Rodney Stark
Although recognized as one of the leading contemporary sociologists of religion, Rodney Stark initially studied journalism at the University of Denver and began his career as a reporter for the Denver Post in 1956. After a brief stint in the U.S. Army, Stark enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and completed his Ph.D in sociology in 1971. From 1971 to 2003, Stark was professor of sociology and comparative religion at the University of Washington. Recently, he accepted an appointment as University Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University. Stark's extensive writing in the field of Christianity, which he has used as a domain to test his work in rational choice theory of religion, culminated in his book, The Rise of Christianity, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1996.
Major Works
A Theory of Religion (1987; co-written with William Sims Bainbridge)
The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (1996)
Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion (2000; CO-written
with Roger Finke)
One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism (2000)
For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science,
Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery (2003)
Quotations
"The appropriate scientific assumption, and the one I have made every
effort to observe, is agnostic:
scientifically speaking, we do not know and cannot know whether, for example,
the Qur'an was spoken to Muhammad by an angel or merely by his own inner
voices. And, scientifically speaking, it doesn't matter! Our only access
is to the human side of religious phenomena, and we can examine this with
the standard tools of social science, without assuming either the real
or the illusory nature of religion."
- from Rodney Stark, One True God (2001)
Select Web Resources on Stark
Rodney
Stark's faculty web page at Baylor University
Baylor University Magazine article on Rodney Stark
The
Encyclopedia of Religion and Society entry on Rodney Stark
Contributed by Joshua Finnell