Mark Galli, Ted Olsen - 131 Christians Everyone Should Know
1st Edition. – Nashville, TN: Christianity Today, Inc., Holman Reference, 2000. - 320 p.
ISBN-10: 080549040X
ISBN-13: 978-0805490404
It has been said that history is biography, although you wouldn’t know it by reading many history books. Too often stories, quotes, and anecdotes are replaced with analysis, statistics, grand social movements, and dates piled upon one another. No wonder people find history boring.
We don’t, and that’s because the nature of our work—publishing a history magazine for a general audience—continually forces us to ask a simple question: What’s really interesting about this? Most of the time, the answer lies in the people who have made history happen, without whom important dates would be just numbers. Here we present 131 of those interesting, and important, people.
Why 131 exactly? We determined first some of the callings Christians have practiced through the ages, then chose the ten (or, in one case, eleven) most important and interesting for each calling. Most of our choices can be easily defended, but we admit some are arbitrary. Space constraints have forced us to leave out some key figures (like poet W. H. Auden, Pentecostal preacher William Seymour, and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, for instance), and personal passions have dictated we include others less well-known (like theologian John of Damascus and adventist William Miller).
As for the adjective Christian: some of the individuals profiled here had, because of their times and circumstances, a limited understanding of the full-orbed faith. But since we see the same limitations in ourselves, it seemed only right that we err on the side of charity in determining who was “Christian.”
This doesn’t mean we’ve chosen the 131 Christians we most admire or with whom we agree. This is a book about 131 Christians everyone should know because of what they’ve contributed to history and because of their intrinsic interest—not 131 Christians we should all emulate. Though certainly all have something to teach us.
As such, this is not a bad place to begin research, since we’ve striven to remain accurate throughout, separating myth from history where necessary, and including key dates and quotes. But the book is primarily designed for those who want to have a deeper appreciation of their Christian heritage—and enjoy it.
Mark Galli, Ted Olsen - 131 Christians Everyone Should Know - Contents
Theologians
- Athanasius - Five-time exile for fighting “orthodoxy”
- Augustine of Hippo - Architect of the Middle Ages
- John of Damascus - Image-conscious Arab
- Anselm - Reluctant bishop with a remarkable mind
- Thomas Aquinas - The brilliant “dumb ox”
- Martin Luther - Passionate reformer
- John Calvin - Father of the Reformed faith
- Jacob Arminius - Irenic anti-Calvinist
- Jonathan Edwards - America’s greatest theologian
- Karl Barth - Courageous theologian
Evangelists and Apologists
- Justin Martyr - Defender of the “true philosophy”
- Clement of Alexandria - Theologian for the intelligentsia
- Gregory Thaumaturgus - “The Wonder Worker”
- Antony of Padua - “The hammer of heretics”
- Blaise Pascal - Scientific and spiritual prodigy
- George Whitefield - Sensational evangelist of Britain and America
- Charles Finney - Father of American revivalism
- Dwight L. Moody - Revivalist with a common touch
- Billy Sunday - Salty evangelist
- Billy Graham - Evangelist to millions
Pastors and Preachers
- Ambrose of Milan - Most talented bishop of the early church
- John Chrysostom - Early church’s greatest preacher
- Richard Baxter - Moderate in an age of extremes
- John Newton - Reformed slave trader
- Charles Simeon - Evangelical mentor and model
- Lyman Beecher - Revivalist who moved with the times
- Thomas Chalmers - Unrelenting advocate for the poor
- John Nelson Darby - Father of dispensationalism
- Charles Spurgeon - Finest nineteenth-century preacher
- Harry Emerson Fosdick - Liberalism’s popularizer
Musicians, Artists, and Writers
- Rembrandt Harmensz Van Rijn - Dutch painter of the soul
- Johann Sebastian Bach - “The Fifth Evangelist”
- George Frideric Handel - Composer of Messiah
- John Bunyan - Pilgrim who made progress in prison
- Harriet Beecher Stowe - Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Russian novelist of spiritual depth
- George MacDonald - Fabled Victorian writer
- G.K. Chesterton - “Enormous” essayist, poet, writer
- Dorothy Sayers - Mystery writer and apologist
- C.S. Lewis - Scholar, author, and apologist
Poets
- Dante Alighieri - Worldly creator of divine verse
- Geoffrey Chaucer - Medieval England’s greatest storyteller
- John Donne - Poet of God’s love
- George Herbert - England’s greatest religious poet
- John Milton - Puritan author of Paradise Lost
- Anne Bradstreet - America’s first poet
- Isaac Watts - Father of English hymnody
- Charles Wesley - Greatest hymn writer of all time
- Fanny Crosby - Prolific and blind hymn writer
- T.S. Eliot - Modernist poet
Denominational Founders
- Menno Simons - Anabaptist peacemaker
- John Knox - Presbyterian with a sword
- John Smyth - The “Se-Baptist”
- George Fox - First Friend
- Nikolaus von Zinzendorf - Christ-centered Moravian “brother”
- John Wesley - Methodical pietist
- Francis Asbury - Methodist on horseback
- Richard Allen - Father of the American Methodist Episcopal Church
- William Miller - Mistaken founder of Adventism
- Alexander Campbell - Christian
- Aimee Semple McPherson - Foursquare phenomenon
Movers and Shakers
- Benedict of Nursia - Father of western monasticism
- Bernard of Clairvaux - Medieval reformer and mystic
- Dominic - Founder of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
- Francis of Assisi - Mystical founder of the Franciscans
- John Wycliffe - Medieval “protestant”
- Joan of Arc - Teenage war hero with visions
- Ulrich Zwingli - Militant Swiss reformer
- Ignatius of Loyola - Founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)
- Phoebe Palmer - Mother of the holiness movement
- Søren Kierkegaard - Christian existentialist
Missionaries
- Patrick - Patron saint of Ireland
- Columbanus - Irish missionary to Europe
- Cyril and Methodius - Apostles to the Slavs
- Francis Xavier - First missionary to Japan
- Matthew Ricci - Controversial evangelist to China
- John Eliot - Apostle to Native Americans
- William Carey - Father of modern Protestant missions
- David Livingstone - Missionary-explorer of Africa
- Hudson Taylor - Faith missionary to China
Inner Travelers
- Antony of Egypt - Greatest Desert Father
- Hildegard of Bingen - Benedictine abbess, visionary, and writer
- Catherine of Siena - Mystic and political activist
- Thomas à Kempis - Author of the most popular devotional classic
- Teresa of Avila - Carmelite mystic and feisty administrator
- John of the Cross - Spanish mystic of the soul’s dark night
- Brother Lawrence - Practitioner of God’s presence
- William Law - Champion of the serious, devout, and holy life
- Andrew Murray - Leading student in Christ’s school of prayer
- Oswald Chambers - Preacher who gave his utmost
Activists
- John Woolman - Quaker mystic and abolitionist
- William Wilberforce - Antislavery politician
- Elizabeth Fry - Prison reformer
- Sojourner Truth - Abolitionist and women’s rights advocate
- Lord Shaftesbury (Antony Ashley Cooper) - Godly English statesman
- William Gladstone - Prime Minister of impeccable morals
- Harriet Tubman - The “Moses” of her people
- Catherine Booth - Compelling preacher and co-founder of the Salvation Army
- William Booth - First General of the Salvation Army
- Walter Rauschenbusch - Champion of the social gospel
Rulers
- Constantine - First Christian emperor
- Theodosius I - Emperor who made Christianity “the” Roman religion
- Justinian I and Theodora I - Greatest Byzantine rulers
- Leo I - Pope and international diplomat
- Gregory the Great - “Servant of the Servants of God”
- Charlemagne - Christian ruler of a “holy” empire
- Innocent III - Warring “Vicar of Christ”
- Louis IX - Saintly king of France
- Henry VIII - Defender of the faith
Scholars and Scientists
- Origen - Biblical scholar and philosopher
- Eusebius of Caesarea - Father—and maker—of church history
- Jerome - Bible translator whose version lasted a millennium
- The Venerable Bede - Father of English history
- Erasmus - Pious humanist who sparked the Reformation
- Nicholas Copernicus - Revolutionary astronomer
- William Tyndale - Translator of the first English New Testament
- John Foxe - Martyrologist
- Francis Bacon - Philosopher of science
- Galileo Galilei - Misjudged astronomer
Martyrs
- Ignatius of Antioch - Earliest post-New Testament martyr
- Polycarp - Aged bishop of Smyrna
- Perpetua - High society believer
- Boniface - Apostle to Germany
- Thomas Becket - Murdered archbishop of Canterbury
- John Huss - Pre-Reformation reformer
- Thomas Cranmer - Genius behind Anglicanism
- Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer - English reformers who died together
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer - German theologian and resister
* * *
Charles Simeon
Evangelical Mentor and Model
“On the Wednesday of Holy Week began a hope of mercy. On the Thursday, that hope increased. On … Easter Day … I awoke with these words upon my heart and lips: Jesus Christ is risen today, halleluja, halleluja!”
Though he became a model for modern figures like John Stott, Charles Simeon started his life in Cambridge as anything but a model.
In 1779, the young Simeon, from an aristocratic family, came to Kings College, Cambridge, to study, and he was told that he must attend chapel on Easter Day to receive Communion. Simeon’s main interests to this point had been horses, games, and fashion. He considered that “Satan himself was as fit to attend [the sacrament] as I.” Still, he sought hard to see how he might sort out his conscience. He began to read the Scriptures and various devotional books.
As he read about propitiatory sacrifice in the Old Testament, he thought, “What, may I transfer all my guilt to another? Has God provided an offering for me, that I may lie my sins on his head?” He immediately laid his sins “upon the sacred head of Jesus.”
On the Wednesday of Holy Week, he wrote, he “began a hope of mercy. On the Thursday, that hope increased. On the Friday and Saturday, it became more strong. And on the Sunday morning, Easter Day, April 4, I woke early with these words upon my heart and lips: Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Halleluja, Halleluja!”
Simeon went on to be ordained, and after a short stint at St. Edwards, Cambridge, at age 23, he was appointed vicar of Holy Trinity Church. The parish had wanted another minister, and this fact—combined with Simeon’s evangelical preaching—quickly alienated them. They locked their rented pews against him, and those who came to hear Simeon were forced to stand in the aisles.
When Simeon moved to put benches in the aisles, the church wardens threw them out. He battled with discouragement and at one point wrote out his resignation.
“When I was an object of much contempt and derision in the university,” he later wrote, “I strolled forth one day, buffeted and afflicted, with my little Testament in my hand.… The first text which caught my eye was this: ‘They found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear his cross.’ ”
“Conversation parties”
Slowly the pews began to open up and fill, not primarily with townspeople but with students. Then Simeon did what was unthinkable at the time: he introduced an evening service. He invited students to his home on Sundays and Friday evening for “conversation parties” to teach them how to preach. By the time he died, it is estimated that one-third of all the Anglican ministers in the country had sat under his teaching at one time or another.
Simeon, an untiring activist, also helped found evangelistic organizations like the London Jews Society, the Religious Tract Society, and the British & Foreign Bible Society. He was also one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society, and he inspired dozens of young men from his church to take the gospel to the far corners of the world.
In 1817, with money inherited through a brother’s death, he created what became known as the Simeon Trust to purchase rights to appoint evangelical clergy to the parishes. He remained a bachelor his whole life, and his entire ministry was at Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge—even today a focal point of evangelicalism in England.
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