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Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome Paperback – October 30, 2007

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Rodney Stark (Author)
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4.2 out of 5 stars 30 customer reviews
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  • Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: HarperOne; Reprint edition (October 30, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0061349887
  • ISBN-13: 978-0061349881
  • Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #351,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA Thorough Statistical Analysis of the Rise of Christianity
By George R Dekle on June 12, 2007
Format: Hardcover
A lot of historical scholarship consists of perceiving historical phenomena and then working out plausible explanations for the phenomena. Such explanations are largely untested, but they often become accepted as "historical truth" when they are little more than "just so stories." The example from the final chapter of Schlesinger's "huge upswell" of popular democracy during the era of Andrew Jackson is a case in point. Going back and counting the votes from previous elections shows that the voter turnout in the Jackson era was actually lower than many previous elections.

It is all well and good to devise hypotheses to explain historical events, but they should not be accepted as truth unless they can be tested. Stark undertakes to test a number of historical hypotheses relating to the rise of early Christianity, and does so through statistical analysis. This entails a lot of spadework, but the results are worthwhile.

A lot of Stark's findings validate many of the hypotheses of previous scholarship, and this should lead to no controversy. A lot of his findings invalidate the hypotheses of "cutting edge" Biblical scholarship, and this should mean that Stark's book won't be profiled on prime time television.

Some of Stark's more interesting findings are: (1) Orthodox Christianity, not "Gnosticism" or some other "Lost Christianity" was the original form of the religion. (2) "Gnosticism" was a loopy, lunatic fringe blend of paganism and Christianity. (3) Orthodox Christians did not persecute paganism into oblivion. (4) Pentecost most likely did not result in 3,000 newly baptized Christians, but simply 3,000 wet Jews and pagans. (5) Paul did not invent Christianity and actually had very little to do with the spread of Christianity throughout the Empire.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsGood on Paganism but Weak on Judaism and Paul
By Daniel C. Harlow on March 2, 2009
Format: Paperback
Rodney Stark, a sociologist who in the 1990s began applying the tools of his craft to the study of early Christianity, is always worth reading. Cities of God is an interesting, provocative, and often illuminating study of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. It applies the methods of quantitative analysis to the geography, urbanism, and other aspects of the Christian movement and its major forerunners and competitors. Most of Stark's conclusions are neither new nor radical, but they are significant because they are supported by modes of analysis not typically employed by biblical scholars or historians of antiquity.

Among Stark's CONVINCING CONCLUSIONS:

(1) Christianity spread not through mass conversions but through the example and witness of rank-and-file believers who traveled for commercial and other reasons. (2) Sea travel was more important than Roman roads in facilitating the spread of Christianity and other eastern religions. (3) Christianity found especially fertile soil in large cities--especially port cities and Hellenized cities. (5) Cybele and Isis worship were important stepping stones--ritual, emotional, and intellectual--for many pagans who came to embrace Christianity. (5) Gnosticism (a dubious category) and Demiurgical religions were neither offshoots of Judaism nor early and widespread forms of Christianity but amalgams of paganism and Greek philosophy (especially Platonism) that had little appeal to most Greco-Romans, whether Christian or pagan. (6) Mithraism was never a serious competitor to Christianity but a male-dominated army cult with little appeal to the masses. (7) Constantine was not responsible for the triumph of Christianity. (8) It was the emperor Julian (the "Apostate") who exacerbated tensions between pagans and Christians.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsIs Rodney Stark the most enjoyable writer of early Christianity?
By Jeri VINE VOICE on February 13, 2007
Format: Hardcover
There are a great many famous biblical scholars, but most of them write narrow, even crabbed, books on narrow, crabbed subjects.

Which is why Rodney Stark is such a breath of fresh air. He ask the big questions, then hunts down the answers using sociology and statistics, not the usual tools of the biblical scholar. In book after book, he wrote en about early Christianity in ways that challenge old stereotypes, and did it in his typically brisk, clear style.

Within the first few pages in "Cities of God" he argues that, "Only monotheism can generate the level of commitment to mobilize the rank and file in missionizing activities" (p 13). And he cites the studies showing how conversion takes place.

Against the usual argument that the power of Christianity came from its promises of eternal life, Start says that the faith spread because of the way it could "provide an antidote to life's miseries here and now. The truly revolutionary aspect of Christianity lay in moral imperatives" (p 30). A breathtaking statement.

Stark also overturns all the usual liberal dogmas about how Gnosticism represents a more authentic Christianity. As Stark tartly notes, Gnostic manuscripts to not denote social movements. On the contrary. "Gnostic writers are known to have gathered only small schools of devotees" (p 143). They were not an alternative Christianity. They were paganism's attempt to paganize Christianity.

This is a well written and well argued book that deserves a wide audience.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsAnother great book by Rodney Stark

Another great book by Rodney Stark. The only thing I'd say is that if you're debating about which one to get, I'd choose The Triumph of Christianity, which covers even more church... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Marcia Yiapan
4.0 out of 5 starsAn informative read

4 stars for the quantity of research conducted by the author. However, some of his assumptions seem questionable and the book is rather rather "academic" (3 stars). Read more

Published 8 months ago by bps
5.0 out of 5 starsAll of them were in good shape and arrived on time

All of them were in good shape and arrived on time. The Ancient city of Rome was a little bit more used than I expected, but it did not cost much at all. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Mary J. Roth
4.0 out of 5 starsgood summary of how Christianity spread to the cities

Rodney Stark shows that by using quantitative methods, it is easy to see how Christianity arrived in many of the coastal areas of the Roman Empire.

Published 12 months ago by Dr. Marc Axelrod
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Amazing discussion and resource!

Published 20 months ago by TARIKU GEBRE
4.0 out of 5 starsInteresting Background for Discussion

Bought this for a seminary cruise/class. It was not as readable as some but gave information leading to good discussion

Published 22 months ago by Dizzyliz
5.0 out of 5 starsPuts the faith in context

Had no idea how much this book would change the way I experienced my faith. Everyone who observes some form of Christianity--especially Catholics--should read this book. Read more

Published 23 months ago by MER
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat Background

This book is a great piece on church history. Rodney Starr, the author did a great job of explaining how the faith expanded. He uses statistics to accent his points. Read more

Published on November 10, 2013 by Thomas M. Magee
5.0 out of 5 starsSomebody Finally Does It

We don't talk about God and History; we don't look at the church sociologically. Thank God for Rodney Stark! He gives the stats to an otherwise mythologized story.

Published on May 10, 2013 by Jeff Thomas
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat reseach

It is so refreshing to read a book that draws its conclusion about Christianity's expansion into the Mediterranean cities with lots of qualititative research instead of... Read more

Published on April 3, 2013 by Paul Sunde

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