The bibliography for The Triumph of Christianity, from which he draws footnotes, runs in excess of 800 entries! The scope of Mr, Stark's scholarship is vast. Stark gives other examples of how high-commitment religions will grow and low-commitment religions stagnate or decline. They proselytized for their faith and demonstrated mercy in good works-helping victims of fires and earthquakes, where pagans often would flee. One key to early Christian success was personal commitment to "witness" in the world. He notes this is similar to figures for such contemporary religions as the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons. Using the sociologist's toolkit, he argues, with an estimated 1,000 adherents in the year 40, Christianity grew at a rate of 3.4% through 350 A.D., a growth curve that fits Christian epigraph analyses in Rome and Egypt. Stark's research, however, shows more complex growth. He made Christianity legal and personally converted. The question that brought me to The Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark was, How did Christianity go from being an obscure Jewish sect led by a preacher with an apocalyptic message to majority religion and backbone of Western civilization? One reason often given is Constantine I. 10:29:17 The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movementīecame the World's Largest Religion, a book review
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