Rodney Stark

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Rodney William Stark (July 8, 1934 – July 21, 2022) was an American sociologist of religion who was a longtime professor of sociology and of comparative religion at the University of Washington. At the time of his death he was the Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University, co-director of the university's Institute for Studies of Religion, and founding editor of the ''Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion''.

Stark had written over 30 books, including ''The Rise of Christianity'' (1996), and more than 140 scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as prejudice, crime, suicide, and city life in ancient Rome. He twice won the Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, for ''The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation'' (1985, with William Sims Bainbridge), and for ''The Churching of America 1776–1990'' (1992, with Roger Finke).