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Full-Text Articles in Religious Education
Testing Stark's Thesis: Is Mormonism The First New World Religion Since Islam?, Gerald R. Mcdermott
Testing Stark's Thesis: Is Mormonism The First New World Religion Since Islam?, Gerald R. Mcdermott
BYU Studies Quarterly
I n 1984, Rodney Stark startled the academic world with a claim that has kept sociologists and religion-watchers scratching their heads ever since. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons,” he predicted, “will soon achieve a worldwide following comparable to that of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and the other dominant world faiths.”¹ Stark claimed that Mormonism has grown faster than any other new religion in American history. Between 1840 and 1980, it had averaged a growth rate of 44 percent per decade; in the four decades 1940 through 1980, growth zoomed to an astonishing 53 percent. If …
Authority And Worldwide Growth, Roger R. Keller
Authority And Worldwide Growth, Roger R. Keller
BYU Studies Quarterly
Although Davies stands outside the Latter-day Saint tradition, he stands outside with respect. The tools he uses are those of the anthropologist, sociologist, and theologian. Being from outside the Latter-day Saint tradition gives him a perspective that those within the tradition find hard to replicate, and that is precisely Davies’s strength. He sees things “Mormon” in a slightly different way than those within the tradition and raises interesting questions that should be answered.