Discussion Jumpstarter

Study leader reference - not a definitive answer

Question 3

Rodney Stark’s description of Christianity offering charity, attachment, family for widows/orphans, solidarity amid ethnic strife, and nursing during epidemics is used as evidence of early Christian impact; which of those “new norms and social relationships” would be most disruptive if practiced seriously in your city, and why do you think they were so persuasive then?

Another way to ask: Stark says Christians changed society through charity, caring for widows and orphans, unity across ethnic conflict, and nursing the sick. Which of these would most shake up your city if Christians really did it, and why did it convince people back then?

Discussion Jumpstarter

Direct Answer
The transcript points to practical, visible love—especially charity, a new “family” for the vulnerable, and concrete care during crises—as the kind of norm that would most disrupt a city because it creates alternative social bonds and obligations that compete with ordinary self-interest.

Support from Transcript:

Stark is quoted: to “cities filled with the homeless and the impoverished,” Christians offered “charity as well as hope.”
To “newcomers and strangers,” Christianity offered “an immediate basis for attachment.”
To “orphans and widows,” it provided “a new and expanded sense of family.”
To cities with “violent ethnic strife,” it offered “a new basis for social solidarity.”
To cities with “epidemics, fires, and earthquakes,” it offered “effective nursing services.”
Wendell later adds that outsiders noticed Christians “feeding poor people… burying them… caring for… aged slaves and prisoners,” leading to “Look, how they love one another.”

Discussion Follow-ups Which of these practices would most strain your church’s budget, schedule, and comfort—and what would it communicate to outsiders if done steadily?

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