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Christian History

Today in Christian History

July 16

July 16, 1519: The Disputation of Leipzig, in which Martin Luther argued that church councils had been wrong and that the church did not have ultimate doctrinal authority, ends (see issue 34: Luther's Early Years).

July 16, 1769: Spanish Franciscan friar Father Junipero Serra founds the San Diego de Alcala mission in California, the first permanent Spanish settlement on the west coast of America (see issue 35: Christopher Columbus).

July 16, 1931: Missionary C.T. Studd, one of the famous "Cambridge Seven" and evangelist to China, India, and Africa, dies (see issue 52: Hudson Taylor).

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July 15, 1015: Vladimir, the grand prince of Russia who made Orthodox Christianity the national religion, dies at age 59 (see issue 18: Russian Christianity).

July 15, 1099: The First Crusade captures Jerusalem, massacring thousands. "The city was filled with corpses and blood," wrote one chronicler (see issue 40: The Crusades).

July 15, 1606: Dutch Painter Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn is born to a wealthy family in Leyden. Personal tragedies seemed to deepen the spiritual dimensions of his art, and ...

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