Today in History (January 1): 1484 Ulrich (Huldreich) Zwingli, born at Wildhaus, Switzerland; Swiss reformer; as a parish priest in Zurich, he left the Roman Catholic Church in 1525 after news of his secret marriage in 1522 was made public; he helped translate the Scriptures into German-Swiss and was instrumental in spreading the Reformation to German and Italian cantons in Switzerland 1701 This date became January 12 in the Swiss Canton of Basel when it adopted the Gregorian calendar (created by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582) to replace the older, more inaccurate Julian calendar (created by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C.) 1729 One of the men whose influence was largely felt in the early American Colonial church was Dean Berkeley, later Bishop of Cloyne in Ireland, who came to Newport, Rhode Island, in January 1729, with the purpose (unaccomplished, however) of founding a university in the colonies 1750 Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, Lutheran pastor and congressman, born in Trappe, Pennsylvania 1784 In colonial America, the Methodist movement within the Anglican Church officially seceded, forming a new Protestant denomination: the Methodist Episcopal Church 1811 David Frederick Bittle, president of Roanoke College, born this month in Frederick County, Maryland 1819 Philip Schaff, hymn translator, American church historian, born in Chur, Switzerland; coming to America in 1843, he became an outstanding leader in the German Reformed Church; out of his immense literary output, perhaps his two most famous works are his eight-volume _History of the Christian Church_ *** (1858-92) and his three-volume _The Creeds of Christendom_ (1877) *** See note below 1825 Milton Valentine, president of Gettysburg College and Seminary, was born near Uniontown, Maryland 1844 Wilhelm Sihler preaches his inaugural sermon in Pomeroy, Ohio; after emigrating to America, upon the advice of his pastoral friends and the Dresden Mission Society, he came to Ohio; through the _Lutheraner_ he became acquainted with Walther and the other confessional Lutherans; in 1845, he, with others, withdrew from the Ohio Synod because of its unionistic position 1848 The Lutheran Swedes of Lockridge, Iowa, organized a Lutheran congregation and called a young shoemaker from Stockholm, Mr. Hakanson, to be their pastor 1850 The first issue of "Friedensbote", organ of Kirchenverein (German Evangelical Church Society of the West) was published this month 1855 C. F. W. Walther published the first edition of _Lehre und Wehre_, a professional journal for pastors 1870 First issue of the "Lutheran Witness" 1871 The Church of Ireland was officially disestablished; owing its origin to St. Patrick, the church very early retained her independence from Rome; between 1200 and 1500, as the influence and authority of English government grew stronger, the Irish church became more and more dependent upon the state; it underwent its own reformation but a general spiritual decline during the early 19th century led to the 1869 Act of Disestablishment, which went into effect two years later 1878 The Ohio Synod (a member of the Synodical Conference) conferred the degree of D. D. on Professor C. F. W. Walther; several years later the Ohio Synod accused the Missouri Synod of "Crypto-Calvinism" which erupted into the Predestinarian Controversy which caused the Ohio Synod to withdraw from the Synodical Conference 1893 "Lutheran Guide" begins publication; editor was Pastor A. W. Meyer 1907 Churches of God, General Assembly, (Holiness Church) changed its name to the Church of God during the month; it is a fundamentalist, Arminian group 1918 This date became January 14 in Finland, Russian-held Poland, and western Russia when those governments adopted the Gregorian calendar 1925 Lutheran schools in Australia, closed in 1916 by order of the government, were allowed to re-open during this month 1945 The Christenlehre (children's sermon, more or less) at St. John's, Bingen (Decatur, Indiana) was now conducted in English 1948 Church fellowship was established between the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Germany and the LCMS this month 1949 Czechoslovakia created from Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and part of Silesia 1955 English scholar and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis, after nearly 30 years of teaching at Magdalen College, Oxford University, assumed the newly created professor's chair of medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University 1961 The American Lutheran Church begins functioning 1961 Church of the Lutheran Confession formally elected its first officers in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota 1963 The Suomi Synod becomes part of the LCA 1963 LCA begins full operation 1964 National Evangelical Lutheran Synod (Finnish) of Canada merges with the LCMS 1967 The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada begins functioning during January 1967 During January, LCUSA was established 1971 SELC joins Missouri Synod *** Schaff's History of the Christian Church Vol VII is available as e-text on the "internet" at URL http://www.bible.org/docs/history/schaff/vol7/httoc.htm ----- If you wish to use these items, please get permission. Permission to post TIH items on LUTHERAN-ROOTS was received from Marvin A. Huggins, C.A., Associate Director Concordia Historical Institute (314)505-7921 801 De Mun Avenue FAX: (314)505-7901 St. Louis, MO 63105-3168 mhuggins@chi.lcms.org Web Page: http://chi.lcms.org/ for today, John Birkholz brotherjohn@imt.net 963 McIver Road Great Falls, MT 59404