An arrow rest for an archery bow is formed by a stationary shaft extending transversely across the bowstring movement plane, and a single roller rotatably mounted on the shaft. The roller has an annular groove that forms two axially spaced flanges engageable with the undersurface of an arrow shaft. During the arrow launching process the arrow side surface rides along the edges of the roller flanges so as to cause the roller to spin around the shaft axis. The roller includes a roller body formed of an elastomeric material so that frictional contact between the arrow and the roller body flanges is essentially noiseless.