Rodney William Stark (July 8, 1934 — July 21, 2022) was an American

sociologist of religion Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use both of quantitative methods (surveys, ...

who was a longtime professor of sociology and of

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...

at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

. At the time of his death he was the Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of th ...

, co-director of the university's Institute for Studies of Religion, and founding editor of the ''Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion''.Curriculum vitae
Baylor University. Stark had written over 30 books, including ''

The Rise of Christianity ''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 ...

'' (1996), and more than 140 scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as prejudice, crime, suicide, and city life in ancient Rome. He twice won the Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, for ''The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation'' (1985, with

William Sims Bainbridge William Sims Bainbridge (born October 12, 1940) is an American sociologist who currently resides in Virginia. He is co-director of Cyber-Human Systems at the National Science Foundation (NSF).

), and for ''The Churching of America 1776–1990'' (1992, with

Roger Finke Roger Finke is a Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at The Pennsylvania State University and Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives. He is a former president of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. Career Roge ...

Early life and education

Stark was born on July 8, 1934, and grew up in Jamestown,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...

, in a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

family. He spent time in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

, before graduating in journalism from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

in 1959. He worked as a journalist for the ''Oakland Tribune'' from 1959 until 1961, then pursued graduate work, obtaining his MA in sociology from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

, in 1965 and his PhD, also from Berkeley, in 1971. Stark played high school football with another individual who would go on to have a distinguished academic career,

Alvin Plantinga Alvin Carl Plantinga (born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosopher who works primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology (particularly on issues involving epistemic justification), and logic. From 1963 to 198 ...

, an influential Christian philosopher who taught at Calvin College and Notre Dame.

Career and research

Positions held

After completing his PhD, Stark held appointments as a research sociologist at the Survey Research Center and at the Center for the Study of Law and Society. After teaching as Professor of Sociology and of Comparative Religion at the

for 32 years, Stark moved to Baylor University in 2004, where he was co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion. He was an advocate of the application of the

rational choice theory Rational choice theory refers to a set of guidelines that help understand economic and social behaviour. The theory originated in the eighteenth century and can be traced back to political economist and philosopher, Adam Smith. The theory postula ...

in the

sociology of religion Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use both of quantitative methods (surveys, ...

, which he called the theory of religious economy.

Stark–Bainbridge theory of religion

During the late 1970s and 1980s, Stark worked with

on the Stark–Bainbridge theory of religion,André Nauta
"Stark, Rodney"
''Encyclopedia of Religion and Society'', 1998. and co-wrote the books ''The Future of Religion'' (1985) and ''A Theory of Religion'' (1987) with Bainbridge. Nowadays their theory, which aims to explain religious involvement in terms of rewards and compensators, is seen as a precursor of the more explicit recourse to economic principles in the study of religion as later developed by Laurence Iannaccone and others.

Criticism of secularization theories

Stark was one of the most vocal critics of theories of

secularization In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses ...

. In 1999, he published an article entitled “Secularization, R.I.P.” that became both famous and controversial. He expanded his theory in subsequent works, claiming that statistical data does not support the theory of a decline of religion in modern societies. Although it is true that the forms and practices of religion change, the idea of a decline called “secularization,” Stark argued, derives from faulty quantitative analysis and ideological preconceptions.

On the growth of Christianity

Stark proposed in ''

'' that

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

grew through gradual individual conversions via

social networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...

of family, friends and colleagues. His main contribution, by comparing documented evidence of Christianity's spread in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

with the history of the LDS church in the 19th and 20th centuries, was to illustrate that a sustained and continuous growth could lead to huge growth within 200 years. This use of

exponential growth Exponential growth is a process that increases quantity over time. It occurs when the instantaneous rate of change (that is, the derivative) of a quantity with respect to time is proportional to the quantity itself. Described as a function, a ...

as a driver to explain the growth of the church without the need for mass conversions (deemed necessary by historians until then) is now widely accepted. Stark suggested that Christianity grew because it treated women better than

pagan religions Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

. He also suggested that making Christianity the state religion of the

weakened the faithfulness of the Christian community by bringing in people who did not really believe or had a weaker belief. This is consistent with Stark's published observations of contemporary religious movements, where once-successful faith movements gradually decline in fervor due to the

free rider problem In the social sciences, the free-rider problem is a type of market failure that occurs when those who benefit from resources, public goods (such as public roads or public library), or services of a communal nature do not pay for them or under- ...

Criticism of anti-Catholicism

While not a Roman Catholic himself, Stark believed that

anti-Catholicism Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

is still a dominant force in the American media and the academia. Particularly in his book ''Bearing False Witness'' (2016), he argued that an anti-Catholic prejudice has poisoned the historical debate on the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

, the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

and the relations of

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

with

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

, creating an "anti-Catholic history" that is at odds with contemporary academic research, yet is still taught in schools and promoted by mainline media.

On the theory of evolution

In 2004 ''The American Enterprise'', an online publication of the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

, published an article by Stark, "Facts, Fable and Darwin", critical of the stifling of debate on

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

. Stark criticized the "Darwinian Crusade" and their "tactic of claiming that the only choice is between Darwin and Bible literalism." Though not a creationist himself, he believed that though "the theory of evolution is regarded as the invincible challenge to all religious claims, it is taken for granted among the leading biological scientists that the origin of species has yet to be explained." He suggested that governments "lift the requirement that high school texts enshrine Darwin's failed attempt as an eternal truth."Rodney Stark
"Fact, Fable, and Darwin"
''The American Enterprise'', September 2004.

Personal religious faith

In their 1987 book ''A Theory of Religion'', Stark and Bainbridge describe themselves as "personally incapable of religious faith". While reluctant to discuss his own religious views, he stated in a 2004 interview that he was not a man of faith, but also not an atheist. In a 2007 interview, after accepting an appointment at

, Stark indicated that his self-understanding had changed and that he could now be described as an "independent Christian." In this interview Stark recollects that he has "always been a 'cultural' Christian" understood by him as having "been strongly committed to Western Civilization." Of his previous positions he wrote: "I was never an atheist, but I probably could have been best described as an agnostic."

Selected works

Books

* ''Christian Beliefs and Anti-Semitism'' (1966) with Charles Y. Glock * ''American Piety: The Nature of Religious Commitment'' (1968) with Charles Y. Glock * ''The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation'' (1985), with

* ''Sociology'' (1985) an introductory college sociology text that has been through ten editions as of 2007. 10th: (2006) * ''A Theory of Religion'' (1987), with

* ''Religion, Deviance, and Social Control'' (1996), with

* ''The Churching of America 1776-1992: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy'' (1992), with

; 2nd edition under name ''The Churching of America 1776-2005: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy'' (2005) * ''

: A Sociologist Reconsiders History'' (1996) or ''How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries'' (1997) * ''Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion'' (2000), with

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facul ...

* ''One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism'' (2001), * ''For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery''
Description, reviews

contents
(2003), * ''Exploring the Religious Life'' (2004) * ''The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success'' (2005), * '' The Rise of Mormonism'' (2005), * ''Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome'' (2006) * ''Discovering God: A New Look at the Origins of the Great Religions'' or ''The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief'' (2007), * ''God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades'' (2009) * ''The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion'' (2011), * ''America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists'' (2012) * ''How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity'' (2014),

Intercollegiate Studies Institute The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses. It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president. It sponsor ...

, * ''Religious Hostility: A Global Assessment of Hatred and Terror'' (2014), with Katie E. Corcoran * ''A Star in the East: The Rise of Christianity in China'' (2015), with Xiuhua Wang. * ''The Triumph of Faith: Why The World Is More Religious Than Ever'' (2015) * ''Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History'' (2016) * ''Reformation Myths: Five Centuries of Misconceptions and (Some) Misfortunes'' (2017)
''Why God? Explaining Religious Phenomena''
(2018)

Articles

* John Lofland and Rodney Stark. ''Becoming a World-Saver: A Theory of Conversion to a Deviant Perspective'' American Sociological Review of 1965. (an early and influential conversion theory based on field work among

Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...

members)
"A Taxonomy of Religious Experience"
in '' The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'', 1965 * Rodney Stark and

(1979
"Of Churches, Sects, and Cults: Preliminary Concepts for a Theory of Religious Movements"
''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'' 18, no 2: 117-33 * Rodney Stark. "On Theory-Driven Methods." pp. 175–196 in ''The Craft of Religious Studies'', edited by Jon R. Stone. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. * Stark, R., “Fact, Fable and Darwin” in ''One America'', September 2004; Part 1 i

and Part

as printed in ''

Meridian Magazine Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor are the founders of the Latter-day Saint oriented website ''Meridian Magazine''. They have also issued a revised edition of Lucy Mack Smith's history of Joseph Smith which reintroduces material from Lu ...

'', 2005