crisis, Christianity offered extensive care of the poor and various other imper-
iled people. Third, he assumes a clear distinction between Christianity and
paganism generally. Although religious elites argued such distinctions, no
clear distinction existed in practice. As we will see, many pagan sects exacted
high personal sacrifices, and Christian charity for the poor is mostly a modern
practice.
Furthermore, did paganism die, as rational choice theory predicts any infe-
rior product supposedly would in a competitive market? Stark states clearly
that paganism “toppled over dead” (Stark 1997:94) once and for all in the
crisis years 300–476. This is definitely not true. In fact, it prospered outside
the major cities of Rome, Antioch, and Constantinople for several hundred
years. Indeed, as I will show, paganism did not decisively disappear, but in
fact continued quite influentially through the middle-ages and the Renaissance,
perhaps even into modern times.
But let us also be fair. Stark argues that Christianity offered the “most ratio-
nal” choice during the crisis centuries of 300–476 CE specifically, presumably
not the only rational choice (he doesn’t say what the others might be). As
wars, invasions, plagues, droughts, famines, and infanticide depleted the pop-
ulation of the Roman Empire, especially of women, the Empire became increas-
ingly unable to tend to the very same and ongoing social problems (Stark
1997:158–160). Chaos in general and plague in particular affected everyone,
Stark argues, but it was the Christians, compared to the pagans, who offered
both spiritual and physical solace to the suffering and dying.
According to Stark, the personal cost was high, in that all Christians must
both tend to the ill and suffering, in order to receive help themselves, both
in this world, and to receive salvation in the next. First, the Christians “deeply
impressed” the pagans (Stark 1997:165) with their martyrs, who sacrificed
themselves for the cause of Christianity and their belief in the loving God.
Christianity supposedly offered rewards in the form of relief from suffering,
and a very valuable compensator (something that is not the reward itself, but
indicative of a favored condition) – immortality. Those unwilling to do so are
thus denied the benefits – rewards and/or compensators. The particular com-
bination of costs and benefits we may group together as a Christian way of
life (Stark 1997:168–170). The Christian way of life meant service to the gen-
eral community of Christians, and in times of crisis, service to everyone in
need which typically involves great self-sacrifice in exchange for the com-
pensator of salvation.
The Concept of Choice in the Rise of Christianity • 231