OCTOBER 22
PENNINGTON STRUGGLED FOR FREEDOM, FAITH, AND LEARNING (1870)
“Following, then, the holy Fathers, we all unanimously teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is to us One and the same Son, the Self same Perfect in Godhead...”
Date from Schaff's History of the Christian Church; translation from: Bindley, T. Herbert, The Oecumenical Documents of the Faith. Methuen, 1899.
Goodness will flourish forever
Flee to Egypt—Matthew 2:13 (NIV). Why [flee]? Because there is a cruel king who will seek the young child’s...
Events
362
Martyrdom of Theodoritus, a Greek-speaking Syrian Christian priest, during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate. His relics will be taken to Uzès in the south of France and placed in a cathedral dedicated to him.
Authority for the date: New Encyclopedia of Saints.1660
King Charles II of England presents a proposed Declaration of Indulgence to Independents and bishops, who offer suggestions for revision. Three days later the revised declaration is issued. However, it never obtained the force of law because Parliament rejected it.
Authority for the date: Dale, R. W. History of English Congregationalism. pp. 396–398.1708
Death in Leiden of Herman Witsius, a Dutch pastor and professor, known for his evangelical zeal, faithful stewardship of churches, and elucidation of covenant theology.
Authority for the date: Erasmus Middleton, Biographia Evangelica. p. 1691746
Revival leader Jonathan Dickinson obtains a charter for the College of New Jersey to train Presbyterian pastors. It will become Princeton University.
Authority for the date: “Dickinson, Jonathan.” http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/dickinson_jonathan.html1844
Between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand followers of Baptist lay preacher William Miller prepare for “The Day of Atonement” —the day Jesus will allegedly return.
Authority for the date: Smith, Uriah. Daniel and the Revelation. R&H, 1890.1870
Death in Jacksonville, Florida, of James William Charles Pennington, an escaped slave who had become a Presbyterian pastor and abolitionist, author of the autobiographical The Fugitive Blacksmith and of the first history of African Americans published in the United States.
Authority for the date: Wikipedia.1899
American Presbyterian missionary James B. Rodgers baptizes the first Filipino Protestants to receive the rite.
Authority for the date: Tuggy, Arthur Leonard. Seeing the Church in the Philippines. O.M.F., 1972.1903
Death of Susannah Spurgeon, wife of English Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Their marriage had lasted thirty-six years, until Charles’ death in 1892, and she had engaged in many minstries alongside her husband.
Authority for the date: Ray, Charles. Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon. http://www.biblebb.com/files/SPURGEON/mrsspur.htm1922
Death of Lyman Abbott, Congregationalist pastor, publisher, and advocate of social justice. He had been editor-in-chief of The Christian Union, a widely-read magazine that held liberal positions on most issues.
Authority for the date: Britannica.1939
C. S. Lewis preaches a sermon at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford in which he asks, “How can we study Latin, geography, algebra in a time like this? Aren’t we just fiddling while Rome burns?” He then assures the assembled students that it is worthwhile and essential to continue studies even in the face of World War II.
Authority for the date: “Learning in War Time.”1965
Death of Paul Tillich, existentialist Lutheran theologian, notorious among orthodox believers for reducing the work of the historical Jesus Christ to complex abastractions and describing God as the “ground of all being” among other non-traditional theological innovations.
Authority for the date: http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/bce/tillich.htm.1969
Harold John Ockenga, a leading Christian intellectual, is inaugurated as president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Although adhering to Fundamentalist basics, he described himself as Neo-evangelical because he felt Christians should address social issues and dialog with those who reject Christian fundamentals.
Authority for the date: Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals.1987
A volume of Gutenberg’s original Bible is sold at auction at Christie’s for $5.39 million, one of the largest sums ever paid for a printed book. Ironically, Gutenberg had not profited from his invention of printing because his press was seized for debts.
Authority for the date: “A Gutenberg Bible Sells for Record Price.” www.nytimes.com/1987/10/23/arts/a-gutenberg-bible-sells-for-record-p1997
Death of Emmanuel Adekunle Atilade, who had been an educator, writer, poet and composer, but above all a zealous pastor and evangelist for the Nigerian Baptist Convention and Gospel Baptist Conference.
Authority for the date: Dictionary of African Christian Biography.