Thematic Quarter: reading books on Christianity

So, after testing this idea for a week, I can assure you that we are sticking to it.

Idea: read books on specific topic for 3 months (a quarter of a year, fiscally speaking)

Uploaded image — all the books on my e-reader but arranged beautifully

I have amassed a number of books on Christianity because of curiosity. My English tutor did his job very well and “converted” me to atheism at the tender age of 12. The culprit was the book “Gadfly”. The train of thought was simple: if the institution was so evil, then the idea behind it (the religion) is meaningless. I have developed a more profound understanding of this world-view since, but curiosity remained. Nothing to justify or to defend, but the cultural and societal impact of Christianity is enormous to this day.

Thus I have decided to pick several books on this topic and read only those in the upcoming months. As a classical mood reader, this is quite a challenge. On the picture you might notice “I”, as the first thematic quarter, but perfectionism is not welcomed here, so we’ll see, how it works long-term, will there be a "II"? Plus 3 months are arbitrary, I don’t really care how long it might take. This is a passion project, not a prison sentence.

I started with the general overview by Diarmaid MacCulloch (thank God - pun intended - this is a blog and not a YouTube channel, as I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this really formidable scholar) and have managed to read through the first 3 chapters this week: the impact of Antiquity, the impact of Judaism and the story of Jesus. This non-fiction is a piece of art, I am laughing out loud when the author allows jokes. But the scope is mind-blowing, though it is clear, that if one wants to go deeper, one needs to read additional literature. So it happens that my ebook hoarding finally bears fruit.

There are two particular areas that are of great interest for me: Papacy and History&Culture. Can’t explain how it happened.

Anyway, will continue reading and sharing progress here, stay tuned, if you want :)

P.S. Upon googling the pronunciation of Diarmaid MacCulloch‘s name, I stumbled upon his BBC documentaries. It will be cheating to watch them now, so I’ll finish his book first. But hey, I now know how to say his name correctly!