Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome
by Rodney Stark
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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 show more 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. show lessTags
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Some don't enjoy Stark's books because of his "religious agenda" or a belief that he takes a "tendentious tone; yet, I have a different take on Stark. Simply, he doesn't tow the line so to speak and he speaks directly to and about particular theories or statements made by other historians and sociologists. "Cities'" thesis is that historical inquiries should concentrate more on quantifiable historical data, the analysis of which will yield historical and sociological information. I have a couple of complaints though. My first has more to do with me than his book. Stark conclusions about the rise of Christianity are based on data mined from other sources; I have no idea whether his sources are reliable and accurate. If the data isn't show more reliable and accurate, then the conclusions based on that data are questionable. Secondly, unless I am misunderstanding something, some of the population numbers that Stark uses in this book appear to be different from the ones that he used in his "The Victory of Reason." If I am not misunderstanding something, then I'd like an explanation as to the different figures being used. Has some further clarity developed as to one set of figures being more accurate than the others? Even with these concerns, I still thoroughly enjoyed Cities of God. show less
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.
Amazing account of the rise of Christianity...sociological and historical.
Amazing account of the rise of Christianity...sociological and historical.
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62+ Works 5,376 Members
Rodney Stark is the distinguished professor of the social sciences and codirector of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University and honorary professor of sociology at Peking University in Beijing. He is the author or coauthor of a number of books in seventeen different languages, including the best-selling The Rise of Christianity show more (HarperSanFranrisco, 1997). show less
Classifications
- Genres
- Religion & Spirituality, History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 270.1 — Religion History of Christianity History, geographic treatment, biography of Christianity Apostolic; Nativity to Constantine
- LCC
- BR162.3 .S73 — Philosophy, Psychology and Religion Christianity Christianity History By period Early and medieval
- BISAC
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- 441
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- 69,250
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (4.12)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 4
