November 26: Today in Christian History

November 26, 1639

Death of John Spottiswoode, who had sought to assimilate the Presbyterian church of Scotland into the Church of England, and served as Archbishop of St. Andrews, Primate of All Scotland. He had also written The History of the Church and State of Scotland.

November 26, 1815

The inquisition in Mexico sentences revolutionary priest José María Morelos to banishment (if his life is spared), deprivation of all ecclesiastical benefices, and other penalties.

November 26, 1883

Death in Battle Creek, Michigan, of evangelist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth (Isabella Van Wagener). Born a slave, she had experienced visions and voices, which she attributed to God. After a decade deluded by a cult and by the Millerite craze, she became a popular public speaker in the 1850s, especially in behalf of women's rights, and a worker among escaped slaves and refugees from the southern states. She will be memorialized by a statue in the city of her demise.

November 26, 1899

Individuals with Church of Christ leanings open a little stone chapel at Wampoony, South Australia.

November 26, 1901

Death of American scholar Joseph Henry Thayer, who produced a famous Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, for many years the standard in its field.

November 26, 1926

Louise Rathke, RN, first Missouri Synod deaconess, sails for India as a missionary.

November 26, 1938

Death from pneumonia in Collegeville, Minnesota, of Virgil George Michel, a Benedictine monk. Viewing liturgical practice as the expression of the mystical body of Christ, he had worked intensely to spread ideas of liturgical reform, worship, and social action.

November 26, 1958

In a rejoinder to critic W.N. Pittenger, published in The Christian Century, C.S. Lewis acknowledges that most of what he writes is evangelistic

November 26, 2001

Islamic authorities in Turkey order pastor Ahmet Guvener to halt construction on a church that is almost complete, alleging he has illegally changed the architectural plans. He will soon be placed on trial.