
Compelling reading...highly recommended. --Library Journal
This book raises, simply and brilliantly, just the kinds of questions anyone concerned with early Christianity should ask. --The Christian Century
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This - fresh, blunt, and highly persuasive account of how the West was won for Jesus - (Newsweek) is now available in paperback. Stark's provocative report challenges conventional wisdom and finds that Christianity's astounding dominance of the Western world arose from its offer of a better, more secure way of life. - Compelling reading - (Library Journal) that is sure to - generate spirited argument - (Publishers Weekly), this account of Christianity's remarkable growth within the Roman Empire is the subject of much fanfare. - Anyone who has puzzled over Christianity's rise to dominance...must read it. - says Yale University's Wayne A. Meeks, for The Rise of Christianity makes a compelling case for startling conclusions. Combining his expertise in social science with historical evidence, and his insight into contemporary religion's appeal, Stark finds that early Christianity attracted the privileged rather than the poor, that most early converts were women or marginalized Jews and ultimately - that Christianity was a success because it proved those who joined it with a more appealing, more assuring, happier, and perhaps longer life - (Andrew M. Greeley, University of Chicago).
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FINALLY, all questions concerning the rise of Christianity are one: How was it done? Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
FINALLY, all questions concerning the rise of Christianity are one: How was it done? Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In 313 AD the Emperors Licinius and Constantine I signed the Edict of Milan proclaiming religious toleration within the Roman empire.
This act has generally come to be understood by most of us a the de facto historical moment of the 'legalisation of Christianity' and from here its spread across the empire was exponential. Christianity, though,had survived for nearly 300 years up to the edict in a Greco-Roman world full of chaotic, unorganised cities in which dozens of pagan deities were worshipped. It had survived sporadic persecutions and epidemics but still Christianity managed to grow and survive. Why did people convert? Who converted? Where were conversions most concentrated? How did epidemics affect conversion? Why did people choose to be martyrs?
Rodney Stark brings to bear modern methods of religio-sociological research upon the question,'Why was Christianity so successful?'and in doing so opens up to the reader a vivid impression of just how and why people did what they did nearly 2000 years ago.
This act has generally come to be understood by most of us a the de facto historical moment of the 'legalisation of Christianity' and from here its spread across the empire was exponential. Christianity, though,had survived for nearly 300 years up to the edict in a Greco-Roman world full of chaotic, unorganised cities in which dozens of pagan deities were worshipped. It had survived sporadic persecutions and epidemics but still Christianity managed to grow and survive. Why did people convert? Who converted? Where were conversions most concentrated? How did epidemics affect conversion? Why did people choose to be martyrs?
Rodney Stark brings to bear modern methods of religio-sociological research upon the question,'Why was Christianity so successful?'and in doing so opens up to the reader a vivid impression of just how and why people did what they did nearly 2000 years ago.
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is so interesting I started to read it again as soon as I had finished it the first time.
Stark paints a vivid picture of the life and times of ordinary Jews, Greeks and Romans in the years following the Crucifixion. His arguments as to how the early Church acheived such impressive and resiliant growth are compelling and they give some insight into how the modern Church might recapture some of this vitality.
Stark is a sociologist straying into historical analysis, and there are some accompanying flaws as a result of this adventure. For example, his description of Antioch as a crowded, chaotic and filthy place to live could equally describe nearly any city up until the modern era. Indeed, Stark himself draws parallels between ancient Antioch and modern Bombay. If Christainity alone (or the related religions of Islam, Judiasm and Mormonism) could address the needs of the urban downtrodden then Hinduism and Buddhism would not have the stronghold in India that they currently possess. The fact that he has to impress his readers that whole families lived in single rooms with their livestock reveals his American (multi-room, livestock-free) upbringing - or that of the undergraduates he has to teach.
However, this is a minor flaw in an otherwise fascinating, easy to read book.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If one wants to understand the rise of Christianity this book does a masterful job of explicating this as a process without belittling the religion as a religion. If one wants to understand the process of doing good social science this book is also very useful. Stark makes skillful use of a number of methods but never loses sight of his problem. By contrast, far too much of the research I read either lacks any methodological sophistication at all or is so focused on the technique that it loses the point in the mess of details. I would like to use this book in a methodology of the social sciences class as an illustration of what is possible given some fairly simple methods that are taught to most first year graduate students (or even undergraduates), but, most of all--and hardest of all--intense clarity of thought and careful reflection on the problem at hand.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A sociologist's fascinating perspective on the rise of the Jesus...
This is a really interesting sociological perspective on how Christianity became so successful from such unpromising beginnings in the Roman Empire. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Jeremy Bevan
A stunning, science-based portrait of early Christianity
Accused of superstitious atheism, and persecuted to the death, early Christians overcame all challenges to overwhelm the pagan world with superior morality and ethical behavour. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 1999
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