Stark argues that, contrary to popular belief, Christianity was a movement, not of the lower classes and the oppressed, but of the upper and middle classes in the cities and of Hellenized Jews. Stark also discusses the exponential nature of the growth of religion, and why hence the speed of Christianity is not as miraculous as might be thought. Stark points to a number of advantages that Christianity had over paganism to explain its growth: While others fled cities, Christians stayed in urban areas during plague, ministering and caring for the sick; Christian populations grew faster, due to the prohibition of abortion, infanticide and birth control; Christians did not fight against their persecutors by open violence or guerrilla warfare. They willingly went to their martyrdom while praying for their captors, which added credibility to their evangelism. Women were valued and allowed to participate in worship leading to a high rate of secondary conversion, whereas in paganism, men outnumbered women. Stark''s basic thesis is that, ultimately, Christianity triumphed over paganism because it improved the quality of life of its adherents at that time.

The Rise of Christianity

The novel is set three months after The Dolphins of Laurentum and six months after the children solved their first mystery. The Geminus household is still suffering financially from the loss of the Myrtilla. It is winter AD 79 during the five-day festival of the Saturnalia, a time when the status quo is upset. Ostia is further excited by the escape of some exotic wild animals, possible man-eaters. The children narrowly escape an alarming-looking bird. Flavia is disturbed when her father Marcus starts talking about her betrothal and insisting that she should stop running around Ostia playing detective with her unconventional friends. She blames her father''s change of attitude on his new ladylove, Cartilia Poplicola, and is determined to prove that the widow is a fortune-hunter, a witch, or even a murderess. Several signs, including a dream, make Flavia believe that following a trail guided by the twelve labours of Hercules will lead her to the truth. These are generally places in Ostia, such as the Hydra fountain and the Atlas tavern, but also events like the capture of the escaped lion or people such as the gladiator nicknamed the Cretan Bull. Flavia and the others pick up scraps of news and gossip about Cartilia and her family which they try to piece together. The detectives meet Cartilia''s sister Diana and eventually discover her secret love for Aristo, which explains some strange events and clears Cartilia of wrongdoing. However, uncovering another secret destroys Marcus''s trust in Cartilia, and Flavia is unexpectedly unhappy about it. A fever sweeps through Ostia and many fall sick, including Flavia and Marcus. The first wave of sickness, however, is just the precursor of a more deadly plague which will be important in the seventh book, The Enemies of Jupiter.

The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina

According to Lawrence Sutin''s book, Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick, (1989) the plot survives only as an index card synopsis from the publisher dated 24 October 1956, after the manuscript had already been rejected one time. The reader''s comments on the rewrite as follows: :"Didn''t like this before & still don''t. Long, rambling, glum novel about 65 yr old Greek immigrant who has a weakling son, a second son about whom he''s indifferent, a wife who doesn''t love him (She''s being unfaithful to him). Nothing much happens. Guy, selling garage & retiring, tries to buy another garage in new development, has a couple of falls, dies at end. Point is murky but seems to be that world is disintegrating, Stavros supposed to be symbol of vigorous individuality now a lost commodity." In a letter from 1960, the author himself commented on the titular character in an unexpectedly optimistic fashion: :"Contact with vile persons does not blight or contaminate or doom the really superior; a man can go on and be successful, if he just keeps struggling. There is no trick that the wicked can play on the good that will ultimately be successful; the good are protected by God, or at least by their virtue."

A Time for George Stavros

The Tricky Part tells the story of the relationship and its effect on Moran, who grew up as a homosexual. It describes Moran’s sexual awakening, and how he and a chubby friend of his called George, go with Bob to get the camp ready. Bob pulls Moran into his sleeping bag the first night they are alone (with George asleep beside them) and abuses him. A year later, Moran discovers that a friend of his, Kip, another 13-year-old, is also being abused by Bob. The abuse continues through puberty and adolescence and Moran tries to tell Bob that he wants it all to stop. Bob''s response is to invite the boy into bed with him and his cowgirl-friend Karen. Bob is finally arrested and jailed for his sex crimes. Moran''s desperate coming-of-age is described with candor and humor and sets out the paradox that what is, in nearly everyone’s eyes, a seriously damaging experience, can be the very thing that gives "rise to transformation, even grace". The book condemns adult–child sex. Moran is ambivalent about the touching and other sexual acts. He tries to commit suicide twice, but eventually finds his feet in Off Broadway and Broadway theater. Moran has also developed and performed The Tricky Part as a one-man play. fr:Un truc à part

The Tricky Part: One Boy''s Fall from Trespass into Grace

The novel is about Birdie and Cole, multiracial sisters who become separated in life because of their differing appearances and the racial identities which people ascribe to them. In the beginning of the novel, the narrator Birdie is not classified by appearance. Her sister Cole is described as "cinnamon-skinned, curly haired",Senna, Danzy. Caucasia. [[Riverhead Books], New York (1998)]. traits associated with African Americans of mixed race. Senna hints that the girls'' mother is European American (her belly is called a "pale balloon" on page 5 of the novel). Over time, race, as experienced by the girls in United States society, creates a rift between their lives. As young girls, Birdie and Cole speak an indistinguishable language of their creation which they call "Elemeno". The closeness between the two sisters suggests that appearance is not a defining characteristic of personality or behavior. Senna offers culture and atmosphere as having the most profound effect on a child''s development. Birdie especially struggles to identify with and reconcile her multiracial identity. At the end of the novel, the two sisters are reunited in Berkeley. The two sisters are separated when their father decides to leave for Brazil in search of a more racially harmonious society and their mother flees their home in fear that she is in trouble with the FBI. Each parent takes the child that is closest to them in appearance, Cole leaving with her father and his new girlfriend and Birdie leaving with her mother. In order to avoid being caught, Birdie and her mother adopt false identities and Birdie is forced to change her name to Jesse Goldman and pass as a Jewish girl. Birdie and her mother remain on the lam for several years, but even as time passes Birdie is unable to fully adopt this new identity. She cannot forget her sister, her father, or her the race that she truly is. She hopes for the day when her family will be reunited and she can stop the facade. Near the end of the novel, after being separated from Cole and her father, Birdie runs away from her mother in order to find them. Her mom has forced her to pass as a Jewish girl for years. Cole, with her darker skin and thicker hair, has been passing as black with their father. Once Birdie comes to realize that she may never be reunited with them unless she takes it upon herself, she leaves her mother to find them. Before meeting with Cole again, she reunites with her father, whom she is angry with. She cannot understand why racial appearance has caused division in her family. Birdie says to her father, "I heard myself say, ''Fuck the canaries in the fucking coal mines. You left me. You left me with Mum, knowing she was going to disappear. Why did you only take Cole? Why didn''t you take me? If race is so make-believe, why did I go with Mum? You gave me to Mum ''cause I looked white. You don''t think that''s real? Those are the facts." Senna, Danzy. Caucasia. [[Riverhead Books], New York (1998)]. (336) For so long, Birdie was made to believe that there was some logical reason behind the splitting of her family. In her immaturity, she was led to think that her passing as someone else and constant displacement were for a greater cause and that her family would eventually be reunited. Birdie’s inability to understand and lashing out against her parents in the end shows she has successfully come of age. After years of struggling to maintain some sense of who she was while having to cover it up in different ways based on her environment, she grew to recognize the ridiculousness of her circumstances. She no longer sees her parents for what she grew up envisioning them as. She is angry that something so shallow could have such deep repercussions for her and her family. She cannot make sense of her father''s lack of effort in planning a return to her. An irony exists in her father’s working so hard at writing about race while working so little at forming a relationship with his mulatto daughter based on her racial appearance. Birdie comes to understand that there is nothing to understand about the actions of her mother and father. The way in which skin color has ruined her childhood and the fact that her parents allowed it to is too insensible for her to ever make sense of. Through this coming of age novel, Birdie grows to understand the ridiculousness in accepting appearance as a determining characteristic of performance.

Caucasia

Kenelm begins his tale by telling of the hardships and misery he suffered during his time at the monastery, and of how he was gifted to the Christians by King Guthlac, his uncle, aged ten. The young Kenelm resents Guthlac and longs to be back at court, to enjoy the bright colours, good food, excellent storytelling and beautiful women there. He hates the life of boring prayers, bad food and degrading menial chores as a monk, and despite years of being taught the Christian ways, he still believes fervently in his own Norse gods, and in his ancestor Woden. He prays to Woden desperately to be allowed to return there without disgracing himself or his family, as he cannot leave the monastery without doing so. As he finishes his prayer, a monk summons him to the dining hall, where he notices a trio of house-carls, kept warriors, that serve his uncle King Guthlac. Under the direction of his Abbot, he bathes and changes, and visits his Abbess, who informs him that it has been requested that he leave the monastery to do his uncle''s business. Kenelm, overjoyed, realises that his ancestor Woden has granted his prayers. Despite the Abbess''s disapproval, she allows him a month''s leave, and makes him promise to pray three times a day. Kenelm agrees, but privately swears to himself that he will pray to Woden. He then leaves with the house-carls, who tell him about the deadly plague that has swept through the court, laying low almost everybody, including the king and queen. Fortunately, the monastery is so excluded that Kenelm has never heard of the plague they are talking about, and is fit and healthy. Upon arriving at the court, Old Egwin tells him of the murderous Foreigners that are invading the country, and that nobody is strong enough to stand against them. He commands Kenelm to go to find help, revealing that the only creatures capable of helping him are the Wood Women, powerful spirits related to Woden and the Norse gods that are famed for singing to men and leading them until they are lost in the woods. Kenelm journeys into the woods and breaks a twig, as instructed by Egwin. At this, three young, beautiful, naked women emerge from the trees, dark-haired and with big dark eyes, blood-red lips and sharp white teeth. Kenelm, though very afraid, begs them in Egwin''s name to drive off the Foreigners, and they, after some persuasion, agree, because they knew Old Egwin when he was a young man.

The Wolf-Sisters

Danny is an aging hipster in New York City who has fallen on hard times. He doesn''t have a real career and he has a habit of burning bridges with old friends. His cousin Howard presents him with an opportunity to come to eastern Europe and help convert an old castle into an alternative resort. Danny has a troubled relationship with Howard. Many years before, when they were children, he cruelly left Howard stranded deep in a cave for days, traumatizing him badly, and ruining much of his childhood. But Danny is desperate for money so he decides to work for Howard, and travels to the castle, severing his relationships with his New York world. He plunges himself into the strange environment of the castle and puts himself at the mercy of the cousin he betrayed many years before. It soon becomes clear that this castle is a deeply strange place with a dark history that isn''t entirely finished. It has secret passages, bizarre inhabitants, and seems to operate by different rules from the outside world. Danny, cut off from his familiar New York world, is unsure whether the castle is haunted or his own perceptions are becoming increasingly distorted. He thinks that his cousin may be out to get him and the castle may be a giant trap. When Danny attempts to escape from the castle he encounters a series of mysterious roadblocks. No matter what he does, fate seems to be directing Danny back to the castle, and towards a final confrontation with his cousin Howard. Together, they end up trapped deep within the bowels of the castle, where they are forced to re-enact the traumas of childhood. Together they must figure out a way to escape and survive.

The Keep

The Chiricahua Apache chief, Victorio, called his sister Lozen his wise counselor and his right hand. He said she had the strength of a man and was a shield to her people. Even in a society possessing extraordinary courage, endurance and skill, she was unique. The Apaches believe that when she was young, the spirits blessed her with horse magic, the gift of healing and the power to see enemies at a distance. In the Apaches’ 30-year struggle to defend their homeland, they came to rely on her strength, wisdom, and supernatural abilities. Because of her gift of far-sight, she was the only unmarried woman allowed to ride with the warriors and fight alongside them. After her beloved brother Victorio''s death, she joined Geronimo''s band of insurgents. With Geronimo and fifteen other warriors, she resisted the combined forces of the United States and Mexican armies, and the heavily armed civilian populations of New Mexico and Arizona Territories. She and the sixteen warriors, and seventeen women and children held out against a total of about nine thousand men. :Smoke from the grass fire smudged the blue sky of early May, but it did not obscure the footprints in the moist sand in the arroyo. The footprints weren’t a mystery. For miles the soldiers had been following the woman who made them. :“She’s heading up the canyon.” Lt. Howard Bass Cushing beckoned to thirteen of the sixteen privates in the company. “These men and I will trail her. Sergeant Mott, you and Collins, Green, Pierce, and Fichter cover the rear.” :“The tracks are too clear, sir,” said John Mott. :“What do you mean?” :“The squaw set her feet down heavy. She avoided places where the prints won’t show. Looks like she wants us to follow her.” :“More than likely she doesn’t know we’re here. She’s being careless.” :“Apaches aren’t careless.” Rafe knew that disagreeing with Cushing wouldn''t change his mind, but he had to try. … Rafe kept his peace on the subject of Cushing and stared at the thorny landscape until his eyes watered. :“If I were an Apache. I’d set up an ambuscade in that canyon,’ said Mott. “That dry gulch is a sack waiting to close around us.” :As though on cue, rifle fire reverberated across the canyon. Where no Apache had been, dozens appeared. Cushing and his troops retreated and joined Mott and Rafe to form a line, firing as they fell back. :The Apaches advanced down the slope in two lines, keeping formation rather than scattering…

Ghost Warrior

Hannah Stern is a young jewish girl living in the present day. She is bored by her relative''s stories about the past and not looking forward to the Passover Seder and is tired of her religion while at it She says she is tired of remembering. When Hannah symbolically opens the door for the prophet Elijah, she is transported back in time to 1941 in Poland of World War II. At that time and place, the people believe she is Chaya Abramowicz, who is recovering from cholera, the fever that killed Chaya''s parents a few months ago. The strange remarks Hannah/Chaya makes about the future and her inability to recognize her "aunt" Gitl and "uncle" Shmuel are blamed on the fever. At her uncle''s wedding, the Nazis come to transport the entire population of the village to a concentration camp near Donavin, and only Hannah knows all the terrors that they will face: starvation, mistreatment, forced labor, and finally execution. She struggles to survive at the camp, with the help of a girl named Rivka. At the concentration camp, Aunt Gitl, Hannah, Uncle Shmuel, and some other men try to escape. The men are caught and are shot in front of the inmates, except for Gitl and Hannah who return to their barracks and Yitzchak who escapes. Fayge, Shmuel''s girlfriend, is also killed because she runs to Shmuel when he is about to be shot. Later, when Hannah and the girls from Viosk are talking, while waiting for water, they are caught by a new Nazi soldier, who sends Esther, Shifre, and Rivka to the gas ovens. As Rivka is about to leave, Hannah takes Rivka''s place and tells her to run, since the guard doesn''t know their faces. Then, after she walks into "Lilith''s Cave" to be gassed, she is transported back to her family''s Seder. She notices Aunt Eva''s number was the same as Rivka''s, and while recounting her experience to her aunt, the aunt reveals that when she was in the concentration camps, she was called Rivka (and her brother was called Wolfe, which was Grandpa Will) and was saved by a girl named Chaya Abramowicz while in a consentration camp.

The Devil''s Arithmetic

The framing story concerns a man who dreams of speaking to Venus about love while she wears furs. The unnamed narrator tells his dreams to a friend, Severin, who tells him how to break him of his fascination with cruel women by reading a manuscript, Memoirs of a Suprasensual Man. This manuscript tells of a man, Severin von Kusiemski, who is so infatuated with a woman, Wanda von Dunajew, that he asks to be her slave, and encourages her to treat him in progressively more degrading ways. At first Wanda does not understand or accede to the request, but after humouring Severin a bit she finds the advantages of the method to be interesting and enthusiastically embraces the idea, although at the same time she disdains Severin for allowing her to do so. Severin describes his feelings during these experiences as suprasensuality. Severin and Wanda travel to Florence. Along the way, Severin takes the generic Russian servant''s name of "Gregor" and the role of Wanda''s servant. In Florence, Wanda treats him brutally as a servant, and recruits a trio of African women to dominate him. The relationship arrives at a crisis when Wanda herself meets a man to whom she would like to submit, a Byronic hero known as Alexis Papadopolis. At the end of the book, Severin, humiliated by Wanda''s new lover, loses the desire to submit. He says of Wanda:

Venus in Furs

The story is set in United States on the brink of economic collapse, where inflation is spiraling out of control and the government struggles to keep hold of its power. Trading in foreign currency has become illegal and many shops are subject to rationing. As a result there is a sprawling black market for almost all conceivable goods. The setting reflects the world as Samuel Edward Konkin III conceived it would be just prior to a successful agorist revolution. The story begins with Elliot Vreeland, son of Nobel Laureate economist Dr Martin Vreeland (an economist of the Austrian school) hearing of his father''s apparent death and being rushed home from school. He quickly discovers however that the death is fake, a plot concocted by his father (after receiving a tip-off) to escape arrest by the FBI who are rounding up "radicals" accused by the government of worsening the economic crisis. Eliot is sent by his father to collect some gold coins that had been stored in a safe location, for use as hard currency during the families intended escape. However, upon his return Eliot finds his family to be missing. Not long after, FBI agents enter the house searching for Eliot who manages to escape. Eliot''s escape leads him into contact with the Revolutionary Agorist Cadre, an organisation plotting the downfall of the US government through the means of counter-economics. The cadre has grown strong over the years of its existence, and has its own militia and extensive underground network. Eliot enlists the help of the Cadre, and meets Lorimer, a girl similarly on the run from the law. As the novel progresses, government stability weakens still further, and they bring in tight controls on communication, travel and trade, however they fail to avert total collapse, leading to the private sector (unions, individuals, syndicates and many others) taking control of the old infrastructure.

Alongside Night

Julian is told from the perspective of teenager Adam Hazzard, who lives in the rural town of Williams Ford, in the state of Athabaska (today a region in Canada, but in the story, a part of the greater United States) in 2172, at a time when technology has regressed to 19th century levels. The story deals with his relationship with his friend Julian Comstock (later in life called Julian Conqueror or Julian the Agnostic), an aristocratic boy of his age with radical beliefs about God, science, and evolution, notably his beliefs in DNA and the Moon Landings, in defiance of the omnipresent and theocratic Church of the Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth, which came about as a result of the end of oil in the 21st century, a time which was later interpreted as a Biblical Tribulation. Julian is the nephew of the President, Deklan Comstock, and it is rumored that Deklan may send Julian to fight in the Labrador War against the European powers, in order to quiet dissent against him that his family does not care about the soldiers. The story centers on how Adam and Julian will avoid the coming draft and remain alive despite Julian''s beliefs. Robert Charles Wilson has created a full length novel of the story of Julian, titled Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America.

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The Rise of Christianity

No Author Listed

The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina

By Caroline Lawrence

A Time for George Stavros

By Philip K. Dick

The Tricky Part: One Boy's Fall from Trespass into Grace

By Martin Moran

Caucasia

By Danzy Senna

The Wolf-Sisters

By Susan Price

The Keep

By Jennifer Egan

Ghost Warrior

By Lucia St. Clair Robson

The Devil's Arithmetic

By Jane Yolen

Venus in Furs

By Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Alongside Night

By J. Neil Schulman

Julian: A Christmas Story

By Robert Charles Wilson