Today in Christian History
January 23
1549
Death at Kronstadt, Transylvania (now Brasov, Romania), of Johannes Honter, a humanist scholar, theologian, and the reformer of Transylvania.
1579
The Union of Utrecht joins several Dutch states against oppressive Spain.
1589
The Moscow Patriarchate is created, making the Russian Church autocephalous, that is, subject to no higher bishop. However, there are some details regarding precedence and signatures that will not be ironed out for about four years. In practice, the Russian church had been independent for one hundred and forty years before the Orthodox Church of Constantinople formally recognizes the de facto situation.
1656
French scientist Blaise Pascal, 33, published the first of his 18 “Provincial Lettres,” the majority of which attacked the Jesuit theories of grace and moral theology.
1714
Lutheran missionary Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg engages in a dialogue about religion with Tamil-speaking Hindus at Tranquebar, India. A Hindu argues that since God made the world, he made its religions; therefore each is a path to God. Ziegenbalg responds that since the religions contradict each other, only one can be from God; the rest are from Satan.
1755
Under the influence of the Methodist movement, English clergyman John Fletcher, 26, was converted to a living faith. He remained in the Anglican church but afterward became a chief defender of evangelical Arminianism.
1789
Georgetown College was founded by Father John Carroll, 54, in Washington, D.C. – the first Roman Catholic college established in America.
1821
Lott Carey, a Baptist, sails with 28 colleagues from Norfolk, Virginia, to Sierra Leone to become the first African-American missionary to Africa.
1848
Charles Perry arrives in Australia and will become the first Anglican bishop of Melbourne.
1855
Death of Julius Hare, archdeacon of Lewes, one of Queen Victoria’s chaplains and the author of several influential theological and polemical works, including Vindication of Luther against his Recent English Assailants (1854).
1893
Death in Boston, Massachusetts, of clergyman and educator Phillips Brooks, opponent of slavery and author of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
1908
In an early example of parachurch activity, representatives of a number of Protestant men’s movements meet in Chicago to federate in a loose coalition for mutual information and for co-operation. Among the participating organizations are the Young Men’s Christian Association and the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, as well as Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Congregational brotherhoods.
1935
British biblical expositor Arthur W. Pink wrote in a letter: ‘Growth in grace is like the growth of a cow’s tail – the more it truly grows, the closer to the ground it is brought.’
1943
The New Tribes Mission was incorporated in Los Angeles by founder Paul W. Fleming. NTM works today primarily in missionary aviation, Bible translation, church planting and the production and distribution of Christian literature.
1945
Nazis execute Helmuth James von Moltke, having said “the only trouble with you is you are a Christian.”
1950
Polish Communists take over the offices of Caritas, a Roman Catholic humanitarian agency, hoping to reduce the influence of the Roman Catholic Church.
1984
Funeral of Spetume Florence Njangali, a priest in Uganda’s Anglican Church. A hard-working woman of great ability, she had struggled long to obtain priestly ordination for women.
1999
Hindu extremists burn to death Australian missionary Graham Staine and his two sons in their jeep, forcing them back into the burning vehicle when they try to escape the flames.
2006
A Turkish higher court declines to say whether charges should proceed against novelist Orhan Pamuk for “insulting Turkishness.” Pamuk had said, “Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it.” The Armenians were descendants of early Christians.
