The Current Week in 2009:

November 8, 1308: John Duns Scotus, the hard-to-follow Scottish theologian who first posited Mary's immaculate conception (that she herself was born without original sin), dies in Cologne, Germany. Mary's immaculate conception was declared dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854 (see issue 73: Thomas Aquinas).

November 8, 1674: English poet John Milton, author of Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), and many other works, dies at age 65.

November 9, 1799: Asa Mahan, Congregational clergyman and first president of Oberlin College, is born in Verona, New York.

November 10, 1483: German reformer Martin Luther is born in Eisleben, Germany. (see issue 34: Luther's Early Years).

November 10, 1770: French anti-Christian philosopher Francois Voltaire utters his famous remark, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

November 10, 1871: After seven months of searching, American journalist Henry Stanley finally finds Scottish missionary David Livingstone in Ujiji, Central Africa, and utters his famous introduction, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume." The relationship between the two men led to Stanley's conversion and decision to become a missionary (see issue 56: David Livingstone).

November 10, 1908: Ten years after Samuel Hill and John Nicholson met in Boscobel, Wisconsin, to begin what would become Gideons International, the organization places its first Bible in a room at the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountains, Montana (see the bonus article "Who Put the Gideon Bible in Your Hotel Room" in issue 31: The Golden Age of Hymne).

November 11, 397 (traditional date): Martin of Tours, a bishop responsible for the evangelization of Gaul, dies. He is France's patron saint.

November 11, 1215: The Fourth Lateran Council opens. It officially confirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation—that the substance of Eucharistic bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, with only the accidents (appearances of bread and wine) remaining. The council also prescribed annual confession for all Christians.

November 11, 1620: Forty-one Puritan separatists arrive in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They had hoped to settle further south, but as William Bradford wrote in his journal on December 19, "We could not now take much time for further search . . . our victuals being much spent, especially our beer" (see issue 41: The American Puritans).

November 11, 1793: English missionary William Carey arrives in Calcutta, India (see issue 36: William Carey).

November 11, 1855: Danish Christian philosopher Síren Kierkegaard, regarded as the founder of existentialism, dies at age 42. Trying to "reintroduce Christianity to Christendom," he believed that Christianity was far more radical and difficult than did his Danish contemporaries.

November 12, 1035: Canute the Great, Danish king since 1016, dies at age 41. The often ruthless king had restored churches and monasteries throughout his kingdom and built several new ones (see issue 63: Conversion of the Vikings).

November 12, 1660: John Bunyan is arrested for unlicensed preaching and sentenced to prison. While incarcerated, he penned Pilgrim's Progess and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, the greatest Puritan spiritual autobiography (see issue 11: John Bunyan).

November 12, 1836: Charles Simeon, the Church of England's most famous evangelical clergyman, dies.

November 13, 354: Augustine of Hippo, the greatest of the Latin church fathers and author of Confessions and City of God, is born in Thagaste—modern Souq Ahras, Algeria (see issue 15:Augustine and issue 67:Augustine).

November 13, 867: Nicholas I, one of the strongest proponents for Rome's primacy in the church, dies. Though a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, he is not to be confused with the bishop of Myra who is also called St. Nicholas and was popularized as Santa Claus.

November 13, 1618: The Dutch Reformed Church convenes the Synod of Dort to "discuss" the Arminian controversy. Of course, the synod's condemnation of Arminianism was a forgone conclusion—Arminians weren't even invited for another month. By April, 200 Arminian ministers (known as Remonstrants) were deposed by the Calvinist Synod, 15 were arrested, and one was beheaded for high treason.

November 13, 1938: The Roman Catholic church makes Francis Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the first American saint.

November 14, 565: Roman Emperor Justinian dies at 82. During his reign, he reunited the Eastern and Western empires politically and religiously, erected several new basilicas in Constantinople, and created the Justinian Code, which greatly influenced the development of canon law in the Middle Ages.

November 14, 1741: English revivalist George Whitefield marries Elizabeth Burnell (see issue 38: George Whitefield).

November 14, 1976: The Plains (Ga.) Baptist Church, where then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter was a member, votes to permit blacks to attend.

November 14, 1990: British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge dies at 87. After editorial stints at the Manchester Guardian and Punch and years as a BBC commentator, the cynical and licentious Muggeridge quietly converted to Christianity. It was his reporting on Mother Teresa that first brought her to the public's attention.

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