Category: Theology
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A Biblical Theology of the Arab Peoples
In these complicated days of geopolitical confusion, here is a straightforward question: What does the Bible say abut the Arab people? It’s a clear enough question, but who do you know who could put together more than a few sentences on the subject? There must be only a handful of such people, and one of…
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Today William Williams Pantycelyn Died (1791)
William Williams Pantycelyn (1717-Jan 11, 1791) is the most accomplished Welsh hymn writer. Old books describe him variously as “the Charles Wesley of Wales,” “the Isaac Watts of Wales,” or “the Paul Gerhardt of Wales.” Williams, who took on the bardic name Pantycelyn from the place of his birth, was prolific as a poet. He…
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Today William Laud was Beheaded (1645)
William Laud was the Archbishop of Canterbury under Charles I. He was a devout and learned Christian with many good qualities, but as the leading bishop of the Church of England in turbulent times, he adopted authoritarian strategies that put him on a collision course with the equally intransigent Puritans. In the general mess of…
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Today Saint Fillan’s Hand Probably Glowed (777)
Today in the year 777, Saint Fillan of Scotland died, that is, if he really existed. Surely there must have been some historical figure back behind the legends and landmarks of Saint Fillan. But the legends alone, bristling with Scottish and Irish names, are pretty cool: He and his mother (Kentigerna!) and uncle (Comgan!) moved…
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Today Jim Elliot Was Killed (1956)
Today in 1956, five missionaries to the Auca indians in Ecuador were killed. Their deaths brought a sudden end to the project they called “Operation Auca,” but the tragedy became a defining moment in the history of evangelical missions. Hundreds of young people were inspired to take up missionary work, thousands were moved to deeper…
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Today Athanasius Got the New Testament Exactly Right (367)
Athanasius of Alexandria (who died in 373) was a marvel: He refuted the heresy of Arianism, wrote voluminously in defense of the truth, oversaw the Christian church in Alexandria, was the official calendar-keeper for when Easter was to be celebrated, and —in his spare time— was the first to write get the Table of Contents…
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Happy, Useful Christians Who Had Been Murderers
“Dr. Torrey, How do you reconcile the contradiction in the Bible between I John 1:9 and I John 3:15? In the first passage we are told that if we confess our sins they will be forgiven: in the last passage we are told that there is no forgiveness for the murderer.” There is no contradiction…
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Today Charles Spurgeon Was Converted (1850)
Today in 1850, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) heard the voice of God calling him in the words of Isaiah 45:22, through the sermon of a Primitive Methodist preacher: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Spurgeon looked and was saved at age 15, and went on to become one…
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Today is Robert Morrison’s Birthday (1782)
Robert Morrison (1782-1834) was the first Protestant missionary to China, and it was through his work that China was opened up to the Christian message in the nineteenth century. Morrison was an evangelical Presbyterian who devoted himself to a monumental task of study and translation. A handful of people in China converted to Christianity and…
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Today is James Ussher’s Birthday
Archbishop James Ussher, Bishop of Armagh, is remembered these days chiefly for his chronology: Annales veteris testamenti, a prima mundi origine deducti (“Annals of the Old Testament, deduced from the first origins of the world”), which he published in 1650. What was his chronology? The short version is that he added together all the begats…
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Today is E. Stanley Jones’ Birthday
E. Stanley Jones was born on January 3, 1884. He was an important Methodist Missionary with a big vision for world evangelism. Already as a college study as Asbury College in central Kentucky, the hand of God was on Jones: he was one of four participants in a prayer meeting (in a men’s dorm during a…
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Today is Thérèse of Lisieux’s Birthday
Today in 1873 Thérèse of Lisieux was born. Some Catholics call her The Little Flower, but DOCTOR Little Flower might be more appropriate. Born Marie-Francoise-Thérèse Martin as the ninth child of devout parents, she became a Carmelite nun at the unusually early age of 15. She only had about a decade of life as a…