How did the preaching of a peasant carpenter from Galilee spark a movement that would grow to over two billion followers? Who listened to this "good news," and who ignored it? Where did Christianity spread, and how? Based on quantitative data and the latest scholarship, this book presents startling new information about the rise of the early church, overturning many prevailing views of how Christianity grew through time to become the largest religion in the world. Drawing on both archaeological and historical evidence, Rodney Stark provides hard statistical evidence on the religious life of the Roman Empire to discover surprising facts:
By analyzing concrete data, Stark challenges the conventional wisdom about early Christianity, offering the clearest picture ever of how this religion grew into what it is today.