There are cases of Christian responses to large-scale calamity, not men-
tioned by Stark, which provide additional evidence for Stark’s thesis. First
are the events of a plague and famine during the reign of Maximinus Daia
(early fourth century CE), as described by Eusebius:
the testimonies of the zeal and of the piety of the Christians in all things
became quite clear to all the heathen. For example, they [the Chris-
tians] alone in such evil surroundings exhibited their sympathy and
humanity by actual deeds: all during the day some persevered diligently
with the last rites and the burial of the dead (for there were countless
who had no one to care for them); others gathered in one assemblage
the multitude of those who throughout the city were wasting away
from famine, and distributed bread to them, so that the matter became
noised about by all men, and they glorified the God of the Christians,
and, convinced by the facts themselves, they confessed that these alone
were truly pious and righteous. (Eusebius, Hist. eccl.9.8)Robin Lane Fox (1987, 591) provides examples of how Christian charity
stood in contrast to that of the pagan world. In the 250s, it was Christian
groups, not the pagan cities, which undertook collections to ransom their
members from barbarian captors. During the siege of Alexandria in 262 CE
(concurrent with the plague!), two Christian leaders arranged to rescue
many old and weak people, both Christians and pagans. During the great
famine of 311–312 CE, rich pagan donors at first gave but then withheld dole
funds, fearing they themselves would become poor. Christians, on the other
hand, offered last rites to the dying and buried them, and distributed bread
to all others who were suffering from hunger.
Stark (1996, 75, 88, 90) claims that the palliative care practised by
Christians would have led to a higher survival rate among the sick. That
may be the case, although, in the case of highly infectious diseases, care-
givers run the risk of becoming infected themselves and dying. Christian
charity may have been counterproductive from a demographic perspec-
tive. Granting Stark’s claim, however, an improved survival rate over time
could translate into increased group numbers. Stark (1996, 75, 90–91) fur-
ther suggests that Christians who recovered from plagues due to their
group’s superior health care would have acquired immunity from the dis-
ease, and that this condition would have appeared “miraculous” to out-
siders. With Stark, we may suppose that such an air of invincibility and
growth would contribute to the attractiveness of the group: Christians
would seem favoured by their god. This is an imaginative (in a positive
sense) reconstruction of an ancient situation. Nonetheless, these are cred-
ible speculations, not proven facts.