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Christian History

Today in Christian History

August 1

August 1, 1714: The "Schism Bill," which was intended to bolster Anglicanism in England, dies with its chief supporter, Queen Anne. For years, Dissenters (also known as “Non-conformists”) regarded the date as a day of deliverance, the "Protestant Passover.”

August 1, 1779: Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and a devout Episcopalian who helped establish the American Sunday School Union, is born.

August 1, 1834: The first Protestant missionary to China, Robert Morrison, dies at age 52. The Englishman's translation of the Bible, completed in 1823, filled 23 volumes (see issue 52: Hudson Taylor).

August 1, 1897: Pope Leo XIII issues the encyclical Militantis Ecclesiae, which describes Protestantism as the "Lutheran rebellion, whose evil virus goes wandering about in almost all nations.

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March 28, 1515: Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila, founder of a reformed Carmelite order, is born. Though her contemporaries noted her practicality and administrative skills, her legacy stems from her mysticism, evidenced in her Autobiography, Way of Perfection, Book of Foundations, and Interior Castle.

March 28, 1592: Czech theologian Jan Comenius, educator of the Bohemian (or Moravian) Brethren, is born in Nivnice, Czechoslovakia. As today, the region was tormented by warfare, and Comenius believed ...

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