Christianity, three ignitions
An illegal sect, a state religion, a print movement. Fifteen hundred years apart, and each one starts over.
- 14 Early Christianity 30 CE
- 16 Imperial Christianity 312 CE
- 25 The Reformation 1517
Sets
One religion,
more than one ignition.
The obvious unit for a series like this is one religion per book. It produces the wrong number of books and the wrong shape of book. The unit here is one tradition’s arc from ignition to first division — so a tradition that ignited more than once holds more than one slot.
Buddhism, four ignitions
A north Indian forest, a sutra workshop, a lineage certificate, and a Tibetan printing house that never stopped.
- 10 Buddhism c.480 BCE
- 15 Mahayana Buddhism c.100 CE
- 20 Zen c.700 CE
- 21 Tibetan Buddhism c.779 CE
Islam, three ignitions
Mecca and the standardised codex, Karbala and the named chain, then the order as a franchise.
- 17 Islam 610 CE
- 18 Sunni and Shia 656 CE
- 22 Sufism 8th c. CE
Hinduism, three ignitions
Recitation with checksums, the deed engraved in copper, and the reform society with a printing press.
- 03 The Vedic World c.1500 BCE
- 12 Classical Hinduism c.400 BCE
- 27 Modern Hinduism 1828
Belief System
Explore the history.
Search across thirty-one traditions. Follow a chapter, compare historical periods, or trace an argument back to its sources.