January 20, 1541: A town meeting in Geneva ratifies John Calvin’s plan to set up a church court that would meet weekly to judge offenders and maintain discipline (see issue 12: Calvin).
January 20, 1569: Miles Coverdale, publisher of the first printed English Bible and the man who completed William Tyndale’s translation of the Old Testament, dies at 81 (see issue 43: How We Got Our Bible and issue 16: William Tyndale).
January 20, 1918: Following the Bolshevik Revolution, all church property in Russia is confiscated and all religious instruction in schools abolished (see issue 18: Russian Christianity).