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October 7, 1830: George Muller, a leader in the Plymouth Brethren movement and founder of Christian orphanages, weds Mary Groves, the sister of another Brethren leader. In lieu of a honeymoon, the couple set off the next day to, in George's words, "work for the Lord.
October 8, 451: The Council of Chalcedon opens to deal with the Eutychians, who believed Jesus could not have two natures. His divinity, they believed, swallowed up his humanity "like a drop of wine in the sea." The council condemned the teaching as heresy and created a confession of faith which has since been regarded as the highest word in Christology (see issue 51: Heresy in the Early Church).
October 9, 1000: Leif "the Lucky" Eriksson, who later evangelized Greenland, is reported to have been the first European to reach North America on this date. But while he was certainly a member of an early Viking voyage to "Vinland" (probably Nova Scotia), it's doubtful he led the initial expedition (see issue 63: Conversion of the Vikings).
October 9, 1747: David Brainerd, pioneer missionary to Native Americans in New England, dies of tuberculosis at age 29. His journal, published by Jonathan Edwards, inspired hundreds to become missionaries, including the "father of modern Protestant missions," William Carey (see issue 77: Jonathan Edwards).
October 9, 1890: Pentecostal evangelist and national sensation Aimee Semple McPherson is born in Ontario, Canada (see issue 58: Pentecostalism).
October 9, 1958: Pope Pius XII, whose record of protecting Jews in 1940s Germany is hotly debated and who formally defined the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1950), dies.
October 10, 1560: Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius, the founder of a theology that challenged Reformed assumptions, is born in Oudewater, Netherlands.
October 10, 1821: Law student Charles Finney, 29, goes into the woods near his home to settle the question of his soul's salvation. That night, he experienced a dramatic conversion, full of what seemed "waves of liquid love throughout his body." Finney later became American history's greatest revivalist and purportedly converted of 500,000 people (see issue 20: Charles Grandisen Finney).
October 11, 1521: Leo X conferred the title "Fidei Defensor" (Defender of the Faith) upon England's Henry VIII for his tract "The Assertion of the Seven Sacraments," written against Martin Luther. Three popes and 13 years later, Henry severed all ties with Rome, making the Church of England a separate church body (see issue 48: Thomas Cranmer).
October 11, 1531: Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli dies in the Battle of Kappel (see issue 4: Ulrich Zwingli).
October 11, 1551: The 13th Session of the Council of Trent opens to discuss the Eucharist. The Counter-Reformation Council affirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation and repudiated Lutheran, Calvinist, and Zwinglian eucharistic doctrines.
October 12, 1492: Christopher Columbus arrives in the Caribbean (see issue 35: Christopher Columbus).
October 12, 1518: German reformer Martin Luther undergoes an excruciating interview about his 95 Theses (posted one year earlier) with Cardinal Thomas Cajetan inAugsburg. It was so painful, Luther later recalled, that he could not even ride a horse because his bowels ran freely from morning to night (see issue 34: Luther: The Early Years).
October 12, 1971: The rock musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" debuts on Broadway.
October 13, 1605: Theodore Beza, Calvin's successor as leader of the Swiss Reformation, dies (see issue 12: John Calvin).
October 13, 1670: Virginia bans slavery for Negroes who arrive in the American colonies as Christians. The colony repealed the law 12 years later (see issue 62: Bound for Canaan).
October 13, 1917: Three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal, report visions of the Virgin Mary.
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