Rodney Stark: The Rise Of Christianity

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.
Rodney Stark, professor of sociology and comparative religion at University of Washington, analyzes this puzzle. He "introduces historians and biblical scholars to real social science, including formal rational choice theory, theories of the firm, the role of social networks and interpersonal attachments in conversion, dynamic population models, social epidemiology, and models of religious economies". The result is stimulating, provocative, and revolutionary.
In “The Rise of Christianity”, Rodney Stark identifies several factors that contributed to the spread and acceptance of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire from 0 to approximately
He finds deprivation theory persuasive as long as two different aspects of human want are acknowledged: while desiring rewards that are scarce (like wealth or health), people also desire rewards that are absolutely unavailable (like immortality). This latter desire "explains why the upper classes are religious" and are among those most often drawn to cult movements (pp. 32-37). Stark concludes chapter two of the study by asking the question “what difference does it make whether early Christian¬ity was a movement of the relatively privileged or of the down¬trodden?”He states it matters a great deal because if Christianity was a proletarian movement, it would have been considered dangerous by the Caesar, which would have secured its