Stark, Rodney 1934- (Rodney William Stark)

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Stark, Rodney 1934- (Rodney William Stark)

PERSONAL:

Born July 8, 1934. Education: University of Denver, B.A., 1959; University of California, Berkeley, M.A., 1965, Ph.D., 1971.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NM. Office—Baylor University, Department of Sociology, One Bear Pl., No. 97326, Waco, TX 76798-7326. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, journalist, sociologist, entrepreneur, and educator. Denver Post, Denver, CO, reporter, 1955-56; Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, reporter, 1959-61; University of California, Berkeley, research assistant to research sociologist at Survey Research Center, 1961-70, research sociologist at Center for the Study of Law and Society, 1968-71; University of Washington, Seattle, professor of sociology and comparative religion, 1971-2003; Baylor University, Waco, TX, university professor of the social sciences, 2004—, and codirector of Institute for Studies of Religion; Institute for Jewish and Community Research, San Francisco, CA, senior research fellow. MicroCase Corporation, Seattle and Bellevue, WA, cofounder and director, 1987-99. Military service: Served in U.S. Army, 1957-59, became specialist third class; promoted to sergeant in the active reserve, 1961.

MEMBER:

Association for the Sociology of Religion (president, 1982-83), American Sociological Association (chair, section on the sociology of religion, 1996-97), Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (president, 2003-04), Sociological Research Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Distinguished book award, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1986, for The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation, and 1993, for The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy; award for distinguished scholarship, Pacific Sociological Association, 1993; D.H.L., Jamestown College, 1994; Pulitzer Prize nomination, 1996, for The Rise of Christianity; distinguished book award, American Sociological Association section on the sociology of religion, 2001, for Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion; award of merit, Christianity Today magazine, 2004, for For The Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-hunts, and the End of Slavery. Recipient of honorary degree from Jamestown College.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(With Charles Y. Glock) Religion and Society in Tension, Rand McNally (Chicago, IL), 1965.

(With Charles Y. Glock) Christian Beliefs and Anti-Semitism, Harper (New York, NY), 1966.

(With Charles Y. Glock) Patterns of Religious Commitment, Volume 1: American Piety: The Nature of Religious Commitment, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1968.

(With Charles Y. Glock, Bruce D. Foster, and Harold E. Quinley) Wayward Shepherds: Prejudice and the Protestant Clergy, Harper (New York, NY), 1971.

Police Riots: Collective Violence and Law Enforcement, Wadsworth (Belmont, CA), 1972.

(Editor and contributor) Society Today, 2nd edition, CRM Books (Del Mar, CA), 1973.

(With Ronald L. Akers and others) Social Problems, Random House (New York, NY), 1975.

(With Charles Y. Glock) The Northern California Church Member Study, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), 1978.

Sociology, Wadsworth (Belmont, CA), 1985, 10th edition, Thomson Higher Education (Belmont, CA), 2007.

(Editor) Religious Movements: Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers, Paragon House (New York, NY), 1985.

(With William Sims Bainbridge) The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1985.

Crime and Deviance in North America, MicroCase (Seattle, WA), 1986, 2nd edition, 1993.

(With William Sims Bainbridge) A Theory of Religion, Peter Lang (New York, NY), 1987, 2nd edition, Rutgers University Press (New Brunswick, NJ), 1996.

Criminology: An Introduction through MicroCase, MicroCase (Bellevue, WA), 1989, 4th edition, with Steven Messner, published as Criminology: An Introduction through MicroCase ExplorIt, 2002.

(With Roger Finke) The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy, Rutgers University Press (New Brunswick, NJ), 1992, 2nd edition, 2005.

Doing Sociology: An Introduction through MicroCase, Wadsworth (Belmont, CA), 1992, 4th edition published as Doing Sociology: A Global Perspective Using MicroCase ExplorIt, 2002.

The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1996, published as The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries, HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 1997.

(With William Sims Bainbridge) Religion, Deviance, and Social Control, Routledge (New York, NY), 1996.

(With Lynne Roberts) Contemporary Social Research Methods, MicroCase (Bellevue, WA), 1996, 3rd edition, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning (Belmont, CA), 2002.

(With Roger Finke) Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2000.

One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2001.

A MicroCase Workbook for Social Research, 3rd edition, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning (Belmont, CA), 2002.

For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-hunts, and the End of Slavery, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2003.

(With Massimo Introvigne) Dio e tornato: indagine sulla rivincita delle religioni in occidente (title means "God Is Back: An Enquiry into the Revival of Religions in the West"), Piemme (Casale Monferrato, Italy), 2003.

Exploring the Religious Life, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 2004.

The Rise of Mormonism, edited by Reid L. Neilson, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, Random House (New York, NY), 2005.

Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome, HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2006.

Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief, HarperOne (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Black Power and Student Rebellion, edited by James McEvoy and Abraham Miller, Wadsworth (Belmont, CA), 1969; The Politics of Protest, edited by Jerome Skolnick, 1969; Issues in Social Inequality, edited by Gerald W. Thielbar and Saul D. Feldman, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1971; The Social Impact of New Religious Movements, edited by Bryan Wilson, 1981; The Future of New Religious Movements, edited by David Bromley and Phillip E. Hammond, Mercer University Press (Macon, GA), 1987; Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives, edited by Marie Cornwall, Tim B. Heaton, and Lawrence Young, University of Illinois Press (Champaign, IL), 1994; The Craft of Religious Studies, edited by Jon R. Stone, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998; Encyclopedia of Sociology, edited by Edgar F. Borgatta, Macmillan (New York, NY), 2000; Sacred Markets and Sacred Canopies: Essays on Religious Markets and Religious Pluralism, edited by Ted G. Jelen, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2002; and Handbook for the Sociology of Religion, edited by Michele Dillon, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 2003.

Contributor to journals, including Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of Contemporary Religion, Review of Religious Research, Sociological Analysis, Berkeley Journal of Sociology, Harper's, Transaction, Continuum, Social Problems, Social Forces, Psychology Today, Review of Religious Research, Urban Life and Culture, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Skeptical Inquirer, CanadianJournal of Sociology, American Journal of Public Health, and American Sociological Review.

Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, founding editor.

Author's work has been translated into thirteen foreign languages, including Chinese, Romanian, and Turkish.

SIDELIGHTS:

Rodney Stark has a reputation for offering unconventional ideas and lively prose in his scholarly works on religion. Some observers see him as his era's "most provocative thinker in the sociology of religion," noted a First Things contributor. He is also "a wonderful storyteller," remarked Nancy T. Ammerman in Sociology of Religion, the critic maintaining that Stark's writing "never lacks for dramatic flourish" and that "he often manages to scavenge wonderful accounts from other fields that enliven and re-direct the received versions of history that often mislead our theorizing."

The prizewinning work The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy, on which Stark collaborated with Rodney Finke, seeks to "‘challenge the received wisdom’ about why churches grow and why they decline," reported James R. Kelly in Commonweal. This book uses census data and other statistics to indicate that Americans, far from becoming completely secular, have become increasingly church-affiliated since the nation's founding. At the time of the American Revolution, fewer than twenty percent of Americans claimed church membership; by the 1980s, more than sixty percent did, the authors report. Also, they say, fundamentalist and evangelical Christian denominations have gained adherents while mainstream ones have stagnated or declined because a strong message and a demand for commitment are what attract worshippers. Applying a theory of "rational choice" to religion, they say stricter churches may ask a great deal of their members but also promise more benefits than do more moderate congregations. As Richard Brookhiser wrote in National Review: "When a church blunts the tension between it and the world, it loses its own intensity. Thus ‘mainline bodies are always headed for the sideline.’"

"Finke and Stark's historical conclusions will alternately tickle the fancy and arouse the ire of serious scholars of American religion," commented James A. Mathiesen in Christianity Today. Mathiesen thought their rational-choice theory applied better to some churches than others; similarly, Brookhiser believed the authors pay insufficient attention to differences among successful churches. Some critics disliked the authors' emphasis on numbers. Christian Century reviewer Martin E. Marty, for example, called the approach "reductionism," allowing for "no God or religion or spirituality … only winning and losing in the churching game." Likewise, Mathiesen asked: "Must winning be measured only in numerical terms if ‘only a few’ find the small gate and the narrow way?" He still found the book valuable, "even if one disagrees with its theoretical interpretation, because it supplies such a wealth of historical and sociological analysis in a fashion that is stimulating and thought provoking." Other reviewers praised the work highly. Review of Social Economy contributor John Murray remarked, "Finke and Stark successfully demolish much of the conventional wisdom of American religious history and offer in its place a powerful model." America contributor M.D. Litonjua concluded that the book, marked by "the painstaking work of reconstructing empirical data and an innovative rational choice theory," is "a major work that calls into question traditional assumptions of American religious history."

The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History brought Stark a Pulitzer Prize nomination. He seeks to explain how an initially small sect came to spread throughout the Western world. He offers some new theories, such as that one-on-one evangelization won more converts than missionaries preaching to large audiences. He contends that many early Christians were financially prosperous, whereas some other scholars have characterized Christianity as a religion of the impoverished. He also says the faith especially attracted women, some of whom married pagans and converted them. "This book raises, simply and brilliantly, just the kinds of questions anyone concerned with early Christianity should ask," observed Robert M. Grant in Christian Century. Carl L. Bankston III reported in Commonweal that "Stark uses numbers judiciously, and the methodology is readily comprehensible," adding: "While some readers may feel that parts of Stark's book are highly speculative … it provides a welcome new perspective and compelling arguments." Kenneth L. Woodward of Newsweek summed it up as "a fresh, blunt and highly persuasive account of how the West was won—for Jesus."

In One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism Stark applies the rational-choice theory to explain the attraction of monotheistic religions over polytheistic ones, claiming that people believe they will receive better care and greater rewards from one deity than from many. He also contends that violent acts by one monotheistic religion's followers against another's are less likely to occur when there is tolerance of many faiths and no one faith has governmental power. Ammerman differed with him somewhat, noting that people sometimes follow a religion not for rewards but out of "tradition or patterned habit" or wanting to do the right thing. Still, she thought One True God "very interesting," with "wonderful sections … that illustrate exactly the sort of thick cultural description in which any explanation of religion must be lodged." Commonweal reviewer Paul J. Griffiths questioned Stark's assertion that religious tolerance prevents sectarian violence, noting that the Muslim fundamentalists who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, may have been motivated by "the perceived threat" to their faith by American religious diversity. He added, though, that One True God provides "much to be grateful for…. Stark writes with clarity and wit, and offers a theory of considerable plausibility and interest." Leo D. Lefebure, reviewing the book for Christian Century, deemed the work "lively, pointed, and frequently illuminating," and remarked that while Stark's rational-choice approach could be "reductionistic if taken as a total explanation" for religious faith, the book remains "informative, provocative, and timely."

For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-hunts, and the End of Slavery further explores monotheism, particularly Christianity. Stark says Christians' belief in an orderly universe nurtured scientific progress, while the Christian sense of morality helped end witch-hunting and slavery. Reviewers predicted the book would anger those who consider religion incompatible with science. "It is immensely learned, consistently contentious, and filled with brilliant, if sometimes eccentric, insights," observed a First Things contributor. "Its publication should create a furor." David Klinghoffer, critiquing the book for the National Review, asserted that Stark's work, written with "clarity and concision," will probably "drive the ‘liberals’ (his word) nuts." Christianity Today reviewer David Neff, meanwhile, was pleased that Stark "takes seriously what people believe, because he knows that beliefs can change the course of history."

In Exploring the Religious Life, Stark offers a multitude of viewpoints on religion and its importance in human life. He provides expert sociological observations as well as numerical, empirical data to back up his assertions and observations. In the essays in this collection, Stark makes important distinctions between religion, magic, and science. He debunks the idea that those who enter a formalized religious life are often impoverished, noting that religious service often draws the well-to-do. He considers the observation that women tend to be more religious than men. He also criticizes secularism and argues that secularization does not and cannot replace religion in human life, and he looks at how morality tends to diminish and weaken without sustenance from God. With this book, Stark "gives his ailing discipline a needed injection of fresh ideas that could, just possibly, restore it to its former intellectual vitality," commented a First Things reviewer. Andrew M. Greeley, writing in the Catholic Historical Review, concluded: "This book of essays belongs in every college and university library so that students can be directed to it for a contrarian view of the dilapidated secularization theory."

In his research, Stark has assigned Mormonism a specialized place in the religious world, finding it to be the first new world religion to appear since Islam rose up some fourteen centuries ago. The Rise of Mormonism contains Stark's detailed assessment and analysis of Mormonism's history, development, and current status. Within the book, he looks at Mormonism in terms of his theories on religion as a rational choice; he considers the numerical and statistical background of Mormonism through the precise records kept by the church; and he makes demographic predictions on the status of Mormonism in the coming years. He "views Mormonism as one of the great events in the history of religion and predicts it to be the next world faith that will rival Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism with worldwide membership of twenty-nine million by 2025; eighty million by 2050; and 267 million by 2080," reported Gene Burd in Utopian Studies. Stark offers a stern challenge to those who consider religious practice irrational, and he explores the personal and social benefits that can be conveyed by religion and that are clearly seen within the Mormon communities. For Stark, "Mormonism is proof positive that conversion is less about new beliefs than social connections," noted Darrell Turner in the National Catholic Reporter. Some reviewers have acknowledged that Stark's attitudes toward Mormonism in particular and religion in general could be considered controversial. However, Richard J. Mouw, writing in Church History, remarked that "Stark should be taken seriously—if not as someone who has found the answers, then at least as a provocateur who is prodding the rest of us to explore some new investigative paths."

In The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, Stark argues for a pivotal role for reason in the history of the Christian religion. He believes that the Christian view of God is that of a rational being who encourages, supports, and allows for steady human progress. "Christians, Stark asserts, have learned about the world by inquiring about the nature of this God. Painting with a broad historical brush, he argues that this habit of inquiry made possible the development of the free-market economy, scientific research, and individual rights," commented Peter Dizikes in the Boston Globe. Rather than finding science or philosophy as the origin of some of society's greatest achievements, Stark instead sees religion as the wellspring of Western advancement. He "attributes the triumph of the West to three principal accomplishments. The first was a feat of epistemology, with the development of the scientific method; the second, of politics, with the emergence of modern liberal democracy; the third, of economics, with the invention of large-scale capitalism. Each of these achievements, according to Stark, derived primarily from the formative influence of Christianity," reported Christopher Levenick in the National Review. Stark finds that capitalism "originated in ninth-century monasteries, where the life of contemplative withdrawal from the world did not extinguish an interest in economic well-being," commented Algis Valiunas in First Things. Stark "provides a wealth of evidence to show that the so-called Dark Ages were actually a period of innovations in production and transportation, which in turn led to the creation of capitalistic economies," noted Darrell Turner in a National Catholic Reporter review. Stark's "deftly researched study" will encourage scholars and researchers to "imagine a new explanation for the rise of capitalism in Western society," stated a Publishers Weekly critic. Christianity Today contributor Mark Noll named The Victory of Reason a "bold, sharply argued defense of the Christian faith's social benefits."

Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome contains Stark's statistical analysis of the spread of Christianity through more than thirty ancient Roman cities, and his conclusions about why Christianity became the dominant religion. Stark suggests that Christianity did not spread primarily through mass conversion, as has long been thought, but by individual, person-to-person transmission. Christianity's attitude of inclusion ultimately made it more popular than the pagan religions of the time. A Reference & Research Book News reviewer called the book a "powerful and persuasive narrative," while Booklist contributor Bryce Christensen concluded that "this book will spark controversy—the kind that attracts curious readers."

In Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief, Stark reconsiders the foundations of some of the world's great religions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. He looks carefully at both the benefits and problems that religion has brought to society, and he considers how religion has operated on a sincere belief that religious doctrine and revelation originated with a truly divine and transcendent being or source of power. "Stark's retelling of the origins of the world's great religions is fascinating and excellent," commented Lisa Miller in Newsweek. Christensen, in another Booklist review, remarked that "serious students of religion will recognize this as an essential sourcebook."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

America, May 13, 1995, M.D. Litonjua, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy, p. 29.

American Journal of Sociology, May, 2001, Rhys H. Williams, review of Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion, p. 1840; July, 2002, William A. Mirola, review of One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism, p. 249.

Booklist, October 15, 2001, Steven Schroeder, review of One True God, p. 359; June 1, 2003, Bryce Christensen, review of For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witchhunts, and the End of Slavery, p. 1715; October 1, 2003, Ray Olson, "Top 20 Books in Religion," p. 285; October 1, 2005, Brendan Driscoll, review of The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, p. 31; October 1, 2006, Bryce Christensen, review of Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome, p. 31; September 1, 2007, Bryce Christensen, review of Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief, p. 20.

Books & Culture, January 1, 2006, Gerald R. McDermott, "Saints Rising: Is Mormonism the First New World Religion since the Birth of Islam?," review of The Rise of Mormonism, p. 9.

Boston Globe, December 25, 2005, Peter Dizikes, "Faith and Reason," interview with Rodney Stark.

Canadian Journal of Sociology, summer, 2003, Benton Johnson, review of One True God, p. 439.

Catholic Historical Review, October, 2004, Andrew M. Greeley, review of Exploring the Religious Life, p. 729.

Catholic Insight, May, 2007, Joseph Thompson, review of The Victory of Reason, p. 41.

Christian Century, January 27, 1993, Martin E. Marty, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990, p. 88; November 26, 1996, Robert M. Grant, review of The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History, p. 1081; November 21, 2001, Leo D. Lefebure, review of One True God, p. 40; November 15, 2003, John Dart, "Baylor Snares Noted Sociologist," p. 13; November 15, 2003, Daniel E. Pals, review of For the Glory of God, p. 36.

Christianity Today, August 16, 1993, James A. Mathiesen, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990, p. 62; August, 2003, David Neff, "Getting Western Civ Right: Christian Theology Is the Catalyst, Not the Brake, for Progress," p. 53; January, 2006, Mark Noll, review of The Victory of Reason, p. 70; June, 2007, Douglas A. Sweeney, review of Cities of God, p. 72.

Church History, December, 2006, Richard J. Mouw, review of The Rise of Mormonism, p. 937.

Commentary, July 1, 2006, Mark C. Henrie, "Church & Fate," review of The Victory of Reason, p. 91.

Commonweal, April 23, 1993, James R. Kelly, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990, p. 27; March 28, 1997, Carl L. Bankston III, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 27; November 9, 2001, Paul J. Griffiths, "God Is a Sociologist," p. 26.

First Things, February, 2001, Steve Bruce, review of Acts of Faith, p. 35; November, 2001, review of One True God, p. 55; August-September, 2003, review of For the Glory of God, p. 56; August-September, 2004, review of Exploring the Religious Life, p. 83; April, 2006, Algis Valiunas, "What Hath God Wrought?," review of The Victory of Reason, p. 44.

Free Inquiry, summer, 1993, Paul Kurtz, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990, p. 67.

Historian, fall, 1998, Demetrios J. Constantelos, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 222.

Independent Review, spring, 2007, Thomas E. Woods, review of The Victory of Reason.

Insight on the News, July 11, 1994, C. Kirk Hadaway, "Empty Pews Belie Gallup's Good News," p. 18.

Journal of Church and State, spring, 2004, Rodney L. Petersen, review of One True God, p. 410.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, July, 1997, W.H.C. Frend, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 515.

Journal of Religion, October, 1998, J. Patout Burns, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 616; April, 2003, Stephen Hunt, review of Acts of Faith, p. 341.

Journal of Theological Studies, April, 1998, Harry O. Maier, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 328.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2005, review of The Victory of Reason, p. 1070; July 1, 2006, review of Cities of God, p. 669.

Library Journal, October 15, 2001, Steve Young, review of One True God, p. 81; April 15, 2004, James A. Overbeck, review of Exploring the Religious Life, p. 92; October 1, 2007, Dann Wigner, review of Discovering God, p. 77.

National Catholic Reporter, February 5, 1993, E. Leo McMannus, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990, p. 36; June 2, 2006, Darrell Turner, "Is Christianity the Root of All Progress? Author Provides Useful Information, but His Conclusions Are Shaky," review of The Victory of Reason, p. 16.

National Review, September 6, 1993, Richard Brookhiser, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990, p. 67; July 28, 2003, David Klinghoffer, "The Civilizing God"; February 27, 2006, Christopher Levenick, "Faith-based Initiative?," review of The Victory of Reason, p. 44.

New Criterion, February, 2006, Michael Novak, "What ‘Dark Ages’?," review of The Victory of Reason, p. 67.

New Statesman, December 17, 2001, Peter Watson, "These Books Could Change the World," p. 29.

Newsweek, August 19, 1996, Kenneth L. Woodward, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 62; October 15, 2007, Lisa Miller, "Beliefwatch: Proof," review of Discovering God, p. 12.

Publishers Weekly, May 27, 1996, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 71; August 27, 2001, review of One True God, p. 77; May 12, 2003, review of For the Glory of God, p. 64; September 12, 2005, review of The Victory of Reason, p. 63.

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2006, review of Sociology; February, 2007, review of Cities of God.

Review of Social Economy, summer, 1995, John Murray, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990, p. 297.

Skeptic, fall, 2002, Tim Callahan, "Monotheism's Legacy," p. 94.

Skeptical Inquirer, July-August, 1999, Mark W. Durm, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 69.

Social Forces, December, 1993, Wade Clark Roof, review of The Churching of America, 1776-1990, p. 597; June, 1997, Anthony J. Blasi, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 1499; September, 2001, John P. Bartkowski, review of Acts of Faith, p. 377.

Sociology of Religion, summer, 1997, Joseph M. Bryant, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 191; summer, 1998, John H. Simpson, review of Religion, Deviance, and Social Control, p. 185; summer, 2001, Steve Bruce, "Christianity in Britain, R.I.P.," p. 191; summer, 2002, William H. Swatos, Jr., review of Acts of Faith, p. 262; winter, 2002, Nancy T. Ammerman, review of One True God, p. 548.

Spectator, August 16, 2003, Raymond Carr, "The Dark Side of the Enlightenment," p. 52.

Theological Studies, June, 1997, Dolores Lee Greeley, review of The Rise of Christianity, p. 354.

Utopian Studies, summer, 2006, Gene Burd, review of The Rise of Mormonism, p. 588.