Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark (July 8, 1934 – July 21, 2022) was an American sociologist of religion who was a longtime professor of sociology and of comparative religion at the University of Washington. At the time of his death he was the Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University, co-director of the university's Institute for Studies of Religion, and founding editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. Quotes Early Christianity was primarily an urban movement. The original meaning of the word pagan (paganus) was "rural person," or more colloquially "country hick." It came to have religious meaning because after Christianity had triumphed in the cities, most of the rural people remained unconverted. “Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome”, HarperCollins, (Oct 31, 2006), p.2 Contempt is not a scholarly virtue. "Revelation, Cultural Evolution, and Discovering God" (2007), quoted in Sociology of Religion: A Rodney Stark Reader (2014), p. 503. External links Category:1934 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Academics from the United States Category:Historians from the United States Category:Sociologists from the United States Category:Non-fiction authors from the United States Category:People from North Dakota