MI 600 History of the Christian Movement

Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. Rev. ed. New York: Penguin, 1986. Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1996.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/2491/thumbnail.jp

MI 760 Seminar In Mission History

Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History. Princeton University Press, 1996. Volf, Miraslov. After Our Likeness: The Church as Image of the Trinity. Eerdmans, 1998. Guder, Darrell L., ed. Missional Church: A Theological Vision for the Sending Church in North America. Eerdmans, 1998.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/1668/thumbnail.jp

ME 880 Doctoral Seminar in Evangelization

1. Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity. 2. Fletcher, Richard. The Barbarian Conversion. 3. James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. 4. McLaren, Brian. More Ready Than You Realize. 5. Patrick, Confession (handout) 6. Finney, Charles G. Lectures on Revivals of Religion, ch’s 1 and 14 (handout) 7. Alcoholics Anonymous, fourth edition.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/3607/thumbnail.jp

MI 600 History of the Christian Movement

TEXTS Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. Rev. ed. New York: Penguin, 1986. Seamands, John T. Pioneers of the Younger Churches. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2001. Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1996. Tucker, Ruth A. From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/3937/thumbnail.jp

The Secularization Theory of Rodney Stark

DergiPark: 889080rumeliBu makalede Rodney Stark’ın sekülerleşme teorisine yönelik eleştirilerini değerlendirdik ve teorinin bilimsel temellere dayanmadığını, aksine dinin geleceğiyle ilgili kehanetlerden oluştuğunu ileri sürdük. Dinin gerilediği iddiasının ortaçağ dindarlığı hakkındaki yanlış algılardan kaynaklandığını, tarihçilerin verilerine referansla ortaya koyduk. Sekülerleşme teorisyenlerinin dine önyargılarla baktıklarını ve bu önyargılar nedeniyle de dinin dinamik karakterini gözden kaçırdıklarını ortaya koymayı amaçladık. Ayrıca Stark’ın, “sekülerleşmenin dinsel canlanma ve yeni dinlerin ortaya çıkmasını teşvik eden ve kendini sınırlayan bir süreç olduğu” argümanını analiz ettik. Makalemizde, Stark’ın sekülerleşme konusundaki metinlerini, anlayıcı yaklaşımın metin okuma tekniklerinden “hermeneutik” yardımıyla değerlendirmeye çalıştık. In this article, we evaluated Rodney Stark’s criticisms of secularization theory and argued that the theory is not based on scientific foundations, on the contrary consists of prophecies about the future of religion. We presented the claim that decline of religion is originated from the misperceptions about medieval religiosity, with reference to the data of historians. We tried to demonstrate that secularization theorists view religion with prejudices and because of these prejudices, they overlook the dynamic character of religion. Also, we analyzed starks’s argument that “secularization is a self-limiting process that encourages the religious revival and emergence of new religions”.In our article, we tried to evaluate Stark’s texts on secularization with the help of “hermeneutics” which is one of the text-reading techniques of the interpretive approach

Rodney Stark et la sociologie religieuse américaine

Après avoir vanté la sécularisation irrémédiable des sociétés modernes, les médias ne parlent plus aujourd’hui que du retour de Dieu. L’école incarnée par le sociologue américain Rodney Stark analyse différemment la situation. Dans la lignée de Max Weber, il est un des rares scientifiques à tenter encore de vastes synthèses du phénomène religieux. Il est aussi l’initiateur de travaux empiriques comme celui où il a montré que les États-Unis n’étaient pas, au départ, une société très religieuse. Peu connu en France, au contraire du monde anglo-saxon ou de l’Italie, Rodney Stark doit en partie cette désaffection à sa critique de la théorie de la sécularisation, mais aussi à l’utilisation de concepts comme le choix rationnel, la notion de tension ou l’économie de l’offre.Medias used to praise the secularization of modern societies. Now they only deal with the coming back of God. The school which is embodied by American sociologist Rodney Stark analyses the situation in a different way. He follows the lead of Max Weber, and he is the one of the few scientists who dare analyze the religious topic. He is also the man who began important works, such as highlighting that the United States society was not born religious. Unlike English-speaking or Italian people, the French have barely heard about Rodney Stark. The rejection is partly due to criticism of the secularization theory. On the other hand, it is also linked with his using concepts like rational choices, tension and the offer economy

ST MS 680: Contemporary Cults

Sire, James. Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1980. Stark, Rodney, and William Sims Bainbridge. The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Tsoukalas, Steven. Masonic Rites and Wrongs: An Examination of Freemasonry. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1995. Tucker, Ruth. Another Gospel: Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/3269/thumbnail.jp

ME 880 Doctoral Seminar in Evangelization

1. Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity. Harper. 2. Fletcher, Richard. The Barbarian Conversion. U. of California Press. 3. James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. 4. Rambo, Lewis R. Understanding Religious Conversion. Yale Univ. Press. 5. Patrick, Confession ((available on line; click on the ESJ icon).) 6. Finney, Charles G. Lectures on Revivals of Religion, ch’s 1, 10, 12, and 14 (available on line; click on the ESJ icon). 7. Alcoholics Anonymous, fourth edition.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/2490/thumbnail.jp

ME 820 Seminar in Evangelization: Applied Historical Perspectives

Course Readings Asbury’s bookstore has ordered the following sources for us: 1. Michael Green. Evangelism in the Early Church, rev. ed. (Eerdmans, 2003) 2. Rodney Stark. The Rise of Christianity (Harper-Collins p. b., 1997. 3 Richard Fletcher. The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity (University of California Press, 1999). 4. Smith, Stout, and Minkema, Eds. A Jonathan Edwards Reader (Yale University Press p. b., 2003) 5. C. H. Spurgeon. The SoulWinner Whitaker House, 1995) 6. Alcoholics Anonymous, fourth edition.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/1862/thumbnail.jp

MW 770 Contemporary Cults

Hexham, Irving, and Karla Poewe. Understanding Cults and New Religions. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986. Sire, James. Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1980. Stark, Rodney, and William Sims Bainbridge. The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Tsoukalas, Steven. Masonic Rites and Wrongs: An Examination of Freemasonry. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1995. Tucker, Ruth. Another Gospel: Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/2488/thumbnail.jp