Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, March 23rd, 2023
the Fourth Week of Lent
the Fourth Week of Lent
There are 17 days til Easter!
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
Historical Writings
Today in Christian History
Thursday, November 9
1518
In response to Martin Luther's recent challenge to indulgences, Pope Leo X issues the bull Cum postquam which defends indulgences as a treasury of merits. Authority for the date: "Cum postquam." Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1273238/Cum-postquam
1538
German reformer Martin Luther declared: 'It would be a good thing if young people were wise and old people were strong, but God has arranged things better.'
1572
Fifteen days before his death, John Knox preaches his last sermon in Edinburgh. Authority for the date: Lansdale, Maria Hornor. Scotland, Historic and Romantic. Edinburgh: Oliphant Anderson and Ferrier
1786
Ordination of Jedidiah Morse as a Congregationalist minister. He will become a lifelong opponent of Unitarianism, founding and editing a journal to defend orthodoxy and, when Harvard elects a Unitarian to its Hollis Chair of Divinity, will help bring about the creation of Andover Theological Seminary to counter Harvard's liberal theology. Authority for the date: Wikipedia.
1800
Birth of Asa Mahan, American educator and Congregational clergyman. President of Oberlin College in Ohio from 1835-1850, Mahan was instrumental in establishing interracial college enrollment and in the granting of college degrees to women.
1836
Birth of Christian business traveler Samuel Hill. In 1899 Hill, John Nicholson and W.J. Knights co-founded the Gideons, a Christian organization that ministers through distribution of the Scriptures. To date, the Gideons have placed over 12 million Bibles and 100 million New Testaments.
1837
British philanthropist Moses Montefiore, 52, became the first Jew to be knighted in England. Montefiore was a banking executive who devoted his life to the political and civil emancipation of English Jews.
1844
Death in Hannibal, Missouri, of evangelist Barton W. Stone, a founding leader of the the Stone-Campbell movement, later to be known as the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ. Authority for the date: Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals.
1865
Death of Henry Ballantine, missionary to India, who helped translate the Bible into Marathi. Authority for the date: http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.ballantine/83/mb.ashx
1929
Soviets arrest the Orthodox priest Michael Gordeyevich Zaitsev for "counter-revolutionary agitation." The following March he will be executed by being shot. Authority for the date: Moss, Vladimir. Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of the Urals, Siberia and Central Asia.
1938
The worst Jewish pogrom in peacetime Germany took place as Nazi thugs led a "spontaneous" campaign of terror. During the night 267 synagogues were plundered, 7,500 shops were wrecked, 91 Jews were killed and 20,000 others were arrested and sent to concentration camps. It was afterward known as "Kristallnacht" because of the thousands of windows broken.
1987
Death of Reuben Akinwalere George, the founding general overseer of the Gospel Faith Mission International of Nigeria, a movement that grew rapidly in part because of his faith and zeal. Through his vision, the denomination developed schools and a publishing house. Authority for the date: Dictionary of African Christian Biography.
Copyright Statement
© 1987-2020, William D. Blake. Portions used by permission of the author, from "Almanac of the Christian Church"
© 1987-2020, William D. Blake. Portions used by permission of the author, from "Almanac of the Christian Church"
Subscribe
Receive the newest devotional each week in your inbox by joining the "Today in Christian History" subscription list. Enter your email address below, click "Subscribe!" and we will send you a confirmation email. Follow the instructions in the email to confirm your addition to this list.