Today in Christian History
Today is Saturday, August 25th, the 237th day of 2018. There are 128 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
1213: Archbishop Langton meets with several barons and the prelates of England who are unhappy with King John’s despotic behavior. Langton reads aloud Henry I’s coronation charter, on which certain English rights are based, and swears the barons to uphold it, forcing King John to sign the Magna Carta two years later.
1649: Death of Thomas Shepard, a well-known Puritan preacher and author.
1867: Death of Michael Faraday, an innovator in the field of electricity and a devout Christian.
1936: All foreigners are ordered to leave Suchow, compelling Mildred Cable, Francesca French, and Eva French—the China Trio—to abandon their long-time mission work in the remote regions of China.
1940: Japanese Christian socialist Kagawa is arrested as a traitor after church services.
1945: Execution of missionary John Birch in China. The US government, which knows the details of his undercover work, bungles a cover-up. The conservative John Birch Society, which attempts to expose such cover-ups, will take its name from this event.
1980: Death of Nicolai Michaelovitch Zernov, a Russian Orthodox expatriate who had taught at Oxford and written many books about the Orthodox Church and Russian Christianity. He also founded the Anglican-Orthodox ecumenical group Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius and worked continuously to unite Christians.
