1555 HT: Dan Graves All John Hooper wanted to do was to pray. He went to bed at five the evening before, then rose early, on this day, February 9, 1555, so that he might pray in the early hours of the morning. When it was light, he asked that no one be allowed into his…
356 HT: Christianity.com The historic Christian faith was forged in turbulent times and under perilous conditions. The creeds and doctrines that shaped our Christian identity emerged from intense theological battles. There were times of physical violence in the process of defining the central teachings of the faith. For example, the question of exactly who Jesus was. Here…
1945 HT: Christian History Institute BUCHENWALD was among the first and largest of the German concentration camps. Although it was not officially an extermination camp, a large number of its inmates died from overwork and starvation, or by execution, torture, and cruel experiments. On this day 7 February 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was transferred from Tegel…
1564 HT: Christianity.com On this day, February 6, 1564, an era came to an end. The man who had done as much as any other to forge the theology of the Reformation, preached his last sermon. Unable to walk, John Calvin was carried to church in a chair. His mouth filled with blood as he spoke and…
1555 HT: Dan Graves John Rogers was burned to death at the stake at Smithfield, England, on this Monday morning, February 4, 1555. Among the onlookers who encouraged him were his own children. Who was John Rogers, and what monstrous crime had earned him this cruel death? Who was John Rogers? Born about 1500, Rogers was…
1516 HT: Dan Graves Erasmus never joined the Protestant movement, but many scholars would argue he set the stage for the Reformers. Erasmus loaded the cannon that Luther fired. The greatest scholar of his day, Erasmus rammed two shots into the barrel of the Reformation. The first shot was a satire titled, The Praise of Folly, which…
1955 HT: Dan Graves In his last public appearance, Methodist layman John Mott said, “While life lasts, I am an evangelist.” The man who did as much as anyone to evangelize the world and unite divided denominations, died on this day, January 31, 1955 in Orlando, Florida. He was eighty-nine years old. Death was a place…
1499 HT: Dan Graves Katherine von Bora viewed herself as a prisoner in the cloister of Marienthron. Luther’s Reformation preaching had found its way behind the convent walls and she wanted out. It wasn’t as if she had chosen this secluded life for herself. Far from it. Her dad had brought her here when she…
1560 HT: Christian History Institute After reformers overthrew Roman Catholicism in Scotland, they needed a new church organization to replace it. Parliament commissioned six reformers to draw up a book of discipline, which they did. A few nobles refused to accept it, but a good number did, signing it on January 27, 1560 at the Tolbooth in…
1672 HT: Christian History Institute Richard Baxter was an English Puritan author, pastor, theologian, and controversialist. He gained a national reputation when revival broke out under his ministry at Kidderminster. England was fractured into many religious and political factions and he advocated peace, saying “In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.”…