LEADER 03667nam 22005894a 450 001 9910819315703321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-231-50991-X 024 7 $a10.7312/star13634 035 $a(CKB)1000000000457782 035 $a(EBL)908515 035 $a(OCoLC)818856060 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000238497 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11200404 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000238497 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10233466 035 $a(PQKB)11570003 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC908515 035 $a(DE-B1597)459348 035 $a(OCoLC)62147760 035 $a(OCoLC)979904196 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780231509916 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL908515 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10183581 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000457782 100 $a20050324d2005 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe rise of Mormonism /$fRodney Stark ; edited by Reid L. Neilson 210 $aNew York $cColumbia University Press$dc2005 215 $a1 online resource (193 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-231-13634-X 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [147]-160) and index. 327 $aExtracting social scientific models from Mormon history -- Joseph Smith among the revelators -- Mormon networks of faith -- Rationality and Mormon sacrifice -- Modernization, secularization, and Mormon growth -- The basis of Mormon success -- The rise of a New World faith. 330 $aWill Mormonism be the next world faith, one that will rival Catholicism, Islam, and other major religions in terms of numbers and global appeal? This was the question Rodney Stark addressed in his much-discussed and much-debated article, "The Rise of a New World Faith" (1984), one of several essays on Mormonism included in this new collection. Examining the religion's growing appeal, Rodney Stark concluded that Mormons could number 267 million members by 2080. In what would become known as "the Stark argument," Stark suggested that the Mormon Church offered contemporary sociologists and historians of religion an opportunity to observe a rare event: the birth of a new world religion.In the years following that article, Stark has become one of the foremost scholars of Mormonism and the sociology of religion. This new work, the first to collect his influential writings on the Mormon Church, includes previously published essays, revised and rewritten for this volume. His work sheds light on both the growth of Mormonism and on how and why certain religions continue to grow while others fade away. Stark examines the reasons behind the spread of Mormonism, exploring such factors as cultural continuity with the faiths from which it seeks converts, a volunteer missionary force, and birth rates. He explains why a demanding faith like Mormonism has such broad appeal in today's world and considers the importance of social networks in finding new converts. Stark's work also presents groundbreaking perspectives on larger issues in the study of religion, including the nature of revelation and the reasons for religious growth in an age of modernization and secularization. 606 $aMormon Church$xHistory 607 $aUnited States$xChurch history 615 0$aMormon Church$xHistory. 676 $a306.6/893 700 $aStark$b Rodney$0127194 701 $aNeilson$b Reid Larkin$f1972-$01700587 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910819315703321 996 $aThe rise of Mormonism$94083704 997 $aUNINA