Books by Rodney Stark

An entertaining and enlightening expose of over-inflated claims about the Reformation and what it has done for us

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).

An entertaining and highly enlightening expose of ten popular misconceptions about the oppressive role of the Catholic Church in history

Winner of the 2008 Christianity Today Award of Merit in Theology/EthicsThe History of God In Discovering God, award-winning sociologist Rodney Stark presents a monumental history of the origins of the great religions from the Stone Age to the Modern Age and wrestles with the central questions of religion and belief.

Stark and Corcoran have assembled remarkable facts and figures with which to assess religious hatred and terrorism around the world. Not content merely to document the extent of religious hatred and terrorism, they also to explain why it occurs and whether it can be overcome. The world is aflame with religious hostility. Thousands of people are dying for their religion, or because of it. Churches are burned, mosques are blow up, and people are machine-gunned while they pray. Hundreds of thousands of Christians are fleeing Muslim nations -- many more would join them if they had anywhere to go. In too many schools the textbook advocate killing the Jews; in too many families, daughters are honour killed on the basis of the flimsiest suspicions. Far too many governments are actively complicit in religious repression and terrorism, while too many others fail to act. Meanwhile, religious hatred flourishes; anti-Semitism, anti-Christianism, anti-Muslimism, as well as anti-Atheism.

Sets out to explain the survival of religion. This book charts the contemporary religion from the traditional denominations to the most fervent cults. It presents information derived from numerous surveys, censuses, historical case studies, and ethnographic field expeditions. It examines religion as a social response to human needs.

The idea that Christianity started as a clandestine movement among the poor is a widely accepted notion. This book addresses beliefs and historical facts, and brings a sociologist's perspective to bear on the puzzle behind the success of early Christianity. It provides insights into why people convert and how new religious groups recruit members.

In this book the authors analyze data from many times and places to explore the subtle interplay between the religiousness of individuals and that of their social context.

How did the preaching of a peasant carpenter from Galilee spark a movement that would grow to include over two billion followers? Who listened to this "good news," and who ignored it? Where did Christianity spread, and how? Based on quantitative data and the latest scholarship, preeminent scholar and journalist Rodney Stark presents new and startling information about the rise of the early church, overturning many prevailing views of how Christianity grew through time to become the largest religion in the world.Drawing on both archaeological and historical evidence, Stark is able to provide hard statistical evidence on the religious life of the Roman Empire to discover the following facts that set conventional history on its head:Contrary to fictions such as The Da Vinci Code and the claims of some prominent scholars, Gnosticism was not a more sophisticated, more authentic form of Christianity, but really an unsuccessful effort to paganize Christianity.Paul was called the apostle to the Gentiles, but mostly he converted Jews.Paganism was not rapidly stamped out by state repression following the vision and conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in 312 AD, but gradually disappeared as people abandoned the temples in response to the superior appeal of Christianity.The "oriental" faiths?such as those devoted to Isis, the Egyptian goddess of love and magic, and to Cybele, the fertility goddess of Asia Minor?actually prepared the way for the rapid spread of Christianity across the Roman Empire.Contrary to generations of historians, the Roman mystery cult of Mithraism posed no challenge to Christianity to become the new faith of the empire? it allowed no female members and attracted only soldiers.By analyzing concrete data, Stark is able to challenge the conventional wisdom about early Christianity offering the clearest picture ever of how this religion grew from its humble beginnings into the faith of more than one-third of the earth's population.

Finally, social scientists have begun to attempt to understand religious behavior rather than to discredit it as irrational, ignorant, or foolish-and Rodney Stark and Roger Finke have played a major role in this new approach. Acknowledging that science cannot assess the supernatural side of religion (and therefore should not claim to do so), Stark and Finke analyze the observable, human side of faith. In clear and engaging prose, the authors combine explicit theorizing with animated discussions as they move from considering the religiousness of individuals to the dynamics of religious groups and then to the religious workings of entire societies as religious groups contend for support. The result is a comprehensive new paradigm for the social-scientific study of religion.

Rodney Stark's provocative new book argues that, whether we like it or not, people acting for the glory of God have formed our modern culture. Continuing his project of identifying the widespread consequences of monotheism, Stark shows that the Christian conception of God resulted--almost inevitably and for the same reasons--in the Protestant Reformation, the rise of modern science, the European witch-hunts, and the Western abolition of slavery. In the process, he explains why Christian and Islamic images of God yielded such different cultural results, leading Christians but not Muslims to foster science, burn "e;witches,"e; and denounce slavery. With his usual clarity and skepticism toward the received wisdom, Stark finds the origins of these disparate phenomena within monotheistic religious organizations. Endemic in such organizations are pressures to maintain religious intensity, which lead to intense conflicts and schisms that have far-reaching social results. Along the way, Stark debunks many commonly accepted ideas. He interprets the sixteenth-century flowering of science not as a sudden revolution that burst religious barriers, but as the normal, gradual, and direct outgrowth of medieval theology. He also shows that the very ideas about God that sustained the rise of science led also to intense witch-hunting by otherwise clear-headed Europeans, including some celebrated scientists. This conception of God likewise yielded the Christian denunciation of slavery as an abomination--and some of the fiercest witch-hunters were devoted participants in successful abolitionist movements on both sides of the Atlantic. For the Glory of God is an engrossing narrative that accounts for the very different histories of the Christian and Muslim worlds. It fundamentally changes our understanding of religion's role in history and the forces behind much of what we point to as secular progress.

Why and how did Jews, Christians, and Muslims missionize, and when and why did their efforts falter? Why did both Christianity and Islam suddenly become less tolerant of Jews late in the eleventh century, prompting outbursts of mass murder? This book examines these questions.