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Reconstructing the Rise of Christianity: The Role of WomenAuthor(s): Rodney StarkSource: Sociology of Religion, Vol. 56, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 229-244Published by: Association for the Sociology of Religion, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3711820

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Sociology f Religion 995, 56:3 229-244

The 1994 Paul Hanly Furfey Lecture

Reconstructinghe Rise of Christianity:

The Role of Women

RodneyStarkt

Universityf Washington

Modernand ancienthistoriansgree hatwomenwereespeciallyesponsiveo theearlyChris-

tian movement. t alsois agreed hatwomenwere accorded onsiderablyigher tatuswithinChris-

tiancircles han n thesurroundingagan ocieties. n thisessayIfirstexplainhow these woaspects

of theearlychurchwereconnected.ThenI explainhowan excessof women n theChristian ubcul-

tures,combinedwitha greatexcessofmales n theworldaround hem,wouldhaveresultedn a sub-

stantialrateof intermarriage.inally,I show how this wouldhavemaintainedarlyChristianitys

an open networktherebyable to sustain the attachments o non-members eeded or continued

growth.

Intermittentlyduringthe pastfew yearsI have utilizedsocial scientific theo-riesand methods to attemptto reconstruct he rise of Christianity.Mygoal is to

gain a fundamentalunderstanding f how it all came about- to explainhow a

tiny and obscuremessianic movementfromthe edge of the Roman Empiredis-

lodgedclassical paganismand became the dominant faith of Western Civiliza-tion. There is no single answer to why Christianitysucceeded;a whole series offactorswere involved. I hope soon to complete an integratedreconstructionof

at least the most importantof these factors,but meanwhile I have been pub-lishing portions of the largerprojectas I go along (Stark 1992, 1991a, 1991b,1987, 1986a, 1986b). Today's 1994 Paul Hanly FurfeyLecture continues this

process.In it I shall suggestthat genderholds one of the answersto how it wasdone - that women playeda critical role in the rise of Christianity.

However, beforeany usefulsocial scientific work can proceedon the ques-tion of how it all came about, it first is necessary o eliminatethe oldestand still-dominant explanation - that the Greco-Romanworldwas saved by mass con-versionsin responseto public preachingand miracleworking.Fromearliestdays,

massconversions have been central to the Christian story:Crowds have gath-ered, listened, marveled,and been saved.Thus Acts 2:41 reports hat after Peter

preachedto a multitude "therewere addedthat day about three thousandsouls."

t DirectllcorrespondenceoRodneytark,UniversityfWashingtonK-40,Seattle,WA98195.

229



230 SOCIOLOGY FRELIGION

Writing n about325, EusebiusIII37.3) tells us that "atfirsthearingwholemultitudesn a bodyeagerly mbracedntheirsoulspiety owardsheCreator fthe universe."

That mass conversions built Christianityhas seemed obvious. AdolfHarnack(1908:2:335-36)put it plainly:How else can we understandhe"inconceivableapidity"f Christian rowthand"astonishingxpansion"f themovement?ndeed,Harnack fn.335)remindedhis readers f St. Augustine'sinsight hat the greatestmiracle f allwouldhavebeen forChristianityo growasrapidly s it didwithout he aid of miracles.nhisdistinguishedecentstudy,ChristianizingheRomanEmpire,RamsayMacMullen1984:29)alsostressedhearithmeticalnecessity or massconversions.Because"very argenumbers reobviouslynvolved,"Christian rowthcould not have beenlimited o an indi-

vidualmodeof conversion, utrequiressuccessesn masse."This isall very roublesome ecausemodern ocialscience acksanytheoret-icalpropositionso dealwithspontaneousmassconversions.nstead, onversionis explainedby socialscience as the resultof interactionprocesseswithinnet-works f interpersonalttachments hereby eoplecometo acceptnewfaiths nresponse o their social ties to those who alreadybelieve (LoflandandStark1965;Starkand Bainbridge 980, 1985, 1987;Kox,Meeus,andt'Hart1991).Thus,fromthe perspective f modern ocialscience,the kindof massconver-sionsdescribed yEusebius ndacceptedbyhistorians versincewould ndeedbe

miraculous. nd if the riseof Christianityan be explained nlybyresortomiracles,hen socialsciencewould eem o have littleto contribute.

Fortunately,he "facts"ustifyinghe miraculous ssumptionwerewrong.Theonlyreasonpeoplebelieved hat therewasanarithmetic eedfor mass on-versionwasbecauseno one everbothered o do the actualarithmetic. havedone so in considerableetail, aking are o verifymyresultswith thepertinentliteratureStark1996).A brief ummaryuffices ere.

There is generalagreement mongscholars hat Christiansn the Greco-Romanworldnumberedomewhere etween5 and 7 millionin the year300.How thistotal wasreached roma

tiny starting ointof,

say,1,000Christiansn

the year40 isthe arithmetichallenge.At firstglance,growth f thismagnitudemightseema miraculouschievement.But,supposewe assume hat the Chris-tianrateof growthduring hisperiodwassimilar o that of the Mormon ateofgrowthover the pastcentury,whichhas been approximately0 percentperdecade Stark1984, 1994).Ifthe earlyChristianswereableto match he Mor-mongrowthrate,thentheir"miracle"s fullyaccomplishedn the timehistoryallows.That is,froma starting ointof 1,000Christiansntheyear40, a growthrate of 40 percentperdecade(or 3.4 percent per year)results n a total of6,299,832Christians n the year300. Moreover, ecause ompoundedatesre-

sultinexponential rowth, here s a hugenumericalncreaserom lightlymorethan 1 millionChristiansn the year250 to morethan 6 millionin 300. Thisgivesfurther onfidence n the projectionsincehistorianshave longbelievedthat a rapidncrease nnumericalrowth ccurred t thistime(cf.Gager1975).

The rise of Mormonismhas been very carefullydocumentedand theirgrowthhas been basedon the conventionalnetworkprocesses nderstood ysocialscience,whilemass onversionso the Mormonaithof thekinddescribed



RECONSTRUCTINGHERISEOFCHRISTIANITY:HEROLEOFWOMEN 231

by Eusebiusare unknown(Stark1984, 1994;Stark and Bainbridge1985).Clearly,hen,the riseofChristianityouldeasilyhave beenaccomplishednac-cordwithourcurrentunderstandingf whyandhowconversionakesplaceand

socialscience s sufficient ntothe taskathand.So, let menowreturn o myprimaryhesis: hat womenwerecrucial o thesuccess f theChristianmovement.

WOMENAND CHRISTIANGROWTH

Amidstcontemporaryenunciationsf Christianity spatriarchalndsex-ist, it easilyis forgotten hat the earlychurchwas so especiallyattractive owomen that in 370 the EmperorValentinian ssueda writtenorder o Pope

Damasus requiringhe Christianmissionarieso ceasecallingat the homesofpaganwomen.Althoughsome classicalwriters laimed hat womenwereeasypreyforany "foreignsuperstition,"most recognizedthat Christianitywas

unusuallyppealing ecausewithin he Christianubculture omenenjoyedar

higherstatus han did women n the Greco-Romanworldat large Fox 1987;Chadwick 967;Harnack 908).

Butifhistorians avelongnoted hisfact,theyhavemadeno serious ffortsto explain t.Whywerewomenaccorded igher tatus n Christian ircles hanelsewheren the classicalworld?n whatfollowsI shallattempt o linkthe in-creased

powerand

privilegef Christianwomen o a

verymajorhiftin sex ra-

tios. I show that an initial shift in sex ratiosresultedromChristiandoctrines

prohibitingnfanticide nd abortion nd then show how the initialshift wouldhavebeenamplified ya subsequentendencyo over-recruit omen.Alongthe

wayI shallsummarizevidencefromancient sourcesas well as frommodern

archeology nd historicaldemographyoncerning he statusof women n the

earlychurch.Finally, shallexplore he relatively ighratesof exogenousmar-

riagesbyChristianwomenandsuggesthowthesewouldhavegeneratedmany"secondary"onversionso Christianity.

CHRISTIAN AND PAGAN SEXRATIOS

Mengreatlyoutnumbered omen n the Greco-Romanworld.CassiusDio(1987), writing n about200 C.E.,attributed he decliningpopulation f the

Empireo the extremeshortage f females. n his classicworkon ancientandmedievalpopulations,. C. Russell 1958) estimated hattherewere 131 males

per100femalesn thecityofRomeand140malesper100 femalesn Italy,AsiaMinor,andNorthAfrica.Russellnotedin passing hat sex ratios hisextremecanonlyoccurwhenthereis"someampering ith human ife" 1958:14).And

tamperingherewas.Exposure f unwanted emale nfantsanddeformedmaleinfantswaslegal,morally ccepted, ndwidelypracticed yall socialclasses nthe Greco-Romanworld(Fox 1987;Gorman1982; Pomeroy1975;Russell1958).Lindsay1968:168)reportedhat even in large amilies"morehan one

daughterwaspractically everreared." studyof inscriptionst Delphimade t

possibleo reconstruct 00 families.Ofthese,onlysixhadraisedmore hanone

daughterLindsay 968).




I willpursuehesubjectof female nfanticide t length n a subsequenttudyof Christianertility.Fornow,considera letter,writtenbyone Hilarion o his

pregnantwife Alis, which has been reportedby manyauthorsbecauseof the

quite extraordinaryontrast betweenhis deep concern for his wife and hishoped-foron,andhisuttercallousnessowards possible aughter.

Know hatIam stillinAlexandria. nd do notworryftheyallcomebackandI remainnAlexandria. askandbeg youto takegoodcareof ourbabyson,and assoon as I receive

payment shallsend t upto you.Ifyouaredeliveredfachild[before comehome], f it isaboykeep t, ifagirldiscardt. Youhave sentmeword,"Don'torgetme."HowcanIforgetyou.Ibegyounot to worryin Lewis1985:54).

This letterdates rom heyear

1 B.C.E.,butthesepatterns ersisted mongpagansar intothe Christian ra.Given thesepractices, ven in childhood,be-

forethe onsetof the highfemalemortality ssociatedwithfertility n pre-mod-erntimes, emalesweresubstantiallyutnumberedmongpagansn the Greco-Romanworld.Moreover,t wasn't ustthe highmortalityromchildbirth hatcontinued o increasehe sexratiosamongadults.As I shalldocument t lengthelsewhere Stark1996)abortionwas a major auseof death of womenin thisera.That is,abortionwaswidelypracticed nd the methodswerebarbaricnddeadly.

However,hingsweredifferent mongChristians s theirdistinctive ubcul-

turebegan o emerge.There is little harddataon the sexcomposition fChris-tian communities. nhis Epistleo theRomans aulsentpersonal reetingso 15womenand 18 men. If, as seems ikely,therewereproportionatelymorementhan womenamongthose Christians f sufficientprominenceo meritPaul's

specialattention, hen the congregationn Romemustalready ave beenpre-dominatelyemale.A secondbasis or inferences an inventory f propertye-moved roma Christian ouse-churchntheNorthAfricanownofCirtaduringa persecutionn 303.Amongthe clothestheChristians ad collected ordistri-butionto the needywere16 men's unics and 82 women's unicsas wellas47

pairsof femaleslippers Frend1984;Fox 1987).Presumablyhispartlyreflectsthe ratioof mento womenamong he donors.But,eventhoughbetterstatisticsare lacking, he predominancef women in the membershipf the churcheswas,asFox(1987:308)reported, recognizedo be sobyChristians ndpagans."Indeed,Harnack1908:2:73)noted hatthe ancient ources:

... simply warmwithtalesof howwomenof all rankswereconvertedn Romeand n the

provinces; lthough he details of these storiesareuntrustworthy,hey expresscorrectlyenough hegeneralruth hatChristianity as aidholdof bywomen n particular,ndalso

that thepercentagef Christianwomen, specially mong heupper lasses,was argerhanthatofmen.

Theseconclusions boutChristian exratiosmeritourconfidencewhenweexaminewhysex ratiosshouldhave been so differentamongthe Christians.First,byprohibiting ll formsof infanticide ndabortion,Christians emoved

majorcausesof the genderimbalance hat existedamongpagans.Even so,changesnmortality loneprobablyouldnot have resultednChristianwomen




coming o outnumber hristianmen.However,herewasa second actor nflu-encing Christiansex ratios:Women weremorelikelythan men to becomeChristians.This,combinedwith the reduction n femalemortality,would ave

caused surplusf women ntheChristian ubcultures.

SEXBIAS IN CONVERSION

Inhis widely-admiredonographn the earlychurch, he Britishhistorian

HenryChadwick otedthat"Christianityeems o havebeenespeciallyuccess-fulamongwomen.It was oftenthrough he wives that it penetratedhe upperclassesof society n the first nstance"1967:56).PeterBrown 1988:151)notedthat "womenwereprominent" mongupper-classChristiansand that "such

womencould influence heirhusbands o protect he church."Marcia, oncu-bine of the EmperorCommodus,managedo convincehimto freeCallistus,futurePope,from a sentence of hardlabor n the mines of Sardinia Brown1988).AlthoughMarcia ailed to secure he conversionof Commodus, ther

upper lasswomenoftendidbringhusbands ndadmirerso faith.Itwillbehelpfulhereto distinguish etweenprimaryndsecondaryonver-

sions. Inprimaryonversion,he converttakesan active role in his orherownconversion,becominga committedadherentbasedon positiveevaluations fthe particularaith,albeitthatattachmentso members laya major ole in theformationof a

positiveevaluation.

Secondaryonversion s more

passiveand in-

volvessomewhat eluctant cceptance f a faithon the basisofattachmentso a

primaryonvert.Forexample,afterpersonA convertedo a newfaith,thatper-son'sspouseagreedo "goalong"withthechoice,butwasnoteager o do soandvery ikelywouldnot have doneso otherwise.The latter sa secondaryonvert.In the exampleofferedby Chadwick,upper lass wives wereprimaryonvertsand some of their husbands often grudgingly)becamesecondaryconverts.Indeed, t frequentlyccurredhatwhenthe master f a largehouseholdbecamea Christian,all members f the household, ncluding he servantsandslaves,wereexpected o do so too. Keep n mindthat once immersedn the Christian

subculture,venquitereluctant econdaryonverts anbecomeardentpartici-pants.

The ancientsources ndmodernhistorians gree hatprimaryonversionoChristianitywasfarmoreprevalentamong emales hanamongmales.More-over,thisappearso be typicalof newreligiousmovementsn recenttimes.Byexaminingmanuscriptensusreturns orthe latterhalf of the nineteenthcen-tury,Bainbridge1982)found hatapproximatelywo-thirdsf the Shakerswerefemale.Dataon religiousmovements ncluded n the 1926census of religiousbodiesshowthat75 percentof ChristianScientistswerewomen,as weremore

than60 percentof Theosophists, wedenborgians,ndSpiritualistsStarkandBainbridge 985).The same s trueof the immensewaveof Protestant onver-sions akingplace nLatinAmerica. nfact,DavidMartin1990)suggestshat asubstantial roportionf maleProtestantsn LatinAmericaaresecondaryon-verts.

This is not an appropriateplace to speculateon the reasonswhy women in

manydifferent imesandplaces eem to befarmoreresponsiveo religion.Our




interests resufficientlyervedby exploringhe impact fdifferentialonversionrateson the sex ratiosof the Christian ubculturesn the Greco-Romanworld.Given severalreasonable ssumptions,implearithmetic uffices o assess he

magnitudef thechangesdifferentialonversionates ouldhaveproduce.Let'sbeginwith a Christian opulationhat isequallymaleandfemale asex ratioof 100.Letus assume growth ate romconversionloneof 30 percentperdecade.That is,for the momentwewill ignoreanynatural ncrease ndas-sume hatbirthsequaldeaths.Let usalsosupposehat the sexratioamong on-verts s twowomen oreveryman.As notedabove, his is entirely n linewithrecentexperience.Given thesereasonablessumptions e caneasilycalculatethat it will takeonly50 years or this Christian opulationo be 62 percent e-male.Or if we assumea growthrateof 40 percentperdecade,the Christian

populationwill be64 percentemale n 50

years.Ifwewere o factorn reasonablessumptionsboutnatural ncrease nddif-ferentialmortalitywe woulddecrease his sexratio o someextent. Butevenso,the Christian ubcultures ouldhavehad a substantialurplus f women n aworldaccustomedo a vastsurplusf men.Later shallconsider owa surplusfwomenshouldhave resultedn substantialecondaryonversions ia marriagesto pagans.But for now I wishto focuson the simpleconclusion hat thereareabundant easons o acceptthatChristianwomenenjoyeda favorableexratioandto showhow that resultedn Christianwomenenjoying uperiortatus n

comparisonith their

pagan ounterparts.SEXRATIOSAND THE STATUS OFWOMEN

One of the moresignificant ndoriginal ontributionso socialthought nrecentyears s the GuttentagandSecord(1983) theorylinkingcross-culturalvariationsn the statusof women o cross-culturalariationsn sex ratios.The

theory nvolvesa remarkablyubtle inkingofdyadic nd socialstructuraloweranddependency.Forpurposes f this essay t is sufficientmerely o note that

Guttentagand Secordconcludethat to the extent malesoutnumberemales,

womenwill be enclosedin repressiveex roles as men treat them as "scarcegoods."Conversely,o the extentthat females utnumbermales, he Guttentagand Secord heorypredicts hatwomenwillenjoyrelatively reaterpowerandfreedom.

As they applied heirtheory o various ocieties n different ras,GuttentagandSecordnotedthatit illuminatedhe marked ifferencesnthe relative tatusandpowerof AthenianandSpartanwomen.Thatis,within he classicalworld,the status f womenvaried ubstantiallynresponseo variationsnsexratios.

InAthens,womenwere n relativelyhortsupplydue to female nfanticide,

practicedby all classes,and fromadditionaldeaths causedby abortion.Thestatusof Athenianwomenwasverylow. Girlsreceived ittle or no education.

Typically,Athenian femalesweremarried t puberty nd often before.UnderAthenian awa womenwasclassified s a child,regardlessf age,and thereforewasthe legalpropertyf some manat all stages n herlife.Malescoulddivorce

bysimplyordering wifeout of the household.Moreover,f a womenwerese-ducedorraped,her husbandwaslegallycompelledo divorceher. Ifa women




wanted a divorce she had to have her fatheror some other man bringher casebeforea judge.Finally,Athenian women could own property,but control of the

propertyalwayswas vested in the male to whom she "belonged" Guttentagand

Secord 1983;Finley 1982;Promeroy1975).Spartansalsopracticedinfanticide,but without genderbias- only healthy,

well-formedbabies were allowed to live. Since males are more subject to birthdefects and are moreapt to be sickly infants,the resultwasa slight excess of fe-males from infancy,a trend that accelerated with age because of male mortalityfrommilitarylife and warfare.Keep in mind that mortalityrates in militaryen-

campmentsfarsurpassed ivilian rates until well into the twentieth century.At

age 7 all Spartan boys left home for militaryboardingschools and all were re-

quiredto serve in the armyuntil age 30 when they passedinto the active reserve

where they remained until age 60. A subjugatedpeasantryknown as helotssuppliedall of the males in the domestic labor orce.Although men could marryat age 20, they could not live with their wives until they left the active armyat

age 30.

Spartanwomen enjoyedstatus and powerunknown in the restof the classi-cal world.They not only controlled their own property, hey controlled that oftheir male relatives when they were awaywith the army. It is estimated thatwomen were the sole owners of a least 40 percent of all land and propertyin

Sparta (Pomeroy 1975). The laws concerning divorce were the same for menand women. Women received as much education as men and

Spartanwomen

received a substantial amount of physical education and gymnastic training.Spartanwomen seldom marriedbeforeage 20 and, unlike Athenian sisters whowore heavy, concealing gowns and seldom were seen by males outside their

household, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they pleased(GuttentagandSecord 1983;Finley 1982;Pomeroy1975).

RELATIVESTATUS OFCHRISTIANWOMEN

If Guttentag and Secord'stheory is correct, then we would have to predictthat the status of Christian women in the Greco-Roman world would moreclosely approximate that of Spartan women than that of women in Athens.

Although I began with the assertion that Christian women did indeed enjoyconsiderablygreaterstatus and power than did paganwomen, this needs to bedemonstratedat greater ength. The discussionwill focus on two primaryaspectsof female status:within the familyand within the religiouscommunity.

Wives,Widows, ndBrides

Firstof all, a majoraspectof the improvedstatusof women in the Christiansubculture is that Christiansdid not condone female infanticide. Granted thatthis was the resultof the prohibitionof all infanticide. But, the more favorableChristian view of women also is demonstrated n theircondemnationof divorce,incest, marital infidelity, and polygamy.As Fox (1987:354) put it, "fidelity,without divorce, was expected of every Christian."Moreover, although rules

prohibitingdivorce and remarriage volved slowly, the earliest church councils



236 SOCIOLOGYFRELIGION

ruled hat "twice-marriedhristians"ould not hold churchoffice(Fox1987).Likepagans, arlyChristians rized emalechastity,but unlikepagans hey re-

jected the doublestandardwhich gave paganmen so much sexual license

(Sandison1967). Christianmen wereurged o remainvirginsuntil marriage(Fox1987)andextra-maritalex wascondemned sadultery.Chadwick1967:59) notedthatChristianityregardednchastityna husband s no lessseriousbreachof loyaltyand trust hanunfaithfulnessn a wife."Even the greatGreek

physicianGalen waspromptedo remark n Christian"restraintn cohabita-tion" in Benko1986:142).

Should heybewidowed,Christianwomenalsoenjoyedverysubstantiald-

vantages.Paganwidows acedgreatsocialpressureo remarry.Augustus venhad widows ined if they failed to remarrywithin two years(Fox 1987). Of

course,when a paganwidowdid remarryhe lostall of her inheritance,t be-coming he propertyf her new husband. ncontrast, mongChristians,widow-hood washighlyrespected ndremarriageas,if anything,mildlydiscouraged.Thus, not only were well-to-doChristianwidowsenabledto keeptheirhus-band's state, he church toodready o sustainpoorwidows,husallowinghema choice as to whetheror not to remarry. usebius1965:282)provides letterfromCornelius,BishopofRome,written n 251to BishopFabius fAntioch,inwhich he reportedhat "more han fifteenhundredwidowsand distressed er-sons"were nthe careof the localcongregation, hichmayhave included bout

30,000members t thistime.In all theseways he Christianwomanenjoyed argreatermarital ecurityandequalityhan did herpaganneighbor.But therewasanothermajormarital

aspect o the benefitswomengained rombeingChristians. heyweremarriedat a substantially lderage and had more choice aboutwhomthey married.Since, as we shallsee, paganwomenfrequentlywere orced nto pre-pubertal,consummated arriages,his wasno smallmatter.

In a now-classic rticle, he historicaldemographer eithHopkins 1965a)surveyed century f research n the ageof marriagefRomanwomen girls

actually,mostof them. The evidence s both

literarynd

quantitative.naddi-

tion to the standardlassicalhistories, he literary videnceconsistsof writingsbylawyers ndphysicians. hequantitative ataarebasedon inscriptions,mostof themfunerary,romwhichtheageat marriagean becalculatedcf.Harkness1896).

As to thehistories, ilenceoffers trong estimonyhatRomangirlsmarried

young,veryoften beforepuberty. t is possible o calculate hat manyfamousRomanwomenmarried t a tenderage:OctaviaandAgrippinamarried t 11and12,Quintilian'swifeborehima sonwhen she was13,Tacitusweda girlof13, and so on. But in reviewingthe writingabout all of these aristocraticRomans,Hopkins 1965) foundonly one case wherethe ancient writermen-tioned the age of the bride- and this biographerwas himselfa Christianascetic Clearly, avingbeenachildbridewasnotthoughtworthmentioning yancient biographers. eyondsilence, however,the GreekhistorianPlutarch

reportedhatRomans"gaveheirgirls n marriage hentheywere welveyearsold, or even younger"in Hopkins1965a).CassiusDio, also a Greekwriting



RECONSTRUCTINGHERISEOFCHRISTIANITY:HEROLEOFWOMEN

Romanhistory,agreed:"girls re considered.. to have reachedmarriageableageon completion f their welfthyear"Dio 1987:170).

Roman awset 12 as the minimum geat whichgirlscouldmarry.But the

lawcarriedno penaltiesandlegalcommentariesrom he timeinclude uch ad-vice as:"Agirlwho has married efore12 willbe a legitimatewife,whenshebe-comes12."Anotherheldthat whengirlsunderage12married,orlegalpurposestheyshouldbeconsideredngageduntiltheyreached12.Hopkins 1965a:314)concluded:

... we haveno meansof knowingwhetherawyers epresenteddvanced,ypical,orconser-vativeopinionsn thesematters.What we do know sthat inthefragmentsf theiropinionsthat survivehere snosneer rcensure gainstmarriagesefore 2,and herearenoteethin

the laws againstt].

The quantitativedata are basedon severalstudiesof Roman nscriptions,combinedby Hopkins 1965a),fromwhichageat marriageouldbecalculated.Hopkinsalsowasableto separatehese Romanwomenon the basisof religion.He found thatpaganswerethree timesas likelyas Christians o have marriedbeforeage 13 (10 percentwerewedbyage 11).Nearlyhalf(44 percent)of pa-ganshad marriedyage14,compared ith 20percent fChristians.ncontrast,nearlyhalf (48 percent)of Christian emaleshad not wed beforeage 18, com-

paredwith a third

37percent)fpagans.Thosedifferences rehighlysignificant tatistically.But,theyseem of even

greater ocialsignificancewhenwediscover hat a substantial roportionf pa-ganRomangirlsnot onlyweremarried efore he onset of puberty,o menfarolderthanthemselves,but that thesemarriagesypicallywereconsummated tonce.

When the FrenchhistorianDurry 1955) firstreportedhis findingsthatRomanmarriagesnvolving hildbridesnormallywereconsummatedven ifthebridehadnot yet achievedpuberty, e acknowledgedhat this ran counter o

deeplyheld ideasabout he classicalworld.Butthere sample iteraryvidence

that consummation f thesemarriages as takenforgranted.Hopkins 1965)noted that one Roman awdid dealwiththe marriagef girlsunderage 12andintercourse, utwas concerned nly with the questionof heradultery. everalRomanphysicians uggestedhat it mightbe wise to defer intercourseuntilmenarche, utdid notstress he matter Hopkins1965a).

Unfortunately,he literaryources ffer ittleinformationbouthowpre-pu-bertalgirls elt about hesepractices, lthoughPlutarchegardedt asa cruelcus-tom andreported thehatredand fearof girls orcedcontraryo nature." sug-gestthat,evenin the absence f betterevidenceandevenallowing or substan-

tial culturaldifferences,t seemslikelythat manyRomangirlsresponded sPlutarch laimed.Thus,here ooChristian irlsenjoyed substantialdvantage.

Gender ndReligiousoles

It is well-knownhat the earlychurchattracted n unusualnumber f highstatuswomen(Fox1987;Grant1970,1977;Harnack 908).Butthe matterof

237



238 SOCIOLOGYOFRELIGION

interesthere has to do with the rolesoccupiedbywomenwithin arlyChristian

congregations.Let me emphasizehat by earlyChristianity mean the periodcoveringapproximatelyhe firstfive centuries.Afterthat,as Christianitybe-

came he dominant aithoftheempireandassex ratios espondedo the declinein the differential onversionof women,the rolesopento womenbecame armore imited.

As to the statusof women n the earlychurch, herehas been fartoo muchrelianceon I Corinthians4:34-36wherePaulappearso prohibitwomenevenfromspeakingn church.Laurenceannaccone 1982) hasmadea compellingcasethat theseverseswere heoppositeof Paul'spositionandwere nfactaquo-tationof claimsbeingmadeat Corinth that Paulthen refuted.Certainly hestatement s at variancewitheverythinglse Paulwroteabout heproper oleforwomenin the church.

Moreover,Paul several imes

acknowledgedwomenin

leadership ositionsnvariousongregations.In I Romans 6:1-2Paul ntroduces nd commends o the Romancongrega-

tion "our isterPhoebe"who is a "deaconess f the churchat Cenchrea," ndwhohad been ofgreathelpto him.Deaconswereof considerablemportancenthe earlychurch.They assistedat liturgical unctionsand administered hebenevolentand charitable ctivitiesof the church.Clearly,Paulregardedt as

entirelyproperora woman o hold thatposition.Norwas his an isolated ase.Clementof Alexandriawroteof "womendeacons" ndin 451 the Council ofChalcedon pecifiedhat henceforth deaconessmustbeat least40 andunmar-ried(Ferguson 990).From he pagan ide,in his famous etterto the EmperorTrajan,Pliny the Younger 1943) reported hat he had tortured wo youngChristianwomen"whowerecalleddeaconesses."

Not onlydid PaulcommendPhoebe he deaconess o the Romans,he alsosenthis greetingso prominentwoman n the Romancongregation:o Pricilla,whom he acknowledgesorhaving"riskedher neck"on his behalf,to Mary,"whohas worked o hardamongyou,"and to severalotherwomen(I Romans16:1-15).Moreover,n I Timothy:11 Paulagainmentionswomen nthe roleofdeacons,noting hatto qualifyorsuchanappointment omenmustbe"serious,

noslanderers,uttemperatendfaithfulnallthings."That womenoften servedasdeacons n the earlychurchwaslongobscured

because he translators f the KingJamesversionchose to refer o Pheobeasmerely "servant"f thechurch,not as a deacon,and to transformaul'swordsin I Timothynto a commentdirectedowardshe wivesof deacons.1Butthis re-flects the sexist normsof the seventeenthcentury,not the realitiesof earlyChristian ommunities.ndeed, arly nthe thirdcenturyhegreatChristian n-tellectualOrigenwrote hefollowing ommenton Paul's etter o theRomans:

This text teaches with the authorityof the Apostle that ... thereare,as we have alreadysaid,women deacons in the Church, and that the women, who have given assistance to so many

people and who by their good works deserve to be praised by the Apostle, ought to be

acceptedin the diaconate(in Gyrson1976:134).

1 I am indebted to LaurenceR. Iannaccone forpointingout this featureof the King JamesVersion.



RECONSTRUCTING THERISEOFCHRISTIANITY:THE ROLEOF WOMEN 239

All importantmodernranslationsf the Biblenowrestore he originalan-

guageusedbyPaul n thesetwoletters,butsomehowhe illusions ostered ythe

KingJamesalsificationsemainhecommonwisdom.Nevertheless,here s vir-tual consensus

amonghistorians f the

earlychurchaswell

as biblical cholarsthat women held positionsof honor and authoritywithinearlyChristianity(Frend1984;Gryson1976;Cadoux1925).Peter Brown 1988: 144-45)notedthat notonlydid Christians iffer rompagansn thisrespect, utfromJews:

TheChristianlergy.. tooka step hatseparatedhemfrom herabbis f Palestine.. theywelcomedwomenaspatrons ndeven offeredwomen oles nwhich heycouldactascollab-orators.

And none of his colleagueswouldhaveregardedhefollowing laimbythe dis-

tinguishedWayneMeeks 1983:71) scontroversial:

Women .. arePaul's ellowworkerssevangelistsndteachers.Both n terms f theirposi-tion in the larger ocietyandin termsof theirparticipationn the Christian ommunities,then,a number f womenbrokehroughhenormal xpectationsf female oles.

Close examination f Romanpersecutionslsosuggesthat womenheldpo-sitionsof powerand statuswithin he Christian hurches.The actualnumber fChristiansmartyred y the Romanswasquitesmall(MacMullen 984;Grant

1977)and the majority f thoseexecutedwereofficials,ncluding ishops.Thata verysignificant roportionf martyrs erewomen edBonnieBowmanThurs-ton (1989) to suggesthattheyalso musthave beenregardedythe Romansas

holding omesortofofficial tanding. his is consistentwiththefactthewomentortured nd thenprobablyxecutedby Plinyweredeaconesses.

Thus,justas the Guttentag nd Secord heorypredicts,he veryfavorablesex ratioenjoyedby Christianwomensoon was translated nto substantiallymorestatusandpower,bothwithin the familyandwithinthe religiousubcul-ture, han wasenjoyedby paganwomen.Letmenotethat women nRomeand

in Romancities,in contrastwith womenn

the Greekcities of the empire, n-joyed greater reedomandpower MacMullen1984). However, t was in theGreekcitiesof Asia MinorandNorthAfrica hatChristianitymade tsgreatest,earlyheadwayand it is these communities hat arethe focus of this analysis.Granted hateven in thispartof the empire,paganwomen ometimes eld im-

portantpositionswithinvariousmystery ults andshrines.However,hesereli-

giousgroupsand centerswere hemselves elativelyperipheralo powerwithin

pagan ociety, orauthoritywasvestedprimarilyn secular oles.Incontrast,hechurchwas the primaryocialstructure f the Christian ub-culture. ailyliferevolvedaroundhe

church,and

powerresidedn churchoffices.To the extent

that womenheldsignificantoleswithin hechurch, heyenjoyed reater owerand statusthan did paganwomen.Consider hat participationn Mirthraism,whichoften has beenregardedsearlyChristianity's ajor ompetitor,was im-ited to males Ferguson990).

BeforeI conclude this lectureI would like to pursuean additionaland

equally emarkableonsequencef theverydifferent ex ratiosprevailingmongpagans ndChristians.nthepaganworld hat surroundedhe earlyChristians,



240 SOCIOLOGY F RELIGION

an excess numberof men caused wives to be in short supply. But within theChristiansubculture t was husbandswho were in short supply.Herein layan ex-cellent opportunity orgainingsecondaryconverts.

EXOGENOUSMARRIAGEAND SECONDARYCONVERSION

Both Peter and Paul sanctioned marriagebetween Christiansand pagans.Peteradvisedwomen, whose husbandsdid not believe, to be submissiveso that

the husbandsmight be won to faith "whenthey see yourreverentand chaste be-havior" (I Peter3:1-2). Paul gives similaradvice, noting that "an unbelievinghusbandis consecratedthroughhis wife"(I Corinthians :13-14). Both passagescommonly are interpretedas directed towardspersonswhose conversion post-

dated their marriage.In such circumstances,as Wayne Meeks (1983:101) ex-plained, the Christian "divorce rule takes precedence over the preferencefor

groupendogamy."But, I suggestthese passagesmay have reflected a fargreatertolerancefor exogenous marriagehan has been recognized.My reasonsare sev-eral.

We know there was a verysubstantialover-supplyof marriageableChristianwomen and that this was acknowledgedto be a problem.Fox (1987:309) re-

ported the concern among church leaders "to match an excess of Christianwomen to a deficiency of Christian men." Indeed, in about the year 200,

Callistus, Bishop of Rome, upset many of his fellow clerics when he ruled thatChristian women could live in "justconcubinage"without entering into mar-

riage(Brown 1988;Fox 1987;Latourette1937). Although Hippolytusand other

contemporaries denounced the Pope's action as giving license to adultery,HarnackdefendedCallistuson the basis of the circumstanceshe faced.

These circumstancesarosefromthe factof Christiangirlsin the churchoutnumberingyouths;the indulgenceof Callistusitselfproving unmistakably he female element in the church, so

far as the better classes wereconcerned,wasin the majority(1908:2:83-84).

In particular,Callistuswastryingto deal with the problem acingupperclasswomen whose only maritaloptions within he Christiancommunitywereto menof far inferior rank. Should they have entered into legal marriageswith such

men, high-born women would have lost many legal privileges and control oftheir wealth. If high-born Christianwomen found it so difficult to find groomsthat the Bishopof Rome permitted"justconcubinage,"how washe to condemnmiddle-and lower-classChristian women who wed pagans,especiallyif they didso within the church guidelines concerning the religioustraining of the chil-dren?The case of PomponiaGraecina,an aristocratand a veryearlyconvert, is

instructive. It is uncertain whether her husband Plautius ever became aChristian,although he carefullyshieldedher fromgossip,but there seems to beno doubt her children were raised as Christians. According to Marta Sordi

(1986:27) "in the second century [her family] were practicing Christians (amemberof the family is buried n the catacomb of St. Callistus)."I shall demon-stratein subsequentwork that superior ertility playeda decisive role in the riseof Christianity.But had the oversupplyof Christian women resulted n an over-




supplyof unwed,childlesswomen, heirpotential ertilitywouldhavebeende-nied to Christiangrowth.Summinguphis longstudyof the sources,Harnack

(1908:2:79)noted thatmanymixedmarriages erereported ndthat in virtu-

allyall cases"thehusbandwasapagan,whilethewifewasa Christian."Finally,he frequencywithwhichearlychurch athers ondemnedmarriage

to pagans oulddemonstratehatChristians refusedheirsonsanddaughtersn

marriageo nonmembers"MacMullen 984:103).But it couldalso reflect hereverse, incepeople end not to keepharping n matters hat aren't ignificant.Tertullianoffersan interestingxample.Writing n aboutthe year200he vio-

lentlycondemnedChristianwomenwho married agans, escribinghe latteras"slaves f the Devil" in Fox19878:308).He also wrote woangryreatises on-

demning he useof make-up, airdye, fancyclothes,andjewelrybyChristian

women (1959). I certainlywould not conclude from the latter that mostChristianwomenin Tertullian's ime dressedplainlyand rejectedcosmetics.Were thatthe case,Tertullianwouldhave beenan irrelevantool- whichheso obviouslywas not. I incline to a similarinterpretation f his attack onChristianwomenfor marrying agans Tertullian's ngerreflects hat such

marriages ere requent.nfact,Tertullian elt it necessaryo acknowledgehatone of his colleagues laimed hat"whilemarriageo a paganwascertainlyanoffence,it was an extremely rivialoffence" in Harnack1908:2:82).MichaelWalsh (1986) seemsto agreethat intermarriage ascommon.Commenting

upona proposal y Ignatius f AntiochthatChristianshouldmarry nlywiththe permissionf their ocalbishop,Walshwrote:

Ignatius' roposalmayhave beenanattempto encouragemarriageetweenChristians,or

inevitablymarriagesetweenChristians ndpaganswerecommon,especiallyn the earlyyears.The Churchdidnot at firstdiscouragehispractice,whichhad tsadvantages:tmightbring thers ntothefold(p.216).

This is further ncouragedythe lackof concern n earlyChristian ourcesabout losing membersvia marriage o pagans.Peter and Paulhoped that

Christianswouldbring heirspousesntothechurch,but neither eemed o havethe slightestworry hat Christianswouldrevertto, or convertto, paganism.Moreover, agan ources gree.Thecomposuref the Christianmartyrsmazedandunsettledmanypagans.Pliny(1943)noted the "stubbornnessnd unbend-ing obstinacy" f the Christiansbroughtbeforehim - under hreatof deaththeywouldnot recant.The EmperorMarcusAurelius 1916:295)alsoremarkedon theobstinacy f Christianmartyrs. nd GalenwroteofChristianshat"theircontemptof death (andof its sequel) is patent to us every day"(in Benko1984:141).Galen'sreferencewasto the willingnessof Christians o nurse he

sickduringhe greatplague hatstruck he empireat thistime,killingmillions,includingMarcusAurelius Stark1992).The high levels of commitment hattheearly hurchgeneratedmong ts membershouldhave made t safe orthemto enterexogenousmarriages.

That Christians eldom ostout via exogenousmarriageslso is in keepingwith modern observations of high tension religious movements.FemaleJehovah'sWitnesses requentlymarryutside he group Heaton1990).Seldom



242 SOCIOLOGYOFRELIGION

does this result n theirdefectionand it often results n the conversionof the

spouse. ndeed, hisphenomenonssogeneral hat AndrewGreeley 1970)has

proposedhe rulethatwhenever mixedmarriageccurs, he lessreligious er-

sonusuallywilljointhe religion f themorereligiousmember.Buthow much ntermarriageas hereandhow muchdid it mattern termsof producingecondaryonverts?Whatwe doknow s thatsecondaryonversionwasquitefrequent mong he Romanupper lasses Fox1987;Chadwick 967).This waspartlybecausemanymarriedpper-classomenbecameChristiansndthen managedo converttheirspouses this wasespecially ommonby thefourthcentury.But it alsooccurred ecausemanyupper-class hristianwomendid marrypagans,some of whom they subsequentlywere able to convert(Harnack 908).Indeed,PeterBrown1988:154)wroteofChristianwomenasa

"gateway"ntopagan amilieswhere"theywere he wives, servants, ndnursesof unbelievers."In truth,there is no abundance f directevidencethat intermarriagese-

tweenChristianwomenandpaganmenwerewidespread.ut n myjudgment,compellingasecanbe madebyresort o reason. t isreasonableo assume hat:

1.Given the great urplus f marriageablehristianwomen,existing n themidstofa world nwhichwomenwere nshort upply;

2. Giventhat Christians eemnot to have feared hat intermarriageouldresult n theirdaughtersbandoningheir aith;

3. Suchmarriagesught

ohave beencommon.4. Fromwhatwe knowaboutconversionmechanisms,heseintermarriages

ought o have resultedna lotofsecondaryonversions.As discussed arlier, onversion s a networkphenomenonbasedon inter-

personal ttachments. eople oinmovementso aligntheirreligioustatuswiththatof theirfriendsandrelativeswhoalreadybelong.Hence,in order o offer

plausibleccountsof theriseofChristianity, e needto discovermechanismsywhichChristiansormed ttachmentswithpagans.Put anotherway,we needtodiscoverhowChristiansmanagedo remain nopennetwork,bleto keepbuild-ingbondswithoutsiders,atherhan to havebecomea closedcommunity fbe-

lievers.A highrateof exogenousmarriages one such mechanism.And I thinkit wascrucial o the riseofChristianity.

CONCLUSION

HereI haveattemptedo establishhreethings.First, hat Christian ubcul-tures ntheancientworld apidly eveloped verysubstantialurplusffemales,whilein thepaganworldaroundhemmalesgreatly utnumberedemales.Thisshift was the resultof Christianprohibitions gainst nfanticideandabortion

andof substantialexbias n conversion. econd, ully n accordwithGuttentagandSecord'sheory inking he statusof women o sex ratios,Christianwomenenjoyed ubstantiallyigherstatuswithinthe Christian ubcultureshanpaganwomendidin the worldat large.Thiswasespeciallymarked is-a-visgender e-lationswithinthe family,butwomenalsofilledleadership ositionswithinthechurch.Third,givena surplus fChristianwomenand a surplusf paganmen,a



RECONSTRUCTING THE RISE OFCHRISTIANITY:THE ROLEOF WOMEN 243

substantialamount of exogenous marriage ook place, thus providingthe earlychurchwith a steadyflow of secondaryconverts.

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