I want this book next. Rodney Stark's, The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries.
The idea I've been having for a dissertation research topic dovetails along the lines of this book by Stark. I've been thinking about doing a study of the economic history of New Orleans, and use that as a vehicle to study its religious history. If in a pluralistic religious market, religious firms thrive relative to ones in which there are state barriers to entry (according to Stark and Finke), then why has New Orleans the city never been churched? The African-American community enjoys a fairly vibrant religoius economy, but the city itself is largely devoid of any spiritual vitality. I think it is largely due to both the city's weakly performing economy, as well as its highly sophisticated social networks.
Posted by Admin at April 4, 2003 12:42 PM