8th century British missionary, also known as Winfred. Commissioned by Pope Gregory II in 729 to evangelize Germany. Later became Archbishop of Mainz. [tags]BlogRodent, Boniface, church-history, ChurchRodent, history[/tags]  

A Pope (1294-1303) who declared, on February 22, 1300 a Jubilee — a Holy Year — to celebrate the new centenary of Christ’s birth granting pardon for all the sins of those who reverently visited the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul during the Holy Year. He had a noted flair…

During King Edward VI’s brief years England saw the Six Articles repealed, priests allowed to marry, and the old Latin service of worship replaced by Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer in English. Under King Charles I and with the assistance of the Anglican Archbishop William Laud, the King insisted…

(1829-1912) The most outstanding example of ministry to the dispossessed was the work of a pietistic evangelical William Booth. He started his ministry with the Methodist New Connection but soon withdrew to work with London’s poor. His street preaching in London’s East End in 1864 met with phenomenal success. Within…

(1862-1929) A Canadian Anglican who served as a missionary to the Philippine Islands. He was conscious of the doctrinal differences that separated the churches. He saw Anglicanism as the bridge that might span these differences. On his urging the Edinburgh conference appointed a committee to invite "all churches which accept…

The virtual ruler of India since 1763. They refused Carey permission to live in Calcutta. [tags]BlogRodent, British-East-India-Company, church-history, ChurchRodent, history[/tags]  

The persecution of the Anabaptists forced them to flee to the north. Many of them found refuge on the lands of some exceptionally tolerant princes in Moravia. There they founded a long-lasting form of economic community called the Bruderhof, a Christian commune. In part they aimed to follow the pattern…

(1860-1925) As leader of the Progressive cause in the Democratic party, three-time candidate for President of the United States, and Secretary of State in the cabinet of President Woodrow Wilson, Bryan was sustained by his faith in the "democracy of the heart." He was devoted to peace and arbitrated treaties…

(1491-1551) A supporter of the Zwinglian type of reformation. From Strassburg, Germany, he was surpassed in influence throughout Germany only by Luther and his associate Melanchthon and was inclined to sympathize with Zwingli rather than Luther. [tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Martin-Bucer[/tags]  

Controversy between the Protestant and Catholic cantons in Switzerland led, on 11 October 1531, to a battle at Kappel between Zurich and its Catholic neighbors. In the course of the battle Zwingli lost his life. Thus, the leadership of the reformation in Zurich fell to Heinrich Bullinger. [tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent,…

(1889-1996) A pioneer in neo-orthodoxy, Brunner emphasized the subjective encounter in meeting God while denying the inspiration of Scripture and the historicity of Adam. In accepting general revelation, he disagreed with Barth. [tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Rudolf-Bultmann[/tags]  

During the early stages of the Renaissance, when intellectuals (for example, Voltaire) aimed their critical disregard at the Church, several men wrote effectively against deism. Yet none of them proved more effective than Bishop Joseph Butler (1692-1752). His monumental work, The Analogy of Religion, virtually ended the debate for thinking…

A former slave, who later became the Bishop of Rome (217-222). He was the first to accept repentant sinners as a matter of policy. He argued that the church is like Noah’s ark. In it unclean as well as clean beasts can be found. He defended his actions by insisting…

(1509-1564) John Calvin (aka. Jean Cauvin) played an important role in the Protestant Reformation—perhaps second only to Martin Luther in importance. Calvin wrote the deeply influential Institutes of the Christian Religion (published in 1536, see also the Britannica summary), developed the “presbyterian” model of church government, and has been called…

Perhaps the first one was held by McGready in July 1800 at the Gasper River Church in Logan County, Kentucky. A "camp meeting" is a religious service of several days’ length held outdoors, for people who had traveled a distance to attend. They camped on the spot. [tags]BlogRodent, Camp-Meetings, church-history,…

Canon law served the church just as civil law supported a secular government. It defined the rights, duties and powers of all people and priests within the church. It was the law administered in all ecclesiastical courts, from those of the bishop up to that of the pope. Sometime around…

The first Protestants to attempt to reach distant peoples with the gospel were the Pietists. Moravian concern, however, was focused on individuals in some European colony, perishing without the knowledge of Christ. The Christian groups created by Pietists were tiny islands in the surrounding sea of "heathenism." William Carey introduced…

During the 1976 Presidential campaign in the United States, Jimmy Carter’s evangelical faith arose as one of the major issues. The Watergate scandal had toppled the Nixon administration a short time before, and many Americans felt that morality in government was of supreme importance. Others, however, warned that religion could…

(See "Albigenses") [tags]Albigenses, BlogRodent, Cathari, church-history, ChurchRodent, history[/tags]  

Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. First wife of King Henry VIII, she bore five children, but only one survived infancy, Mary. Catherine was previously the wife of King Henry’s deceased brother, Arthur. Because she bore Henry no male children, he persuaded the English courts to annul their marriage.…

In 1521 Martin Luther stood before the Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms. In that same year Ignatius Loyala entered convalescence from an injury and soon had a spiritual conversion of sorts. Loyola subsequently formed the Society of Jesus, the greatest single force in Catholicism’s campaign to recapture…

Catholic and Anglican priests, as well as early Protestant ministers, undertook vows of celibacy in the belief that they must follow in the footsteps of Christ, who was celibate, and avoid marriage at all costs, abstaining from any sexual relationships while serving God as a minister. Sexual drives were widely…

An outspoken critic of Christianity who noted: "Far from us, say the Christians, be any man possessed of any culture or wisdom or judgment; their aim is to convince only worthless and contemptible people, idiots, slaves, poor women, and children. … These are the only ones whom they manage to turn…

The Irish were Celtic people and their conversion is traced to Patrick of England, early in the fifth century. Their culture was agriculturally based. The Irish, or Celts, were then called Scots. [tags]BlogRodent, Celts, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Patrick[/tags]  

A Gnostic teacher (about A.D. 140) who believed that the God of the Old Testament was different from the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. The God of the Old Testament, he said, was unknowable, the Christian God had been revealed. The Old Testament God was sheer justice;…