The Rise of Christianity, Part 1.

An Exploration of Rodney Stark’s book The Rise of Christianity

Introduction

Questions surrounding the rise of Christianity have been continually asked since Pentecost, and rightfully so. For Example, how did as Rodney Stark describes the Christian movement in his book The Rise of Christianity, “a tiny and obscure messianic movement from the edge of the Roman Empire dislodge classical paganism and become the dominate faith of Western civilization?” Stark, who is a social historian, offers a unique perspective regarding Christian movement and methodically moves his argument through various lenses.

Growth in the Early Church

To begin with Stark analyzes the numerical growth of conversions beginning with Acts 1:14-15. Scripture suggests that there were roughly 120 Christians after Christ’s crucifixion but that that number grew rapidly in the next 10 years. The rhetorical nature of accounting in those days means that it is hard to take literal the figures recorded in Scripture and history. Even with this incredible growth Christians still counted as a significant minority in the Roman Empire. Scholars continue to debate the exact Christian census in the early years after Pentecost. Edward Gibbon estimates that Christians made up one twentieth of the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine’s conversion, but later writers reject that number as being far too low.

Regardless of the exact numbers what is clear to historians is that Christianity grew rapidly. Stark dives into the percentages and statistics of Christian expansion but what was more interesting to me was the nature of conversion. What skews the numbers is the phenomenon of miracles and mass conversions. It was widely accepted by the Apostles and Church historians that the public preaching of the gospel resulted in multiple mass conversions. Augustine claimed that “Christianity must have reproduced itself by means of miracles, for the greatest miracle of all would have been the extraordinary extension of the religion apart from any miracles.”

As I considered Stark’s thoughts on the impact of mass conversions it was interesting to note the lack of evidence on the sincerity of those conversions. It is too easy to get caught up in the emotion of the moment or the madness of crowds. In today’s language one might say that people might have of experienced “the fear of missing out” rather than genuine regeneration. Mass conversions are observed in the book of Acts as the exception not the rule. Jesus’ final command to his disciples is to make disciples and this happened primarily one at a time and person to person.

Strong Tie Conversions

Another interesting aspect of conversions proposed by Stark is that “Conversion to new, deviant religious groups occurs, others things being equal, people have or develop stronger attachments to members of the group than they have to nonmembers.” These “strong tie” attachments seem to be the normal means of conversion that most Christians experience. This proposition shines a bright light on the importance of Christian community and hospitality. Stark moves on from the lens of statistical analysis of the rise of Christianity to the social structure and economic factors that informed its growth. Christianity stood out from the surrounding pagan religions in that all classes of people were found in the church.

What percent of each social class constituted the church’s roster is debated but the notion that Christianity was “a movement of oppressed people” is not entirely true. Stark admits that it is unlikely that we’ll ever have firm data on the social demographics of the early church but is confident that through the examination of cult movements we can assume, since so much good data exists regarding cults, that it was the upper classes of society that fueled Christian expansion.

I think it’s entirely plausible to suggest that Christianity had upper class members. Lydia of Thyatira (Acts 16:12-Acts 16:15, Acts 16:40, Phil 1:1-Phil 1:10) is considered to be the first Christian convert and described as a “a dealer in purple cloth. This occupation was lucrative, and Lydia was a financial partner in Paul’s missionary journeys. However, it seems a stretch to closely compare the rise of Christianity alongside the rise of cults. Many cults expanded by means of military or political pressure, whereas Christianity hasn’t significantly relied on the military to pressure people to convert early on (Charlemagne and the Crusades are examples of exceptions) and wasn’t a political player until hundreds of years after the crucifixion. As society placed increasing pressure on the classes and the gap between rich and poor increased it was Christianity that was best suited to mitigate the gaps. The gospel was, and is, for all! The appeal of new religions, the level of education most upper classes people had, and the financial resources to support missions were all factors that Stark cites to support his theory.

As stated earlier the normal cause of conversion was experienced by personal attachments to Christian communities that were stronger than to non-Christian communities. Stark puts it this way, “For the fact is that typically people do not seek faith; they encounter one through their ties to other people who already accept this faith.” Thus religious movements grow because their members continue to develop relationships of trust with those not in the community. The most obvious pathways for Christian growth is through family, friends, and colleagues. Stark supports this perspective through his statistical analysis and historical observation. Networks that are established in stable communities coupled with the “missional nature” of Christianity are part and parcel to its spread.

In Part 2 we’ll explore the shift in values that Christianity introduces to the world, social/geographical issues, martyrs, and a personal application.