January 7 in Christian History

Jan 07, 2009 11:55 AM EST

1450 - In Scotland, the University of Glasgow was founded.


1610 - Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, 46, discovered four satellites of Jupiter with the aid of the newly invented telescope. His discovery revolutionized astronomy, and led Galileo to adopt the Copernican (heliocentric) model of the solar system in place of the older, less adequate, Ptolemaic (earth-centered) view.


1856 - In London, famed English Baptist preacher Charles H. Spurgeon, 22, married Susannah Thompson, one of the parishioners at the New Park Street Baptist Chapel, where he was pastoring.


1934 - Converted major league baseball player Billy Sunday, at age 72, began a two-week revival at Calvary Baptist Church in NY City. (Sunday was an evangelist from 1893 until his death in 1935.)


1941 - In England, the four-day Anglican gathering known as the Malvern Conference opened. It was presided over by Archbishop William Temple.

© 1987-2009, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from Almanac of the Christian Church