Sharing Your FaithLesson 1:

Introduction andReview of The Rise of Christianity

Overview

June 4: Stark, “The Rise of Christianity”June 11: Singing Night (Camp)June 18: Ridgell, “Can I Tell You a Story?”June 25: Shank, “Muscle and a Shovel” (Lierly?)July 2: Evangelism vs. Drugs, Poverty, and Prison (Hamrick)July 9: North, “Public Information”; “Christian Living”

Overview

July 16: Evangelizing Glenpool (Caldwell)July 23: Vacation Bible SchoolJuly 30: North, “Conversational Evangelism”; “Friendship Evangelism”August 6: Personal Evangelism (TBD)August 13: North, “Ministry Evangelism”August 20: North, “Conversion & Follow-Up”August 27: … Next Quarter …

The “Mystery” of Early Christianity

Romans 16:25-16 “made known to all nations”How was this done?• Consult the book of Acts• Consult other history• Do mathematical modeling

Review

Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997.

Stark’s 40% Growth Rate ModelYear Number Percent

40 AD 1,000 0.001750 AD 1,400 0.0023

100 AD 7,530 0.0126150 AD 40,496 0.07200 AD 217,795 0.36250 AD 1,171,356 1.9300 AD 6,299,832 10.5350 AD 33,882,008 56.5

Who Were Early Converts?

“New religious movements mainly draw their converts from the ranks of the religiously inactive and discontented …”• Sounds very much like the ministry of John

and Jesus, calling the inactive to repent.• Does not sound much like the text of Acts (2:5;

10:1-2; 16:13).

Who Were Early Converts?

“People are more willing to adopt a new religion to the extent that it retains cultural continuity with conventional religion(s) with which they already are familiar.”• Acts 2• Acts 17

Who Were Early Converts?

“Social movements grow much faster when they spread through preexisting social networks.”• The Temple at Pentecost• Synagogues• Places of Prayer (Acts 16:13)• Public Places (Acts 17)

Observations

1. Conversion meant a changed worldview, but not a changed culture.

2. Evangelism made use of existing opportunities.

Epidemics and Conversion

Epidemic in late 2nd century: “so many people died that cities and villages in Italy and in the provinces were abandoned and fell into ruin. Distress and disorganization was so severe that [a Roman military campaign] was postponed. When, in 169, the war was finally resumed … many of the Germanic warriors – men and women – were found dead on the field without wounds, having died from the epidemic.”

Epidemics and Conversion

How did this affect the spread of Christianity?• Christianity made sense of suffering when

paganism did not. Read Stark, p. 79-82.• Christianity cared for the sick and dying while

the pagans ran away. Read Stark, p. 82-83.

The Role of Women

Ancient sources “simply swarm with tales of how women of all ranks were converted in Rome and in the provinces; … they express correctly enough the general truth that Christianity was laid hold of by women in particular, and also that the percentage of Christian women, especially among the upper classes, was larger than that of men.”

The Role of Women

How were women treated in Athens?• Short supply, due to female infanticide• Little or no education• Married at or before puberty• Classified as a child regardless of age• Classified as property in many cases• Males could easily and often divorce wives

The Role of Women

Value of Women in Christianity• Christians valued all life, male and female• Treated as equal value in Christ• Many active women mentioned in Scripture• Widows treated with respect and dignity• Fidelity expected, divorce avoided• Sex trafficking and adultery prohibited

The Martyrs

Christian had a new and unprecedented view of death.• The courage of the martyrs had never been

seen before. Read Stark, p. 163-164.• Read from Ignatius, in Stark, p. 181.• That seemingly rational people could make

this choice shook the Roman worldview to its core.

New Community

“A Christian congregation was from the first a community in a much fuller sense than any corresponding group of [pagan] devotees. Its members were bound together not only by common rites but by a common way of life. … Love of one’s neighbor is not an exclusively Christian virtue, …

New Community

“… but in [this] period Christians appear to have practiced it much more effectively than any other group. The Church provided the essentials of social security. .. But even more important, I suspect, than these material benefits was the sense of belonging which the Christian community could give.”

Final Observations

What Caused the Rise of Christianity?• Thoughtful, Intentional Evangelism• Benevolence and Selfless Love• Elevation of the Oppressed (Women)• Faithfulness Unto Death• New Community/Family

Sharing Your FaithLesson 1:

Review of The Rise of Christianity