Preview

Star Stark On The Rise Of Christianity

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
547 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Star Stark On The Rise Of Christianity
Stark argues that, contrary to popular belief, Christianity was a movement not of the lower classes and the oppressed, but of the upper and middle classes in the cities and of Hellenized Jews. Stark also discusses the exponential nature of the growth of religion, and why therefore the speed of the rise of Christianity is not as miraculous as might thought to be. He argues that, contrary to commonly-held belief, the Christian mission to Judaism was successful, and outlasted both the destruction of Jerusalem and the Bar Kochba rebellion; that two hardly-noted plagues in 165 and 251 A.D. were keystones in Christian growth and that the conversion of women to Christianity was likewise a major factor in the hold that the disciples of Christ took into the solid rock face of the pagan Roman Empire. …show more content…
Who then seized the opportunity for a citizenship that their new emancipation caused. Hundreds of thousands of European Jews became socially marginal which would cause a large marginal to convert to Christianity. Since there were such large numbers that converted within city limits, if the Diaspora Jews had found out more and known about this new opportunity there would have been a larger number convert to Christianity than there was.
Stark points to a number of advantages that Christianity had over paganism, to explain its growth: Christians were more likely to survive in times of plague, due to their care of the sick; Christian populations grew faster, due to the prohibition of abortion, infanticide and birth control; in Christianity women outnumbered men, while in Paganism men outnumbered women, leading to a high rate of secondary conversion. Stark's basic thesis is that ultimately Christianity triumphed over Paganism because it offered its followers an enhanced and at times longer

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    12. What did these events in Europe convince the Jews to work towards? What is the name of the movement to achieve that goal? Who was the leader of that movement? What was the end result of the efforts of that movement?…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    agricultural workers who received some protections, including the administration of justice, from the landlords; in…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Angela Shanahan Analysis

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In an op-ed written for The Australian, Shanahan explains that the Christians who have fled the Middle East are not just victims of war, but also of “targeted persecution.” She said the world is facing the possible extinction of Christianity from the faith’s cradle because of Islamic fundamentalism.…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Christianity has played a crucial role in world history since the death of Christ. From its humble beginnings along the Sea of Galilee until its solidified spread amongst Western European nations, the religion has had its fair share of conflict. Most notable would be the Crusades. An in depth look at the motivation, conflicts, and outcomes of the Crusades can be perfectly associated with the History of Jerusalem, Siege of Constantinople, and letters from Pope Innocent III. The Crusaders began as a religious mission, originally for the reinstatement of Christian presence in the Holy Land. However, as time waged on and soldiers returned glorified and rich, the intentions of future Crusaders desired wealth, not just the preservation of Roman Catholicism in the Levant. These accounts share the Western perspective directly involved with the Crusades and their missions, illustrating the struggles, as well as the successes of Christianity at that time.…

    • 1605 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    (1) The historical influence of Christianity in the West (Europe and the Americas) and in Africa and Asia…

    • 187 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    People used to believe in god because they think god is selfless and kind, so they think plague was the punishment from god. But they realized that even though they pray more and do more kind things, it didn’t do any good to reduce the death. People lose the faith in God. People started to believe that Christian clergies are greedy, self-centered and filled with a sense of their own importance. The idealized image suffered. (Gottfried, 1985) Since people no longer believe in god after Black Death; the religion revolution is sprouting. People began to relived the rules they obtained from Christians, and exposed their human…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    From 100 CE to 1750 CE the Christian Church constantly repeats history, further transforming itself, into a powerful religion. The split of the Eastern…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Why did Christianity grow so rapidly in the first four centuries AD? How did a tiny unknown movement of a group of people grow to be one of the dominant forces in the Roman Empire? “God’s providence” and “miracles” has been the easiest way to explain such a puzzle. Yet, stopping at such answers deprives us from the opportunity to better understand the complexity of the early Christians growth and takes from us the lessons we can gain from the experience.…

    • 1539 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    in Rome was dealt with in different times. Both exerts show different forms of conversion, a person’s loyalty to their God, and the social punishment that a Christian had to endure during these times.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In modern, evangelical Christianity, the term “rapture” conjures up images of the Christian church being pulled from an earth in turmoil and swept away to Heaven. It is an image that is reminiscent of the “Left Behind” books, a fictional series which depicts a world in which a rapture of all of earth’s Christians has occurred, leaving behind only “sinners” to stare down the end of the world. This view of a “rapture” has become a popular one, and one that remains largely unquestioned by the evangelical Church. This rapture theology is not, however, Biblically founded or supported. In reality, this eschatological perspective is fairly new, and has only been around for about 180 years.…

    • 1572 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Through the years , Christianity was one of the most questioned religion . Although , Christianity became a ruling religion in the European and Western world.Religion became a state of the Roman Empire, and Christianity became an enormous and influential religion nationwide . Some still wonder why and how religion has shaped through centuries, yet it’s clear that it is and was one of the most important events in history. Christianity changed the western world in so many different ways during the Middle ages and adapted now in the global world since The Enlightenment.…

    • 225 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were many competing cults at the time, in particular the mystery religions that vanished with scarcely a trace. What set Christianity apart, was its style. It was the West's first modern religion, coupling a coherent and attractive picture of how the world worked with a commonsensical moral code. Most western religions prior to Christianity and Judaism were narrowly focused ethnic affairs. Christianity offered the following propositions: God is good, God is universal and God wants you to live…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Healing Hospital

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Porterfield, A. (2005, July). Healing in the History of Christianity. Retrieved March 16, 2013, from Oxford University Press: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/HistoryofChristianity/?ci=9780195157185…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dark Ages

    • 289 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Dark Ages was a time when Europe went through plagues, many prosecutions and had been overcome by many wars with hardly any peace interrupting it. With all the negative aspects in the dark ages there were some positive things happening beneath it all. After the Roman Empire fell, that is when darkness took over. Alaric, a Visigoth warrior conquered Rome and used many of the war fairs he learned to take them to use for his own benefit, a “profit making” career for him. The Visigoths were in desperation for control, they relied on starvation and they surrounded the area of Rome and took control of all shipments to the city and supply. All these factors lead to the horrible disparity of Rome. With no longer having an emperor of Rome, everything declined within the area and worsen. The continent was greatly fragmented politically and therefore monks and missionaries that lead the people of the Dark Age to look upon their new emperor Jesus Christ, which established a new type of unity. Soon many Rulers, such as Clovis, converted to Christianity hoping to unite their territory and this lead to Christianity now being a common threat to other territories. Life had become very difficult for the common citizen through these dark ages that Christianity gave them peace, hope and serenity. Over all the madness, a Benedictine monk, Bead, who wrote a five-volume history of England beginning from Julius Caesar, had preserved many historical events, especially many events with Christianity and including scripture. Throughout the Dark Age, many negative situations had taken the best of Europe as a whole but the spread of Christianity had continued to help give hope and faith to the people.…

    • 289 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Because Europeans brought Christianity to Africa, this means that they also brought about the idea of human equality. No man is greater than one another in God’s eyes, so certain people should not be treated like they are worthless. They taught this belief to the converts and also to those who wanted to join the church, but feared they couldn’t because of social…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays