{"id":460,"date":"2011-11-28T06:16:35","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T06:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/aliteraryspirit\/?p=460"},"modified":"2011-11-25T20:13:29","modified_gmt":"2011-11-25T20:13:29","slug":"the-triumph-of-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/aliteraryspirit\/2011\/11\/the-triumph-of-christianity.html","title":{"rendered":"The Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Purchase The Triumph of Christianity<\/a> from the Beliefnet Shopping Mall<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion<\/big><\/p>\n


\n<\/big>By Rodney Stark
\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Book Description<\/strong>: More than 40 percent of the people on earth today are Christians, and their number is growing more rapidly than that of any other major faith. In The Triumph of Christianity<\/em>, acclaimed religious and social historian Rodney Stark explains how an obscure Jewish sect became the largest, most thriving religion in the world.<\/p>\n

In Stark’s groundbreaking book The Rise of Christianity<\/em>, he examined the early success of Christianity and how it conquered Rome. Now, in this much-anticipated volume, Stark tells a far more extensive story, beginning with the religious and social situation prior to the birth of Jesus and continuing to the present.<\/p>\n

As it moves through six historical eras, The Triumph of Christianity<\/em> gets right to Christianity’s most pivotal and controversial moments\u2014often turning them on their heads:<\/p>\n

Christmas Eve surveys the religious situation within which Christianity began.<\/p>\n

Christianizing the Empire looks at Jesus’s life and the formative days of the movement he inspired, explaining why Christianity was a reprieve from the miseries of daily life for so many.<\/p>\n

Consolidating Christian Europe argues that Constantine’s conversion did the church a great deal of harm, examines the gradual demise of paganism, and clarifies the motives behind the Crusades.<\/p>\n

Medieval Currents sheds new light on the misleadingly named “Dark Ages” and the essential role that faith played in the scientific revolution.<\/p>\n

Christianity Divided examines two Roman Catholic “Churches”\u2014the Church of Piety and the Church of Power\u2014as they respond to the challenges of heresy, Luther’s Reformation, and the Spanish Inquisition.<\/p>\n

New Worlds and Christian Growth considers the development of religious pluralism in the United States and the continuing vigor of Christianity worldwide, disproving the popular notion that religion must disappear to make room for modernity.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Purchase The Triumph of Christianity from the Beliefnet Shopping Mall. The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion By Rodney Stark Book Description: More than 40 percent of the people on earth today are Christians, and their number is growing more rapidly than that of any other major faith. In…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-spirituality","category-general-spirituality","category-jewish-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark - A Literary Spirit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/aliteraryspirit\/2011\/11\/the-triumph-of-christianity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark - A Literary Spirit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Purchase The Triumph of Christianity from the Beliefnet Shopping Mall. The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion By Rodney Stark Book Description: More than 40 percent of the people on earth today are Christians, and their number is growing more rapidly than that of any other major faith. 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