I always love Joy Horn’s annual round up of Christian anniversaries for the coming year. Great ideas for introducing a bit of church history into bulletin articles, blog posts, and occasionally even sermons.
Learning history – especially biographically-oriented history – is very accessible and is often an interesting way of teaching a bit of theology too.
Ones from Joy’s list that caught my eye for 2013 include:
- 1700th anniversary of Edict of Milan leading to religious toleration in Roman Empire (freedom of religion still being such an important topic today!)
- 450th anniversaries of The 39 Articles (one for us Anglicans!) and Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (a remarkably big-selling book over the years).
- 300th anniversary of birth of Daniel Rowlands (I think he’s in one of Ryle books of biographical sketches).
- 200th anniversaries of birth of David Livingstone (the famous missionary and explorer), Robert Murray M’Cheyne (the Scottish pastor whose Bible-reading plan is still being used today), and of the death of John Venn (of CMS fame and more).
- 50th anniversary of death of C.S.Lewis and of Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech.
Many thanks to Evangelicals Now for publishing this article each year. (Over here Paul Levy at Reformation 21 gives 5 reasons you should read Evangelicals Now.)
250th anniversary of the death of William Grimshaw. He was an enormously influential figure in the evangelical revival in the Church of England in the 18th century. There is a direct connection to Sydney Anglicans too. It’s very likely that through his preaching, a young man named Henry Foster became an evangelical; and Foster was a dear friend and mentor to Richard Johnson, the first Christian preacher in our land.
Ryle does indeed have a section on Daniel Rowland in “Christian Leaders of the 18th Century”. I think he claims there that Rowland was a greater preacher than Whitefield. There is also the biography of Rowland by Eifion Evans, Banner of Truth, 1985, a good read.
Thanks David and Craig. Craig, I am looking forward to your work on Johnson. David, would I be right in thinking Ryle’s book also covers Grimshaw. (I think my copy is at the office.)
Yes.
Hi Sandy,
Wasn’t the Venn most closely associated with CMS the son of John Venn?
John Venn helped found the CMS. His son, Henry, was a long serving secretary of CMS
Roger and Craig, thanks for the clarifications.
I can hardly wait for 2017.
Go on David, tell me. You’re not turning 100 then, are you?
No Sandy, not quite, although I may feel like it, but the 95 Theses turn 500 around October 31 that year. For the sake of biblical truth and genuine Protestantism, , especially the “alones”, I hope a great fuss is made throughout that year.
It’s a long way off, but I may invite you to my 100th if you are still here. Not my 500th, though.
One anniversary Joy Horn missed is the 450th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism, which Kevin DeYoung calls the “most personal and devotional” of the Reformation era creeds and catechisms, and “full of the gospel”! See his 5 reasons to read it here.