October 22, 4004 BC:: According to James Ussher, the well-respected and scholarly Anglican primate of the Irish Church in the early seventeenth century, God created the universe on this date at 9:00 a.m. GMT.

October 22, 1811: Pianist Franz Liszt, known for his Romantic orchestras and songs, but also the author of more than 60 religious works (including the song known today as "Fairest Lord Jesus"), is born in Raiding, Hungary (present-day Austria).

October 22, 1844: Between 50,000 and 100,000 followers of Baptist lay preacher William Miller prepared for "The Day of Atonement"—the day Jesus would return. Jesus didn't, and though Miller retained his faith in Christ's imminent return until his death, he blamed human mistakes in Bible chronologies for "The Great Disappointment." Several groups arose from Miller's following, including the Seventh-Day Adventists (see issue 61: The End of the World).

October 21, 1555: Finding that the recent martyrdom of bishops Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer had intensified Protestant zeal, Queen Mary launches a series of fierce persecutions in which more than 200 men, women, and children were killed (see issue 48: Thomas Cranmer).

October 21, 1663: Virginia colonist John Harlow is fined 50 pounds of tobacco for missing church.

October 21, 1692: William Penn is deposed as governor of Pennsylvania. His grateful overtures to James II for permitting religious freedom for Dissenters from the Church of England led William and Mary to charge Penn with being a papist. They were also troubled by his pacifism.

October 21, 1970: John T. Scopes, the Tennessee teacher convicted for teaching evolution, dies at age 70 (see issue 55: The Monkey Trial and the Rise of Fundamentalism).

October 20, 751: Pepin the Short, son of Frankish hero Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne, deposes the last of the Merovingian kings and becomes the first king of the Carolingian dynasty. He was crowned by Pope Stephen II, who later asked for his help when threatened by Lombards of northern Italy. Pepin defeated the Lombards, then ceded the territory he captured back to the pope, laying the foundation for the papal states.

October 20, 1349: Pope Clement VI condemns self-flagellation, speaking out against a veritable flagellation frenzy. The practice, first taught by the Benedictine monk Peter Damian in the mid-eleventh century, gained popularity during the thirteenth-century Black Death scare and continues today in isolated incidents.

October 19, 1512: Martin Luther receives his Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Wittenberg (see issue 34: Luther’s Early Years).

October 19, 1609: Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius, founder of an anti-Calvinist Reformed theology, dies at age 49 in Leiden, Netherlands (see issue 12: John Calvin).

October 19, 1720: Quaker minister John Woolman is born in Roncocas, New Jersey. He was known for his concerns to live a simple life exemplifying “the right use of things,” and to end war, slavery, and injustice toward the poor and to Native Americans. His journal, written from 1756-72, influenced nineteenth-century abolitionists and demonstrated his concern for both the oppressors and the oppressed.

October 19, 1744: English revivalist George Whitefield arrives in Maine for his third (of seven) evangelistic visit to America (see issue 38: George Whitefield).

October 19, 1779: English poet William Cowper and curate John Newton publish Olney Hymns, a classic collection of evangelical and Reformed hymns.

October 19, 1856: A Sunday evening service led by Charles Haddon Spurgeon turns tragic when someone shouts “Fire!” in London’s enormous Surrey Hall. There was no fire, but the stampede left 7 people dead and 28 more hospitalized. Though the episode plunged Spurgeon into weeks of depression, it also catapulted him to overnight fame (see issue 29: Charles Haddon Spurgeon).

October 18, 1405: Enea Silvio Piccolomini (a.k.a. Pope Pius II) is born at Corsignano, Italy. Though faulted for taking radical and sometimes contradictory positions on issues, he was one of the best popes of his age: he wrote an important study of geography and ethnography, a popular love story, and an autobiography. He died in 1464 while planning a battle against the Turks, who controlled Constantinople.

October 18, 1685: French King Louis XIV issues the Edict of Fontainebleu, which revokes the Edict of Nantes and once again forbids Huguenots (French Protestants) from worshipping (see issue 71: Huguenots).

October 18, 1867: The United States purchases Alaska for $7.2 million, or about 2 cents an acre. Ten years later, after lax military administration had only worsened the territory’s moral condition, an army private stationed in Alaska begged, “Send out a shepherd who may reclaim a mighty flock from the error of their ways, and gather them into the true fold.” Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson answered the call and spent decades raising funds, building schools and churches, and crusading for better laws (see issue 66: How the West Was Really Won).

October 17, 108: According to tradition, Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was martyred on this date. The Apostolic Father closest in thought to the New Testament writers, Ignatius wrote seven letters under armed guard on his way to Rome—some asking that the church not interfere with his “true sacrifice” (see issue 27: Persecution in the Early Church).

October 17, 1480: The Spanish Inquisition is activated.

October 17, 1979: October 17, 1979: Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (see issue 65: The Ten Most Influential Christians of the Twentieth Century).