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Christian History

Today in Christian History

December 31

December 31, 1384: John Wycliffe, pre-Reformer who initiated the first complete translation of the Bible into English and influenced Hus, Luther and Calvin, dies at about 64. He was condemned at the council of Constance (1415), and his body was disinterred and burned (see issue 3: John Wycliffe).

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May 21, 1382: The "Earthquake Synod" in London (so named because a temblor interrupted the proceedings), led by Archbishop Courtenay, condemns as heretical 24 theses from the writings of John Wycliffe. Wycliffe later claimed that God sent the earthquake "because the friars had put heresy upon Christ. The earth trembled as it did when Christ was damned to bodily death" (see issue 3: John Wycliffe).

May 21, 1471: Painter, engraver, and woodcut designer Albrecht Durer is born in ...

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