Challenge: 50 Books discussion

In the year 2007, I read 79 books.
In the year 2008, I read 100 books.
In the year 2009, I read 165 books.
In the year 2010, I read 145 books.
In the year 2011, I read 82 books.
In the year 2012, I read 62 books.
In the year 2013, I read 90 books.
In the year 2014, I read 87 books.
In the year 2015, I read 126 books.
In the year 2016, I read 113 books.
In the year 2017, I read 153 books.
In the year 2018, I read 100 books.
In the year 2019, I read 102 books.
In the year 2020, I read 64 books.

I had a sense in advance that I had a lot going against hitting the 90-book goal I'd set for myself last year. But little did I know what zany antics 2020 would get up to! Having undergone a pretty serious illness, various job-related traumas, etc., in the end I only managed 64, my second-to-worst year since I've been tracking.

I want to beat that in the new year. I'm determined to recover my focus. So while I hope to read plenty, I'll consider this year a success if I can manage 70 books.

So far, I've completed just one:

1) Luther as Heretic: Ten Catholic Responses to Martin Luther, 1518-1541, edited by M Patrick Graham and David V.N. Bagchi

Jonathan wrote: "I had a sense in advance that I had a lot going against hitting the 90-book goal I'd set for myself last year. But little did I know what zany antics 2020 would get up to! Having undergone a pretty serious illness, various job-related traumas, etc., in the end I only managed 64, my second-to-worst year since I've been tracking.

I want to beat that in the new year. I'm determined to recover my focus. So while I hope to read plenty, I'll consider this year a success if I can manage 70 books."

64 and 70 are still pretty amazing, even if they weren't what you wanted to reach. Good luck in 2021!

This is going slower than expected thus far, but I take consolation that there will eventually be a rush of books finished about simultaneously.

2) Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World by John Granger Cook

3) Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought by Luigi Gambero

4) Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion by Stephen J. Shoemaker

5) The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach by Michael R. Licona

6) "He Descended to the Dead": An Evangelical Theology of Holy Saturday by Matthew Y. Emerson

7) On the Two Ways: Life or Death, Light or Darkness: Foundational Texts in the Tradition (Popular Patristics 41), edited by Alistair Stewart-Sykes

8) A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward by Ralph Martin

9) Ignatius of Antioch: The Letters (Popular Patristics 49) by St. Ignatius of Antioch

10) Philo VII: On the Decalogue + On the Special Laws. by Philo of Alexandria and translated by F. H. Colson

11) The Eulogius Corpus (Translated Texts for Historians 71), translated by Kenneth Baxter Wolf

12) Ambrose: De Officiis, volume 1: Introduction, Text, and Translation by St. Ambrose of Milan and edited/translated by Ivor J. Davidson

13) The Church: Sacraments, Worship, Ministry, Mission by Donald G. Bloesch

14) Works on the Spirit (Popular Patristics 43) by St. Athanasius of Alexandria and Didymus the Blind

15) The Church We Believe in: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic by Francis A. Sullivan, S.J.

16) Catholics and Protestants: What Can We Learn from Each Other? by Peter Kreeft

17) The Decalogue in Jewish and Christian Tradition, edited by Henning Graf Reventlow and Yair Hoffman

18) The Decalogue Through the Centuries: From the Hebrew Scriptures to Benedict XVI, edited by Jeffrey P. Greenman and Timothy Larsen

19) The Church of God in Jesus Christ: A Catholic Ecclesiology by Roch A. Kereszty, O.Cist.

20) The Ten Commandments: Interpreting the Bible in the Medieval World by Lesley J. Smith

21) This We Believe! Meditations on the Apostles' Creed by Timothy C. Tennent

22) The Apostles' Creed and Its Early Christian Context by Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski

23) Credo: Meditations on the Apostles' Creed by Hans Urs von Balthasar

24) The Apostles' Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits by R. Albert Mohler Jr.

25) Creed: What Christians Believe and Why by Adam Hamilton

26) What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles’ Creed by Michael F. Bird

27) The Faith We Profess: A Catholic Guide to the Apostles' Creed by Peter J. Vaghi

28) The Apostles' Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism by Ben Myers

29) Three Treatises on the Divine Images (Popular Patristics 24) by St. John of Damascus and translated by Andrew Louth

30) Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (2nd ed.), by Martha T. Roth

31) The One Church of Christ: Understanding Vatican II by Stephen A. Hipp

32) Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters by Carmen Joy Imes

33) National Religion: Sermons on the Ten Commandments (1888) by Allan Menzies

34) The Law of Sinai: Being Devotional Addresses on the Ten Commandments (1896) by B. W. Randolph

35) The Ten Commandments in History and Tradition, edited by Gershon Levi

36) The Chronicle of Adam Usk, 1377-1421 by Adam of Usk and edited/translated by C. Given-Wilson

37) Thy Will Be Done: The Ten Commandments and the Christian Life by Gilbert Meilaender

38) The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life by David Hazony

39) Learning Christ: Ignatius of Antioch & the Mystery of Redemption by Gregory Vall

40) Teaching with Authority: How to Cut Through Doctrinal Confusion & Understand What the Church Really Says by Jimmy Akin

41) The Catholic Priesthood: Biblical Foundations by Thomas J. Lane

42) Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What to Do about It by David Zahl

43) Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life by Elizabeth Scalia

44) The Book of St. Gilbert, edited by Raymonde Foreville and Gillian Keir

45) Sacrifice and Community: Jewish Offering and Christian Eucharist by Matthew Levering

46) Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary: Unveiling the Mother of the Messiah by Brant Pitre

47) Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel by Kate Bowler

48) Liturgical Sermons (Vol. 1) by Bl. Guerric of Igny

49) Palladius of Aspuna: The Lausiac History by Palladius of Galatia and translated by John Wortley