Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark is "one of the world’s most respected sociologists of religion.".^[1] Since the 1960s Stark has studied the phenomenon of conversion scientifically focusing especially on new religious movements such as Mormons, Unificationists, and Hare Krishnas.^[2]

An agnostic himself,^[1] Stark views Christian history and what Christianity was able to accomplish in a very favorable light (see Christianity and science).

He has written or co-authored many books including:

• The Rise of Christianity (HarperOne San Francisco, 1997) ISBN 978-0060677015
• The Churching of America, 1776–1990 (with Roger Finke. Rutgers University Press, 1992) ISBN 978-0813535531
• A Theory of Religion (Peter Lang, 1987) ISBN 978-0820403564
• For The Glory of God (Princeton University Press, 2004) ISBN 978-0691119502
• The Victory of Reason (Random House, New York, 2005) ISBN 978-0812972337
• Cities of God (HarperOne, 2006) ISBN 978-0061349881
• Discovering God (HarperOne, 2007) ISBN 978-0061173899

After many years at the University of Washington, Stark now teaches at Baylor University.