Historical Writings

Martyrdom of Theodoritus, a Greek-speaking Syrian Christian priest, during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate. His relics will be taken to Uz

During the Fifth Session of the Council of Chalcedon, the final form of the Chalcedonian Creed was drafted. It became the Early Church's highest and most enduring "definition" of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Revival leader Jonathan Dickinson obtains a charter for the College of New Jersey to train Presbyterian pastors. It will become Princeton University.

Death in Jacksonville, Florida, of James William Charles Pennington, an escaped slave who had become a Presbyterian pastor and abolitionist, author of the autobiographical The Fugitive Blacksmith and of the first history of African Americans published in the United States.

C. S. Lewis preaches a sermon at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford in which he asks, "How can we study Latin, geography, algebra in a time like this? Aren't we just fiddling while Rome burns?" He then assures the assembled students that it is worthwhile and essential to continue studies even in the face of World War II.

The complete Jewish Torah was published in English for the first time. A collection of oral and written commentary (dating 200 BC to AD 500) on the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah comprises the basic religious code of Judaism.

Death of Paul Tillich, existentialist Lutheran theologian, infamous for describing God as the "ground of all being."

Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth declared in a letter: 'God makes no mistakes.'

Harold John Ockenga, a leading fundamentalist, is inaugurated as president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Death of Emmanuel Adekunle Atilade, who had been an educator, writer, poet and composer, but above all a zealous pastor and evangelist for the Nigerian Baptist Convention and Gospel Baptist Conference.