October 27, 625: Honorius I begins his reign as pope. His belief in Monothelitism (that Christ had only one will, not two), since condemned as heresy by the Roman Catholic Church, have long been a point of conflict for Catholic discussion of papal infallibility.
October 27, 1553: Michael Servetus is burned at the stake in Geneva for his heretical beliefs regarding the Trinity (see issue 12: John Calvin).
October 27, 1746: Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian William Tennant obtains a charter for the College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton. He had founded the school in 1726 as a seminary to train his sons and others for ministry. Presidents of the college later included Aaron Burr, Jonathan Edwards, and Reverend John Witherspoon, who led the school to national prominence (see issue 77: Jonathan Edwards).
October 27, 1771: Francis Asbury, sent from England by John Wesley to oversee America’s 600 (or so) Methodists, lands in Philadelphia. During his 45-year ministry in America, he traveled on horseback or in carriage an estimated 300,000 miles, delivering some 16,500 sermons. By his death, there were 200,000 Methodists in America (see issue 2: John Wesley and issue 45: Camp Meetings & Circuit Riders).
October 27, 1978: The complete New International Version (NIV) of the Bible is published.
