God shall have a starring role in my history of the world. How
could it be otherwise? If He exists, then He is responsible for
the whole marvellous appalling narrative. If He does not, then
the very proposition that He might has killed more people and
exercised more minds than anything else. He dominates the stage.
Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger
I do not know if you are one of those who look down on every-
thing called religion and theology with disdain or indifference.
And yet, no matter how one looks at Christianity, and possibly
regards it as a mistake, is it not of real value to pursue the
history of this mistake and discover the world shaking events and
transformations this mistake had caused?
Adolf von Harnack, private letter, 1869
(cited in Frend 2003: 11)