Rodney Stark was an American sociologist of religion, born in 1934, who taught for many years at the University of Washington before becoming Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and co-director of its Institute for Studies of Religion. He wrote more than thirty books and over one hundred forty scholarly articles across subjects including religion, prejudice, crime and ancient Rome, among them The Rise of Christianity (1996). He twice won the Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, for The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation (1985, with William Sims Bainbridge) and for The Churching of America 1776-1990 (1992, with Roger Finke), both examining patterns of religious growth and decline. He died in 2022.
Facts
BirthplaceJamestown, North Dakota, United States 1 Death PlaceWoodway, Texas, United States 1 Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionStark-Bainbridge theory of religion, explaining religious involvement in terms of rewards and compensators 1 Notable WorkThe Rise of Christianity 1 Connections
Associated With
Stark rational choice theory of religion modeled religious participation as a market in which people weigh costs and rewards much like other institutional choices.
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Rodney Stark
Wikidata Q971756, P569 date of birth
1934-07-08
Infobox, birth_date
1934-07-08
Lead, first sentence
July 21, 2022
Infobox, death_date
2022-07-21
Infobox, birth_place
Jamestown, North Dakota, United States
Infobox, death_place
Woodway, Texas, United States
Wikidata Q971756, P27 country of citizenship
United States
Career and research, Stark-Bainbridge theory of religion
aims to explain religious involvement in terms of rewards and compensators
Infobox, notable_works
The Rise of Christianity (1996)
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