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The Rise of Mormonism

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In 1984 Rodney Stark predicted that by 2080 the Mormon faith would have no fewer than 64,000,000 adherents and possibly as many as 260,000,000. He was taken to task by many, but so far, over the past twenty years, the Mormons have outstripped his most optimistic predictions. How do they do it? Can they continue to do it? Stark offers some explanations.

He begins by positing that Joseph Smith was neither a liar nor a lunatic, but a man who genuinely believed that he had been given divine revelation. In the chapter "Joseph Smith among the Revelators" Stark compares Smith to Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, and finds a common pattern. All four belonged to close-knit, very supportive families from whom they got their first converts. From that beginning, Stark finds other striking similarities. Stark flatly rejects the "Liar or Lunatic" explanation for religious revelation, arguing that the four religious revelators (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, and Smith) all honestly believed they had been the recipients of divine revelation. He further goes on to argue that the reality of those revelations cannot be disproven by science, and that it is not irrational to believe that any one of them (or all of them) actually received divine revelations.

One Revelator that Stark gave scant attention was Saul of Tarsus aka Paul the Apostle. No one can deny Paul's profound influence on the growth of Christianity, and no one can deny his place among "religious revelators". It is difficult, however, to fit him into Stark's pattern. The best arguments by example and analogy take into account the counter-examples and disanalogies. Stark can be forgiven, however. Although he wrote the chapters of this book, he didn't "write" the book. Somone else "wrote" the book by assembling articles Stark had written over the course of many years.

Stark seeks to discern the general from a study of the particular. By studying the Mormons' success, he discerns a set of principles for religious growth which he argues can be applied to any religion. He finds the current secularism to be, not the deathknell for all religion, but a cultural ferment from which new religions can grow. Referencing his earlier "The Rise of Christianity", he finds parallels between the secularized society of ancient Rome (which gave birth to the meteoric rise of Christianity) and our own modern secularized society.

The book is a challenging, stimulating read on many levels, and addresses more issues than can be covered in a brief review. Any denomination or religous body wishing to grow could learn from the principles Stark develops. Anyone thinking that organized religion is on the brink of collapse might have to rethink that proposition after reading this book.

I like R.Stark, i've read several of his books, they are all very good and extremely insightful. I have a long term interest in Mormonism and when i saw his name on this book i grabbed it off the shelves. He is an excellent writer and a careful and somewhat iconoclastic thinker. The book comes out of a debate that he sparked with a paper on the growth curve of Mormonism. It is a collection of essays, more than a "written from scratch, the beginning to the end" book, and shows some of the weaknesses of being a compilation, but it is not a serious failing.

There are a few take home ideas:
conversion is a social capital event, tied closely to family and social groups.
Mormonism is growing rapidly and there are good reasons for it.
Mormonism is recent enough to have good history to study about it's rise and theology.
People are rational and calculating in their religious thinking, you just have to find the right equations.

Just read the introduction if you are looking to assess reading it. It is sympathetic to Mormons as a social and cultural phenomena, it is generally interested in religion from a secular and scientific viewpoint. It is an insightful and interesting book,was well worth the time to read and think about. It again confirms my idea that i ought to read by authors, just working through their body of work to deeply understand what they are doing. Stark is certainly worth such a concentrated effort.

The Rise of Mormonism is a sociological perspective of the success of the LDS Church, based on research done by Sociologist Rodney Stark and compiled by Reid L. Nelson. The book is well written and easy to understand for those with and without a background in sociology. The chapters are well organized and focus on a particular aspect of Stark's studies of Mormonism, including, but not limited to, LDS growth, revelation, strictness, social networks, and sacrifice. Stark identifies the factors that have lead to the LDS Church's growth and why it continues to be a popular alternitive to traditional Christianity. He analyzes topics that Sociologists are usually uncomfortable exploring and draws conclusions that are soundly based in research. While this book is focused on Mormonism, the topics discussed are vital and applicable for understanding other aspects of the sociology of religion, including the study of other faiths. Because Stark has been able to draw so much out of the study of Mormonism and apply it in other areas of Religious Studies, it has an overall favorable tone towards the LDS Church, written with a degree of awe and respect.

On Stark's assertion about Mormon/LDS Church growth: Mormon Church retention isn't that good. Also, the Salt Lake Tribune on 6/22/06 [...] says the Assemblies of God (AofG) has grown faster & have 50 million-that's only 1 fellowship within Bible based Christianity! See the Salt Lake Tribune>"Keeping members a challenge for LDS church", [...] & their article "The Fastest Growing Church in the World?", [...]- Salt Lake Messenger#106, [...] article "Does the LDS Ch Have 12 Million Members?" My own comparisons from the Mormon Church's official magazine, the LDS Ensign statistics: Converts 1999-2006 from 306,171 to 272,845 & 279,218 in 2007. Mormon missionaries 2001-2006 went from 60,850 to 53,164 & 52,686 in 2007. Mormon missionaries and converts are both not even at the 2001 figure.

Comparison between the LDS Church and the Assemblies of God:

Number of Churches:
AofG: over 283,000 churches
LDS: 27,827

Membership:
AofG: approx. 60 million worldwide
LDS: 13,193,999

Additionally: "As of 2005, the [Assemblies of God] fellowship operated 859 Bible schools, 1,131 extension programs and 39 seminaries outside of the United States." ( 12/15/08 Wiki)

FOUNDED:
AofG: 1914
LDS: 1830

Assemblies of God was founded 184 years *after* the Mormon/LDS Church, but it has grown much more and it is is a church that believes in only one true God in existence (Isaiah 43-47, Deut 6:4, James 2:19), while the Mormon Church teaches that Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct GODS (Ensign 3/2008, p. 68), that God the Father was once a man on another earth who became A God with his goddess wife, "Our Heavenly Mother". That's why they emphasis marriage so much and have temple marriages. It officially teaches that we can, only through the Mormon Church, become literal true Gods and goddesses, as the Mormon Heavenly Father & Heavenly Mother have done (LDS Church General Conference Report 10/1949, p 69, Gospel Principles chapter 47, Doctrine & Covenants 132, LDS Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide for 1985 "Search These Commandments", Lesson 21, etc). It's an essential step in Mormonism to become eventual literal Gods and goddesses, as the Mormon Heavenly Father and 'Heavenly Mother' became A God and goddess. They are collectively called "our heavenly parents", and that we can become "heavenly parents" (as Gods & goddesses) (Gospel Principles, 1997 edition, pp. 11-15, 18-19,23,27, combined with chapter 47.). This is while teaching that they are the only true church of Jesus on earth, the only ones with divine authority, and that before the Mormon Church, there was no true church on earth for over 1,800 years (D&C 1:30, GP chapt 16-17, etc). Contrary to many, every church does NOT believe their organization is the only true church. Evangelicalism holds that all Christians are born again, and part of the body of worldwide Christians and are the true church.
One group founded by born again Christians already have more than the Mormon Church, and the figures projected by Stark are from from reality and far off track.
Sources:
AofG: Wiki (12/15/2008), AofG website, etc above mentioned references.
LDS: The Mormon Church's official website, and the above references.