Faith, Trust, Risks, Obedience, Belief: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Faith means being willing to take risks that Jesus asked us to take.
Missionaries to China Trying a Different Approach: Michele Ruggieri & Matteo Ricci
16th century missionaries to China Ruggieri & Ricci learned Chinese, wore Chinese robes, and did not insist that western cultural values were a part of learning the Gospel.
History & Transmission of the Bible
The history of translation and transmission of the Bible was complex, contentious, and sometimes violent.
The Affair of the Sausages: Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli once scandalized Catholic authorities by eating sausages during Lent.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.