The Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark

There were no “Dark Ages,” “Enlightenment,” “Renaissance,” or “Age of Reason.” Reason and progress were outgrowths of Christian theology.The Crusades were not an offensive campaign, but a provoked defensive endeavor, and did not loot, force convert, colonize, or barbarize Muslims.Paganism was not oppressed by Christianity, but rather survived for some time, and ultimately declined due to volitional conversion.It was Christianity that exemplified gender equality by condemned unchastity “in a husband as no less serious a breach of loyalty and trust than unfaithfulness in a wife.”.Christianity condemned infant exposure and abortion, effecting a disproportionate population growth of the religion.The early Christian movement was majority women, even though the general population was majority men.The Christian religion led to far better material outcomes in health than the pagan populace, especially in maternity and during plagues.At the very least some of the content of the Gospels were written down, not just early, but as the words themselves were actually being spoken.Jesus may have been from a wealthy, privileged class, and so would many of the early converts to Christianity.If you’ve been raised with the standard Western history of Christianity, The Triumph of Christianity will require you to rethink everything you ever believed about this faith, and begin the process of rediscovering a more honest history of the Jesus movement.Ī few notable items that Stark argues quite persuasively: My pursuit at getting to the truth of that question–and all that it implies–is what makes Rodney Stark one of my favorite authors. But what if the academic history told about religion is actually itself the myth? Religion is often stereotypically dismissed as myth. The Triumph of Christianity: How The Jesus Movement Became The World’s Largest Religion.

The Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark