1541 HT: Today in Christian History John Calvin, at age 32, formally returned to Geneva and helped organize a new civic and ecclesiastical structure grounded in Reformed principles. Geneva became a disciplined Christian commonwealth where church and civic leaders worked closely together. From this base, Calvin’s teaching, training, and publications helped shape the spread of…
I have been aware previously of some examples of Calvin’s prayers that are recorded in various places, but have been struck by them again as I work my way through his commentary on Jeremiah. Calvin ends each lecture – for that is how these teachings were first given – with a prayer that picks up…
1533 HT: Diana Severance When the apostle Paul escaped Damascus by being lowered over the wall in a basket it was not the last time a Christian evangelist would dramatically flee from persecution. On this day, November 2, in 1533, John Calvin made a similar thrilling escape from Paris. A devout Catholic, Calvin studied law at the…
1541 John Calvin receives an uproarious welcome on his return to Geneva, whose authorities had banished him three years earlier. 1816 Robert Moffat is ordained and set apart with eight other missionaries to work in South Africa. He becomes a notable translator and the father-in-law of David Livingstone. 1845 HT: Christianity.com William Walford was blind,…
1549 HT: Dan Graves ELIZABETH DIRK‘S parents put her in a convent as a girl. We don’t know why, but that decision brought her to Christ—and to death. In the convent, Dirks learned to read both Latin and her native Dutch. She pored over a Latin Bible. Becoming convinced monasticism was not biblical, she looked…