Christian History Almanac

Today is the feast day for the apostle Thomas, also known as Didymus. We remember the Council of Orange in 529. Our reading is "O Gracious Shepherd" by Henry Constable.

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On this day, we celebrate the feast of the Visitation and the birthday in 1489 of Thomas Cranmer, English reformer. Our reading is from Brennan Manning's "The Ragamuffin Gospel."

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On this day we remember the death of the first Protestant martyrs, Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes, in 1523. Today is also the feast of Junipero Serra, the apostle to California. Our reading is "The Ba…

On this day we remember the debate over the theory of evolution, held in Oxford in 1860. Also, on this day in 1712, William Penn of Penn's Sylvania died. Our reading is "That Nature is a Heraclitean …

On this day, we celebrate the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. We remember the arrival in the colonies their first two pastors, Skelton and Higginson. Our reading is "St. Peter" by Malcolm Guite.

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On this day we celebrate the feast day of Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons. We remember the death of Primoz Trubar, reformer, in 1586. Ou reading is from Augustine's "Confessions."

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On this day, we celebrate the feast day of Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, and remember the death of James Moffatt, translator of the Bible. Our reading is "He Dies, The Friend of Sinners Dies" by Isaac…

On this day, we remember Pearl S. Buck, missionary to China, and Philip Doddridge, English theologian. Our reading is "And will the Judge Descend" by Doddridge.

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On this day, we commemorate the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, drafted by Philip Melanchthon. We remember on this day the opening of the monastery in Clairvaux by Bernard. Our reading is th…

On this day we remember the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and the birthday of Henry Ward Beecher in 1813. Our reading is "Psalm 23" by Fr. John-Julian.

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On this day, we remember the fabled treaty between the Quakers led by William Penn and the Delaware tribe. We also recognize another treaty in Vienna in 1606 between the various Reformation churches …

On this day we remember the commemoration of John Fisher, bishop of Rochester and chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and the birthday of Ebenezer Erskine, member of the order of Free Gardener…

On this day we remember the birthdays of Increase Mather in 1639 and Reinhold Niebuhr in 1892. Our reading is from Milton, "On Time."

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On this day we remember the Synod of Diamper in 1599 and the first mission to Alaska by the Moravians in 1885. Our reading is by Anne Porter entitled "After Psalm 137."

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On this day we remember the birth of Blaise Pascal and the imprisonment of Josef Beran. Our reading is "Gloria in Profundis" by G.K. Chesterton.

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On this day we remember Englishwoman Anne Askew, martyred in 1546, and Peter Parker (b 1804), medical missionary to China. Our reading is the conclusion of "The Last Battle" by C.S. Lewis.

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On this day, we remember the School Edict from Julian the Apostate in 362, and the landmark ruling Abington School District v. Schempp in 1963. Our reading is the poem "Leading Questions" by Margaret…

On this day, we remember the marriage anniversary of William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army, and the Universities Tests Act of 1871. Our reading is "A Hymn to God the Father" by …

On this day we remember author Evelyn Underhill, a scholar of medieval mystics, and Johannes Tauler, a medieval German mystic from the 14th century. Our reading is "There Comes a Galley Laden" by Tau…

On this day we remember English Puritan Richard Baxter and the removal in 1966 of the penalty of death attached to the list of banned books by the Roman Catholic church. Our reading is "Lord, It Belo…