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

Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark is an American sociologist of religion. He grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota in a Lutheran family. He spent time in the U.S. Army and worked as a journalist before pursuing graduate studies at The University of California, Berkeley...

, which examines the rise of Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 from a small movement in Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

 and Judea

Judea

Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

 at the time of Jesus, to the majority religion of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 a few centuries later.

Summary

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 Christianity is not as miraculous as might be thought.

Stark points to a number of advantages that Christianity had over paganism

Paganism

Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

 to explain its growth: While others fled cities, Christians stayed in urban areas during plague, ministering and caring for the sick

Beatitudes

In Christianity, the Beatitudes are a set of teachings by Jesus that appear in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The term Beatitude comes from the Latin adjective beatus which means happy, fortunate, or blissful....

; Christian populations grew faster, due to the prohibition of abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, infanticide

Infanticide

Infanticide or infant homicide is the killing of a human infant. Neonaticide, a killing within 24 hours of a baby's birth, is most commonly done by the mother.In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible...

 and birth control

Birth control

Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...

; Christians did not fight against their persecutors by open violence or guerrilla warfare. They willingly went to their martyr

Martyr

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

dom while praying for their captors, which added credibility to their evangelism. Women were valued and allowed to participate in worship leading to a high rate of secondary conversion

Secondary conversion

In the sociology of religion, secondary conversion is the religious conversion of an individual that results from a relationship with another convert, rather than from any particular aspect of the new religion. For example, someone might join a religious group primarily because their spouse or...

, whereas in paganism, men outnumbered women.

Stark's basic thesis is that, ultimately, Christianity triumphed over paganism because it improved the quality of life of its adherents at that time.

In Media

• Not only is this book prominently featured within the storyline of Hidden Empire
  Hidden Empire
  Hidden Empire is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. It is the second book in The Empire duet.-Plot summary:The war of words between right and left collapsed into a shooting war, and raged between the high-technology weapons on each side, devastating cities and overrunning the...
  
  by Orson Scott Card
  Orson Scott Card
  Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
  
  , according to the book's afterward, The Rise of Christianity actually inspired the book's plot.