The Origin and the Rise of Christianity

This article focuses on sociological, historical and anthropological research on Christianity. The rise of Christianity is a subject of scientific inquiry, as ,for the first two centuries Christianity was met with strong opposition and occasional persecution by Roman state and by Jews. Some have pointed to the eschatological massage of Christianity, that was inticing for destitute and disprivileg masses, as the cause of its succes. Rodney Stark, in his book The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (1996) showed that initial growth rate of Christianity through conversion was on par with the rate of religious growth of other religions.  

Harriet Martineau, in the book Eastern Life (1848b), argues that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have their roots in the ancient Egyptian religion. She came to that conclusion by comparing these three modern religions with the legends, myths, and practices described on Egyptian monuments. She believed that religion is one of the basic social institutions, but  modern institutionalized religion is a force that serves to justify and maintain social domination and oppression because it prevents change and limits individuality and freedom. She believed that religion, with the help of science, would become more rational and more ethical.

Benjamin Kidd, in his Social Evolution (1894) states that Greeks and Romans had a militaristic type of society, dominated by aristocratic organization and slavery, which stifled social selection and led to decay. The rise of Christianity has led to a resurgence of social progress. It introduced an "ultra-rational" sanction for unsocial behavior, while, on the other hand, it created an altruistic ethic. This led to the emancipation of the masses and the selective struggle between individuals within a society. Protestantism was an economic revolt of the rising middle class, but it also led to expansive altruism that gave political, economic, and social rights to the masses.

Rodney Stark and Charles Glock, in their book Christian Beliefs and Anti-Semitism (1966), using data from few surveys found that quantitative evidence support a theory that ties anti-Semitism to some elements of Christian dogma.  

                   Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism

Max Weber’s book The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism (1920), is one of the most influential and famous studies in the field of the sociology of religion. In The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism Weber  combines two fields of interest that are the most important to him - religion, and capitalism. He believes that each religion has its own economic ethics and that this ethics implies practical incentives to perform a certain type of social action, based on a religious view of the world and life. Capitalism is also specifically marked by the inherent capitalist spirit, the main feature of which is the opposition to traditional economic social action. The capitalist spirit contains a positive view of work and the acquisition of material wealth. Emphasis is placed on effort, thrift, discipline, and innovation, while laziness, gaining wealth without work, and hedonistic spending are viewed negatively. In pre-capitalist economies, people worked only as much as they needed to achieve a standard of living that was satisfactory to them. The capitalist spirit led to the complete rationalization of economic life.

The greatest influence on the development of the capitalist spirit and the rejection of the traditional form of doing business was the emergence of Protestant churches and their teachings in the early 16th century. Of all the Protestant currents, the most important for the development of the capitalist spirit was ascetic Protestantism, and above all Calvinism. Protestantism emphasized the idea of ​​"vocation", that is, that work is the most sacred duty of man because it enables salvation through the fulfillment of duty to God and therefore represents the highest expression of ethical self-affirmation. Protestantism, by treating labor as a means of salvation, directly refutes the traditional view of labor as God's punishment for original sin. Protestantism believes that success in a business is a confirmation of God's election, but that economic success must be achieved through hard work, thrift, and honesty. With this approach to economics and work, Protestantism has made a key contribution to the emergence and spread of the capitalist spirit.

Richard H. Tawney, in his Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926), similar to Max Weber, studied the relationship between religious attitudes and the development of capitalism in the 16th and 17th centuries. Tawney, unlike Weber , questions the hypothesis of a simple causal link between the emergence of Protestantism and the development of entrepreneurship. Tawney believes that the capitalist and entrepreneurial spirit originated before the emergence of Protestantism, and argues that the rise of capitalism was influenced by other, non-religious, factors. 

In his first book, Escape from Freedom (1941), Erich Fromm studies the reasons for the rise of Nazi movement and ideology in Germany. He argues that capitalist society and Protestantism promote individualism reflected in selfishness and greed, and give people only "freedom from." Individualism brings people to a state of loneliness and helplessness, so they strive to find security under the auspices of the state, institutions, and political parties. Such people connect with the leader through an authoritarian and sadomasochistic relationship. As is a consequence of unfulfilled life, the repressed life energy accumulates, and the energy of destruction grows stronger. There is a denial of true human nature, so people adapt to society through conformism and mimicry. Instead of a real self, people have a false self. Fromm calls this rejection of his true nature an "escape from freedom." Similarly to Weber, Fromm argues that the emergence of capitalism was associated with the spread of Protestant ideas. Protestantism requires individuals to be committed to their work, fulfill their duties, and have strict control over their sexual urges. A person who develops under the influence of such imperatives has, in Freud's terminology, an „anal character“, which is reflected in the desire for aggression and destruction. A society shaped by such ideas has a "patricentric" structure and a patriarchal-authoritarian cultural pattern.

Catholicism and Protestantism – Differences Between Believers

Émile Durkheim, in his book Suicide (1897) found that the most important regularity in the statistics of suicides was the fact that members of different religious groups (even within the same geographical area) have different suicide rates. Protestants had the highest suicide rates, followed by Catholics, while Jews had the lowest suicide rates. Religious doctrines were not the ones that influenced suicide rates, but it was the degree of internal integration of a religious group. To explain the connection between a person's individual situation and the form and degree to which that person is integrated into society, on the one hand, with suicide rates, on the other hand, Durkheim introduces four basic types of suicide: 1) egoistic, 2) anomic, 3) fatalistic and 4) altruistic. Egoistic suicide is a consequence of insufficient integration of the individual into the everyday life of the society in which he or she lives. Protestant religion emphasizes individualism, both in individual religious experience and in individual life choices, while, at the same time, it emphasizes the importance of a person's economic individualism and allows for selfish economic behavior. Protestants are characterized by the highest degree of individualism, while Jews, due to their history of persecution and isolated social status, have the highest degree of internal connection and integration.          

Andrew Greeley in the article "Some Aspects of Interaction Between Religious Groups in an Upper Middle Class Roman Catholic Parish," (1962) presents the results of his study of an upper-middle-class Beverly area of Chicago. Although inhabitans of this area shared the same socio-economic status, they were strongly divided by their religion – Protestant and Catholic. Protestants and Catholics were two endogamous separate communities. Adults of different religions socialized only at the country club, otherwise, both adults and children kept apart.

Based on data from his own and other empirical research, Gerhard Lenski The Religious Factor: A Sociological Study of Religion's Impact on Politics, Economics, and Family Life (1961) came to a slightly modified theory of the relationship between Protestant ethics and economic attitudes and behavior, in relation to the theory of Max Weber. Lenski determined that the differences in economic attitudes and behaviors between Protestants and Catholics are not a consequence of asceticism and the doctrine of "calling" among Protestants. He believes that the difference in the attitude towards the economy is an unintended consequence of some specific features of Protestantism. Protestantism led to greater intellectual autonomy among its believers, while the Catholic Church promoted close family ties and rules,  and demanded believers’ complete obedience and strict adherence to church dogmas. This difference in personal freedom and freedom of thought caused Protestants to start developing science and technology, which contributed to economic prosperity. On the other hand, Catholics stayed away from scientific careers and had lower drive for achieving economic success. In addition, a study conducted in Detroit found that Protestants, whose occupations were demanding but well-paid, had greater job satisfaction than Catholics who practiced the same occupations.

Greeley, in his book Religion and Career (1963), responded to Lenski’s conclusions from The Religious Factor . Using national data on college graduates Greeley showed that there were no differences between Catholics and Protestants in interest in science, academic experiences, or career goals. According to Greeley Catholics too endorsed American values of individualism, success and personal drive. The reason for discrepancy between Catholics and Protestants in Detroit was due to great number of recent Catholic immigrants who couldn’t afford university education. Greeley also argued that differences in voting behavior between two religious groups stem from nonreligious factors and constrains. In the book Ethnicity, Denomination and Inequality (1976) Greeley explored the reasons for huge drop in church attendance in Catholics between 1968 and 1975. He concluded that the biggest reason was 1968 papal encyclical that put a ban on the use of contraception. In the same time Protestant churches didn’t see the drop in their attendances rates.

Guy E. Swanson tried to answer the question why some European countries adopted Protestantism, while other didn’t, in his book Religion and Regime: A Sociological Account of the Reformation (1968). Swanson stated that  Catholics percive God as „immanent” in the world. European countries whose regimes were immanent tended to stay Catholic. Countries with more equal governments tended to adopt Protestantism.

The Consequences of the Fall of the Christian Worldview

Tomáš Masaryk's book Suicide as a Mass Social Phenomenon of Contemporary Civilization (in Czech 1881) is the first sociological monograph devoted to the phenomenon of suicide in the whole world. In this book, he uses statistical data and theoretical analysis to unravel the causes of high suicide rates in modern society. Different factors such as natural factors, the physical condition of the individual, biosocial factors, political-economic situation, and relations in society do not have a clear influence on suicides. Masaryk, as a key and decisive factor affecting high suicide rates, singles out the relative individual feeling of lack of meaning in life and dissatisfaction in people, which is not directly related to the real and external condition in which a person lives. The main cause of the high individual dissatisfaction of people in the modern age is the destruction of the worldview promoted by Christianity. Christianity provided a transcendental explanation of morality and social behavior. Modern society and all its institutions have destroyed such a view of the world. This led to the loss of the inner integrity of the individual and the promotion of his pride, arrogance, arrogance, sense of omnipotence, and ultimately, rebellion against and rejection of God. On a broader level, there was the emergence of general spiritual and social anarchy, family problems, and conflicts between the church and science, art and the state. The disappearance of individual and social stability and harmony provided by Christianity is the real cause of the increase in suicide rates.

Books:

Ammerman. Bible Believers: Fundamentalists in the Modern World (1987);

    -     Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention (1990);

    -     Southern Baptists Observed (1993);

    -     Congregation and Community (1997);

    -     Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and their Partners (2005);

Bainbridge. The Endtime Family: Children of God (2002); 

Bellah. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (1985);

Berger. The Noise of Solemn Assemblies (1961);

Bowden, John, ed. Christianity: The Complete Guide (2005);

Brown, P. R. L. The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, AD 200 -1000. (1996);

Certeau. Le Christianisme éclaté (1974);

Edwards, David Lawrence. Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years (1997);

Fromm. You Shall Be as Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and its Tradition (1966);

Harnack, Adolf von. History of Dogma (1894).

Kidd. Social Evolution (1894);

Littell, Franklin H. Historical Atlas of Christianity (2001);

Martin. A Sociology of English Religion (1967);

    -     The Breaking of the Image: A Sociology of Christian Theory and Practice (1980);

    -     Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America (1990);

    -     Forbidden Revolutions: Pentecostalism in Latin American and Catholicism in Eastern Europe (1996);

    -     Reflections on Sociology and Theology (1997);

    -     Does Christianity Cause War? (1997);

    -     Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish (2002);

    -     Christian Language in the Secular City (2002);

    -     The Future of Christianity (2011);

Martineau. Eastern Life: Present and Past, 3 vol. (1848);

McManners, John, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (1990);

Niebuhr, H. R. Christ and Culture (1951);

Stark. American Piety (1968);

    -     The Churching of America 1776-1992 (2005);

    -     The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (1996);

    -     The Rise of Mormonism (2005);

Tawney. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926);

Troeltsch, Ernst. The Social Theachings of the Christian Churches (1931);

Turner B. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (1988);

Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: and Other Writings (2002, in German 1920);   

Wilson, Bryan. Sects and Society: The Sociology of  Three Religious Groups in Britain (1961); 

    -     Patterns of Sectarianism (1967); 

    -     Religious Sects (1970); 

    -     The Social Dimensions of Sectarianism (1990);

Whuthnow. The Restructuring of American Religion (1988);

Woods, Thomas E. How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (2005).