The Rise of Christianity, (subtitled either "A sociologist reconsiders history" or "How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries", depending on the edition) is a book by the sociologist Rodney Stark, which examines the rise of Christianity from a small movement in Galilee and Judaea at the time of Jesus, to the majority religion of the Roman Empire a few centuries later.
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 hence the speed of the rise of Christianity is not as miraculous as might be thought.
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 a better and at times longer life.
Christianity is a group of religious traditions that trace their origins to Jesus Christ, a Jew of the first century C.E., and assert that he is God, the son of God and messiah -- the Lord and sole Saviour of all humanity.
Christianity holds one central idea, claiming that: By faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ individuals are saved from death both spiritual and physical by redeeming them from their sins (i.e.
Relevant books: The Rise of Christianity (book by Rodney Stark)
Christians believe that as Messiah Jesus was anointed as ruler and saviour of both the Jewish people specifically and of humanity in general, and hold that Jesus' coming was the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy and the inauguration of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Western Christianity in the Middle Ages was characterized by cooperation and conflict between the secular rulers and the Church under the Pope, and by the development of scholastic theology and philosophy.
Christian mobs, sometimes with government support, have destroyed pagan temples and oppressed adherents of paganism (such as the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who was murdered by a Christian mob).
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