A Martyr to End Slavery: Rev. Elijah Parish Lovejoy
Elijah Parish Lovejoy was a minister and journalist who felt called to fight slavery. He refused to stop speaking out, to stop writing, to give up his cause. He was murdered by a pro-slavery mob.
The War to End All Wars: World War I
They called it “the war to end all wars,” but even before it ended, a British politician remarked: “This war, like the next war, is a war to end [all] war.”
Tea & Cookies with Protestors: Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu was still trying to bring down Apartheid in the mid-eighties. The powers that be hired protestors to try to smear Tutu, but he ended up sharing a tea party with them.
Role of Women in the History of the Church
Women had leadership roles in the early church, but then that power was taken away. Reformer John Knox railed against women’s leadership, as did men at a General Assembly meeting in America in 1811.
History of Vacation Bible School: D.T. Miles
Vacation Bible School was started by D.T. Miles in 1894!
Feeding the Hungry: Basil of Caesarea
In the 360s, Basil of Caesara, a bishop, spent his own money to buy food for the starving poor during a famine.
Tilling the Earth to Feed a Stranger: Walafrid
In the first thousand years of the church, monks sometimes planted gardens to share treats with visitors. Walafrid even wrote poetry about it!
History & Transmission of the Lord’s Prayer
Catholics took their Lord’s Prayer from one preferred by Henry the VIII in 1545; Protestants, perhaps, from Martin Bucer from 1539.
The Affair of the Sausages: Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli once scandalized Catholic authorities by eating sausages during Lent.
Jesus, Love, the Bible: Karl Barth
Theological powerhouse Karl Barth was asked to summarize his theology. He quoted: “Jesus loves me, this I know…”