Portal:Christianity/Selected biography/2009

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January

Worldwide Church of God. Tkach became President and Pastor General of the church upon the death of Armstrong in 1986. Tkach spearheaded a major doctrinal transformation of the Worldwide Church of God, abandoning Armstrong's unconventional doctrines and bringing the church into accord with mainstream evangelical Christianity. His son, Joseph Tkach Jr., continued his work and in 1997 the Worldwide Church of God became a member of the National Association of Evangelicals
.
During Tkach's tenure, the changes that he implemented stirred much controversy and significant dissent among those who continued to follow Armstrong's theology. The dissenters labelled the changes as heresy and many left to form new church organizations. Within the mainstream Christian community, some have hailed Tkach's reforms, which brought a church from the fringe to orthodoxy, as unprecedented in the history of the Christian church.
The first major change under Tkach's tenure was the WCG's doctrine on healing. Previously the church taught that true believers were healed by faith in God and not by doctors. Tkach asked the church leadership to study the question. Once Tkach was satisfied with the results of the study, he officially softened the church's teaching on the matter, encouraging members to seek proper treatment while retaining faith in God as healer.
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February
Augustine of Canterbury (c. first third of the 6th century – 26 May 604) was a
Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury
in the year 598. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.
Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to convert the pagan King Æthelberht of the Kingdom of Kent to Christianity. Kent was probably chosen because it was near the Christian kingdoms in Gaul and because Æthelberht had married a Christian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert I the King of Paris who was expected to exert some influence over her husband. Before reaching Kent the missionaries had considered turning back but Gregory urged them on and, in 597, Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Æthelberht's main town of Canterbury.
King Æthelberht converted to Christianity and allowed the missionaries to preach freely, giving them land to found a monastery outside the city walls. Augustine was consecrated bishop of the English and converted many of the king's subjects, including thousands during a mass baptism on
Roman Catholic bishops were established at London and Rochester in 604, and a school was founded to train Anglo-Saxon priests and missionaries. Augustine also arranged the consecration of his successor, Laurence of Canterbury. Augustine died in 604 and was soon revered as a saint
.
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March

Woodcut of John Day from
the 1563 and subsequent editions of Actes and Monuments

monopolies for some of the most popular English books. Day, whose technical skill matched his business acumen, has been called "the master printer of the English Reformation
".
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April
John Wesley
Anglican cleric and Christian theologian, and is largely credited with founding the Methodist movement. The Methodist Movement began when Wesley took to open-air preaching in a similar manner as George Whitefield at Hanham Mount, Kingswood, and Bristol
.
Wesley was a preacher of righteousness, exalting the holiness of God. This preaching, as Paris Reidhead accounted of Wesley, "wasn't trying to convince good man that he was in trouble with a bad God - it was trying to convince bad man that he was in trouble with a good God."
Methodism was a successful
Gospel
.
Wesley helped to organize and form societies throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, small groups that developed intensive, personal
Twelve Apostles after the ascension of Jesus
.
Under Wesley's direction, Methodists became leaders in many social justice issues of the day, including
transforms
the believer.
Throughout his life, Wesley remained within the Church of England and insisted that his movement was well within the bounds of the Anglican Church. His maverick use of church policy put him at odds with many within the Church of England, though toward the end of his life he was widely respected.
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May

Portrait of Jones by William Crubb

Peter Jones (January 1, 1802 – June 29, 1856) was an
Ojibwe and Mohawk and by preaching to Indians who did not understand English. Jones was also a political leader. This brought him into contact with Superintendent of the Indian Department James Givins and influential Bishop John Strachan, with whom he arranged the funding and support of the Credit Mission
. There he lived and worked as a preacher and community leader, leading the conversion of Mississaugas to a European lifestyle of agriculture and Christianity, which enabled them to compete with the white settlers of Upper Canada. He was elected a chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit Mission in 1829 and acted as a spokesman for the band when petitioning the colonial government and its departments.
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June

File:Bishop Clement - Helen Lamb (1893).jpg
Portrait of Bishop Clement of Dunblane

Edmund of Abingdon and Queen Margaret to sainthood. After his death, he received veneration as a saint himself, although he was never formally canonised
.
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July

Ely Cathedral, where Nigel may be buried

Nigel (c. 1100 – 1169) (sometimes Nigel Poor or Nigel of Ely) was an Anglo-Norman
Stephen, Nigel remained as treasurer only briefly before his family was ousted from political office by the new king. Nigel rebelled and deserted to Stephen's rival Matilda, but eventually reconciled with Stephen. On the king's death, Nigel was returned to the treasurership by the new king, Henry II
. Nigel's second tenure as treasurer saw him return the administration to the practices of Henry I. Most historians, then and now, have felt that Nigel's administrative abilities were excellent; he is considered to have been more talented as an administrator than as a religious figure.
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August

Painted carving of Saint Alphege in Canterbury Cathedral

Ælfheah (954 – 19 April 1012;
Viking raiders in 1011 and killed by them the following year, after refusing to allow himself to be ransomed. Ælfheah was canonized as a saint in 1078. Saint Thomas Becket
, a later Archbishop of Canterbury, prayed to him just before his own slaying in Canterbury Cathedral.

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September

Portrait of Bucer from Icones quinquaginta vivorum, by Jean=Jacques Boissard

Martin Bucer (or Butzer) (11 November 1491 – 28 February 1551) was a
Roman Catholic Church, and he was forced to flee to Strasbourg. He acted as a mediator between the two leading reformers, Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli, who differed on the doctrine of the Eucharist. Later, Bucer sought agreement on common articles of faith such as the Tetrapolitan Confession and the Wittenberg Concord, working closely with Philip Melanchthon on the latter. Although his ministry did not lead to the formation of a new denomination, many Protestant denominations have claimed him as one of their own. He is remembered as an early pioneer of ecumenism
.
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October

Cosmo Lang as archbishop of Canterbury, c. 1932

(William) Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth,
contraception. After denouncing the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 and strongly condemning European antisemitism, Lang later supported the appeasement
policies of the British government. On retirement in 1942 he was created Baron Lang of Lambeth and continued to attend and speak in House of Lords debates until his death in 1945. Although he did not believe he lied up to his own standards, others have praised his qualities of industry, his efficiency and his commitment to his calling.
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November

Fresco of Gregory from Kariye Camii, Istanbul, Turkey.

Roman Catholic Church he is among the Doctors of the Church; in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs along with Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom
.
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December

Ion Heliade Radulescu

radical
wing of the 1848 generation.
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