131 Christians Everyone Should Know 9780805490404, 9781433672552
This book offers a succinct yet thorough introduction to 131 of the most intriguing, courageous, inspiring Christians wh
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English Pages 320 Year 2010
Table of contents :
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Timeline
Theologians
Athanasius
Five-time exile for fighting “orthodoxy”
Augustine of Hippo
Architect of the Middle Ages
John of Damascus
Image-conscious Arab
Anselm
Reluctant bishop with a remarkable mind
Thomas Aquinas
The brilliant “dumb ox”
Martin Luther
Passionate reformer
John Calvin
Father of the Reformed faith
Jacob Arminius
Irenic anti-Calvinist
Jonathan Edwards
America's greatest theologian
Karl Barth
Courageous theologian
Evangelists and Apologists
Justin Martyr
Defender of the “true philosophy”
Clement of Alexandria
Theologian for the intelligentsia
Gregory Thaumaturgus
“The Wonder Worker”
Antony of Padua
“The hammer of heretics”
Blaise Pascal
Scientific and spiritual prodigy
George Whitefield
Sensational evangelist of Britain and America
Charles Finney
Father of American revivalism
Dwight L. Moody
Revivalist with a common touch
Billy Sunday
Salty evangelist
Billy Graham
Evangelist to millions
Pastors and Preachers
Ambrose of Milan
Most talented bishop of the early church
John Chrysostom
Early church's greatest preacher
Richard Baxter
Moderate in an age of extremes
John Newton
Reformed slave trader
Charles Simeon
Evangelical mentor and model
Lyman Beecher
Revivalist who moved with the times
Thomas Chalmers
Unrelenting advocate for the poor
John Nelson Darby
Father of dispensationalism
Charles Spurgeon
Finest nineteenth-century preacher
Harry Emerson Fosdick
Liberalism's popularizer
Musicians, Artists, and Writers
Rembrandt Harmensz Van Rijn
Dutch painter of the soul
Johann Sebastian Bach
“The Fifth Evangelist”
George Frideric Handel
Composer of Messiah
John Bunyan
Pilgrim who made progress in prison
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Russian novelist of spiritual depth
George MacDonald
Fabled Victorian writer
G.K. Chesterton
“Enormous” essayist, poet, writer
Dorothy Sayers
Mystery writer and apologist
C.S. Lewis
Scholar, author, and apologist
Poets
Dante Alighieri
Worldly creator of divine verse
Geoffrey Chaucer
Medieval England's greatest storyteller
John Donne
Poet of God's love
George Herbert
England's greatest religious poet
John Milton
Puritan author of Paradise Lost
Anne Bradstreet
America's first poet
Isaac Watts
Father of English hymnody
Charles Wesley
Greatest hymn writer of all time
Fanny Crosby
Prolific and blind hymn writer
T.S. Eliot
Modernist poet
Denominational Founders
Menno Simons
Anabaptist peacemaker
John Knox
Presbyterian with a sword
John Smyth
The “Se-Baptist”
George Fox
First Friend
Nikolaus von Zinzendorf
Christ-centered Moravian “brother”
John Wesley
Methodical pietist
Francis Asbury
Methodist on horseback
Richard Allen
Father of the American Methodist Episcopal Church
William Miller
Mistaken founder of Adventism
Alexander Campbell
Christian
Aimee Semple McPherson
Foursquare phenomenon
Movers and Shakers
Benedict of Nursia
Father of western monasticism
Bernard of Clairvaux
Medieval reformer and mystic
Dominic
Founder of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
Francis of Assisi
Mystical founder of the Franciscans
John Wycliffe
Medieval “protestant”
Joan of Arc
Teenage war hero with visions
Ulrich Zwingli
Militant Swiss reformer
Ignatius of Loyola
Founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)
Phoebe Palmer
Mother of the holiness movement
Søren Kierkegaard
Christian existentialist
Missionaries
Patrick
Patron saint of Ireland
Columbanus
Irish missionary to Europe
Cyril and Methodius
Apostles to the Slavs
Francis Xavier
First missionary to Japan
Matthew Ricci
Controversial evangelist to China
John Eliot
Apostle to Native Americans
William Carey
Father of modern Protestant missions
David Livingstone
Missionary-explorer of Africa
Hudson Taylor
Faith missionary to China
Inner Travelers
Antony of Egypt
Greatest Desert Father
Hildegard of Bingen
Benedictine abbess, visionary, and writer
Catherine of Siena
Mystic and political activist
Thomas à Kempis
Author of the most popular devotional classic
Teresa of Avila
Carmelite mystic and feisty administrator
John of the Cross
Spanish mystic of the soul's dark night
Brother Lawrence
Practitioner of God's presence
William Law
Champion of the serious, devout, and holy life
Andrew Murray
Leading student in Christ's school of prayer
Oswald Chambers
Preacher who gave his utmost
Activists
John Woolman
Quaker mystic and abolitionist
William Wilberforce
Antislavery politician
Elizabeth Fry
Prison reformer
Sojourner Truth
Abolitionist and women's rights advocate
Lord Shaftesbury (Antony Ashley Cooper)
Godly English statesman
William Gladstone
Prime Minister of impeccable morals
Harriet Tubman
The “Moses” of her people
Catherine Booth
Compelling preacher and co-founder of the Salvation Army
William Booth
First General of the Salvation Army
Walter Rauschenbusch
Champion of the social gospel
Rulers
Constantine
First Christian emperor
Theodosius I
Emperor who made Christianity “the” Roman religion
Justinian I and Theodora I
Greatest Byzantine rulers
Leo I
Pope and international diplomat
Gregory the Great
“Servant of the Servants of God”
Charlemagne
Christian ruler of a “holy” empire
Innocent III
Warring “Vicar of Christ”
Louis IX
Saintly king of France
Henry VIII
Defender of the faith
Scholars and Scientists
Origen
Biblical scholar and philosopher
Eusebius of Caesarea
Father—and maker—of church history
Jerome
Bible translator whose version lasted a millennium
The Venerable Bede
Father of English history
Erasmus
Pious humanist who sparked the Reformation
Nicholas Copernicus
Revolutionary astronomer
William Tyndale
Translator of the first English New Testament
John Foxe
Martyrologist
Francis Bacon
Philosopher of science
Galileo Galilei
Misjudged astronomer
Martyrs
Ignatius of Antioch
Earliest post-New Testament martyr
Polycarp
Aged bishop of Smyrna
Perpetua
High society believer
Boniface
Apostle to Germany
Thomas Becket
Murdered archbishop of Canterbury
John Huss
Pre-Reformation reformer
Thomas Cranmer
Genius behind Anglicanism
Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer
English reformers who died together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
German theologian and resister
Subject Index
