The triumph of Christianity : how the Jesus movement became the world's largest religion / Rodney Stark.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stark, Rodney.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church history.

Physical Description:

506 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : HarperOne, [2011]

Summary:

"Religious historian and sociologist Rodney Stark has spent his career engaging with that very question. Indeed, after thirty highly regarded books on the matter, he has created a true master course in Christian history. Now, for the first time, he distills his research to just the most important and interesting episodes--the seminal moments in the story that, he now believes, demand new perspectives. Stark gets right to the events of greatest interest, often turning them on their heads: He argues that Constantine's conversion did the Church a great deal of harm, for example, and that the majority of converts to early Christianity were women. And he asks the questions at the heart of the human story: What role did Jesus's family play in the early Church? How was Christianity's rise influenced by the misery of daily life in Greco-Roman cities? What role did vigorous competition play in the success, and failure, of churches in colonial America? Finally, having brought readers to the present day, Stark makes a compelling case that the popular notion that religion must disappear to make room for modernity is amply disproved by the sociological evidence. No one is better equipped than Rodney Stark to get to the heart of the story that has shaped two millennia's worth of history. For scholars and armchair historians alike, The Triumph of Christianity is a brisk and thought-provoking journey through events we think we know--and need to reconsider"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

The religious context

Many Judaisms

Jesus and the Jesus movement

Missionizing the Jews and the Gentiles

Christianity and privilege

Misery and mercy

Appeals to women

Persecution and commitment

Assessing Christian growth

Constantine's very mixed blessings

The demise of paganism

Islam and the destruction of Eastern and North African Christianity

Europe responds : the case for the Crusades

The "Dark Ages" and other mythical eras

The people's religion

Faith and the scientific "Revolution"

Two "churches" and the challenge of heresy

Luther's reformation

The shocking truth about the Spanish Inquisition

Pluralism and American piety

Secularization : facts and fantasies

Globalization

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780062007681

0062007688

OCLC:

703206384