+ Christian Book Reviews +

Book Review: Rethinking the Conventional Wisdom

February 24th, 2008 at 04:58pm Albert McIlhenny

The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries – Rodney Stark HarperOne (June 1997) Topic: Church History; Patristic Christianity; Christian Culture Summary: Sociological investigation on the rise of the Church in the Roman Empire Rating:

Since the nineteenth century, we have seen the early Church examined from the standpoint of theology, politics, psychology, and almost every other academic discipline of the humanities and the social sciences. Often, these examinations tell us more about the examiner than the examined as preconceived notions from anti-religious biases prevalent in academia since the nineteenth century hold sway and the result is skewed by generalizations that are not supported by hard facts.

Rodney Stark’s The Rise of Christianity is a welcome exception to this unfortunate rule. Taking his cue from sociological research, Stark uses applies generally accepted criteria to the phenomena of the early Church and follows the trail where it may lead. When the result is not what is expected, he further examines source material and exposes weaknesses in the prevailing assumptions. Although the results may seem iconoclastic to some, in reality there is a restoration of much of the historical view with the only icons smashed those of post-enlightenment assumptions concerning the early Church’s motives.

Stark begins with a primarily methodological chapter in an attempt to gauge the relative strength of the Church in its first few centuries. Through trial and error he finds a probable average growth rate for the Church and points out that this would imply a tiny minority in the early centuries that would explode due to exponential growth. However, there was still the question as to how so many would be added to sustain such an astounding growth rate. That is, why did so many in the Roman Empire find this new faith so appealing?

In getting to the truth, a number of commonly held assumptions needed to be held up to scutiny. The first to be critiqued is the belief, popularized by many social scientists and commonly embraced by backers of liberation theology, that Christiantity represented a form of proletarian revolt against Roman oppression. Not only does the documented evidence not support this, but Stark points out that religious movements that cut against the conventional social structure have been shown to be disproportionately represented by the educated members of the upper and middle classes. This, in fact, coincides well with descriptions of the Church at the time and thus attempts to explain the rise of Christianity in revolutionary terms is wholely misguided.

The author then turns to his more controversial theme. It is a common belief in all sectors of the Church that the Jewish mission was a failure and became dormant early in the Church’s history leading to immediate gentile dominance of its direction. Stark contends that Jewish entry into the Church would continue for centuries and gives evidence – both explicit and implicit – to support his thesis. While he may not be completely on base here, his presentation sufficiently demonstrates the conventional wisdom to be oversimplistic and that varying levels of Christian-Jewish interaction would continue until the Church became sactioned by the Roman Empire.

Next Stark turns to a key element in unraveling the mystery of the Church’s infiltration of the Roman Empire’s social structure: the spread of disease. Waves of epidemics such as smallpox and measles first hit the empire and the lack of any prior exposure led to a sizable loss of life. While wealthy pagans (including priests and physicians) fled the major cities, Christians placed themselves in jeapordy by tending to the sick and giving the dead a proper burial. Their willingness to sacrifice even their lives for others impressed the population including many who rejected their faith.

Part of the reason for this is that they had an explanation for the calamities befalling the population and a hope for the next life that made the sufferings of this one largely irrelevant. Their steadfastness in the face of danger played a key role in both turning around public sentiment and instilling a sense of urgency among the leaders of the established pagan religions.

Another fact that flies in the face of many modern assumptions is that Christianity offered a higher standing for women. Although the ecclesial structure might seem patriarchal, the place granted women was far advanced fromt the standards maintained by paganism. Ironically, the improvement in the status for women was given by the beliefs for which Christianity is most often criticized: those involving sexuality. Roman practice placed matters of life and death in the hands of the husband and they could force their wives to have abortions and commit infanticide (usually with baby girls) with impunity. The common practices of adultery and homosexuality by males also contributed to seeing their wives as barriers to their own fulfillment. Christianity’s condemnation of these practices elevated the relative status of women in Christian households in comparison to those of pagans. It also ensured that demographics would be on the Christians’ side as they produced more children and a large percentage of the available women to marry.

All the above factors, Stark emphasizes, combined to bring about a disproportionate percentage of Christian populations in many important cities that would reinforce the impression of Christianity as a religion on the move. Furthermore, the poor living conditions in many cities gave opportunity for Christians to further impress the population with their charity and goodwill. Undoubtedly some of the benefactors of this would themselves be inclined to support the new faith.

Yet not all was merely about a safety net for the population. Their charity was motivated by their love of God and their desire to imitate Christ – even in the face of persecution. The cult of martyrdom was not some maschistic exercise but a rational choice to sacrifice one’s life in this fallen world to better prepare oneself for bliss in the world to come. It could also be pointed out that those who cannot understand why someone would die for heaven in the past cannot grasp why others would kill for heaven in the present.

Stark then notes coalesces his conlcusions into a framwork that explains the rise of Christiantiy as a reflection both of the new faith’s strengths in the face of societal crisis and the weakness of paganism in the same situation. It was not merely a matter of changing one set of deities for a new deity but the recognition of things in Christianity that had no analagous substance eleswhere. It was a pagan society coming to grips the moral superiority of the Christian faith.

While some of the theses presented in The Rise of Christianity will need to be explored more in depth, Stark has given us a glimpse into a probable framwork for understanding how the new faith could spread so rapidly in a seemingly hostile environment. More importantly, in challenges numerous myths that arose from post-Enlightenment scholarship that have been accepted without any supporting evidence. This is an important work that examines the early Church from an entirely different perspective than that normally used by Church historians and is must reading for those with an interest in the early develpment of Christianity.

Entry Filed under: Christian Culture, Church History, Essential Books, Patristic Christianity, Stark, Rodney