Thomas Becket

In 1156 Thomas Becket, a gifted administrator and a close friend of King Henry II, was installed as Archbishop of Canterbury. The king hoped this appointment would give him more power over the church. Until this assignation Becket had been a worldly patron of plays and anything that involved singing and dancing. However, once he was installed as Archbishop, Becket in an attempt to atone for his hedonistic past life and make a new beginning started following a life of austerity and asceticism. This involved him preserving his chastity, drinking sparingly, praying often at night, attending Masses at dawn and employing clerks to flog him as penance for his wrongdoings.
Soon after Becket was appointed Archbishop he realized that King Henry II was looking for a puppet, answerable to him whilst his loyalty was primarily to God and his church. The Archbishop and Henry had several disputes over ecclesiastical and royal matters and Becket constantly protested about the king interfering in church affairs. Henry got fed up with an Archbishop unwilling to be manipulated and feeling betrayed by a friend, cited him to appear before the king's court. Becket failed to respond so was found guilty of contempt of royal court. He was summoned to the Council of Northampton and seeing the king coaxing the bishops and barons for a guilty verdict, stormed out. In 1164 Becket fled to France disguised and the dispute remained unsettled.
In 1170 the final rift between Henry II and Becket occurs when the king's eldest son, who was also called Henry, was crowned as his heir by the Archbishop of York and six bishops, a violation of the Archbishop of Canterbury's traditional right. The angry exiled Becket proceeded to excommunicate the bishops and triumphantly returned to Canterbury, where the common people flocked to show their adulation. Meanwhile the king was spending Christmas near Bayeux in Normandy when a deputation of bishops came to tell him of Archbishop Becket's continuing refusal to release control of the church to the king. He was also informed that Becket still refused to absolve the Archbishop of York and his associates from excommunication for participating in the coronation and indeed had excommunicated some more. Exasperated by his archbishop's refusal to tow the line, Henry shouted in fury " Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" Four knights, members of his household, took their king at his word, crossed the Channel, rode post-haste to Canterbury and attacked him at the altar of Canterbury Cathedral whilst he was taking Evensong in front of a shocked congregation, in the north transept of the Cathedral. Becket struggled on in front of the Evensong congregation, before burying his head in prayer and dying. There was a great storm within an hour of the death of the Archbishop and when his clothes were removed from his dead body, it was discovered that, unbeknown to anyone, he was wearing a hairshirt riddled with lice and maggots, the skin on his chest ripped to shreds. Becket was immediately recognized as a saint and a martyr, and people flocked to the Cathedral to mourn him. The king was suitably shocked by the scandalous action his temper had provoked, as was Western Christendom who looked upon Henry as a blasphemous murderer.
In the the years following his death many miraculous cures were recorded at Becket's shrine. indeed 700 miracles were recorded in the decade after his assassination at his crypt. His tomb was a major attraction for English and European pilgrims bought offerings and returned with flasks of holy water and small glasses containing the martyr's diluted blood were distributed throughout western Europe.

The Beatles

In 1957 16-year-old John Lennon met 15-year-old Paul McCartney at a St Peter’s Parish Church party in Woolton, Liverpool. Lennon’s band, The Quarrymen were performing at the do whilst Paul, who was baptized a Roman Catholic but was raised inter-denominationally was attending the function. Impressed by Paul's ability to tune a guitar and by his knowledge of song lyrics, John asked him to join his band as lead guitarist. They renamed themselves The Beatles and with guitarist George Harrison and drummer Ringo Starr , the Fab Four went on to dominate rock music and pop culture in the 1960s.
In 1966 John Lennon commented in an interview with a London newspaper, “I don't know what will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. We're more popular than Jesus now. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." His comments created some upset in Britain but when a magazine got hold of the article in the United states a few months later there were mass protests from Christians in the Bible Belt area, Beatles records were burnt publicly and some concerts were cancelled. The Vatican also made a public denunciation of Lennon's comments, but in 2008 a Vatican newspaper belatedly forgave the Beatles explaining that he had simply been “showing off.”
In 1970, the same year that the Beatles split up, George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord reached number one in the US and UK pop charts. The song was an attempt to get radio listeners to chant “Hare Krishna” which he believed is a method of becoming one with God. During the late 1960s the four Beatles had shown an interest in Eastern religion and for a period were students of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation movement. Their attraction towards this belief helped make adoption of an Eastern religion a trendy thing among the young.

Voyage of the Beagle

Charles Darwin's five-year voyage on HMS Beagle to South America and the Galapagos Islands were a major influence on his formulation of the Theory of Evolution. Darwin shared a cabin with Robert FitzRoy, the commander of the Beagle during the voyage. Six years after Darwin postulated his theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species, FitzRoy, who wasone of Darwin's fiercest critics on scriptural grounds committed suicide for the part he believed he played in undermining the Bible.

The Bay Psalm Book

In 1640 the Pilgrim settlers in Cambridge, Massachusetts published the first book in America, the Bay Psalm Book. The psalms in it were metrical translations of the Psalms into English, thirty learned and devout ministers having translated them from the original Hebrew.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

During a visit to a military camp camp the American Unitarian and slavery reformer Julia Ward Howe wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic. She scribbled the words at night, in the darkness of her tent, to the melody of "John Brown's Body". It became the marching song for the union forces in the Civil War. The tune includes the line “As he (Christ) died to make men holy, let us die to make men free”, which is an explicit reference to the fight to end slavery.

Bathing

Fear of impurity prevented nuns removing their clothes to wash, until a hygienic vision revealed to Saint Brigid (c. 451–525) that the Lord would have no serious objection to a proper bath once a fortnight.

Karl Barth

In 1919 Karl Barth (1886-1968), a young Swiss Theologian, began working through the problems posed by the First World War and the failure of liberal theology to account for such a dark episode in human history. The outcome of this was his commentary The Epistle To The Romans, which opened the way for a revival of orthodox Protestantism based on the Bible.
Barth continued to argue that liberal theology was bankrupt and to teach that God's word stands over against man and judges him. By 1932, when he published the first volume of his Church Dogmatics, which made the resurrection of Jesus the focal point of Christianity, Barth was recognized as the most influential current theologian. After 1945 the influence of Barth's theology began to wane but still today it has its champions.

Thomas Barnado

In 1862 Thomas Barnado (1845 – 1905) an Irish clerk of Jewish origin converted to evangelical Christianity. After a period spent preaching in the Dublin slums, he arrived in London to study medicine with the aim of becoming a medical missionary. Moved by the child poverty and homelessness around him, he begun to care for destitute waifs and strays.
In 1870 he opened the first of the "Dr Barnardo’s Homes" at 18 Stepney Causeway, London whilst still a student. One evening an 11-year old boy, John ‘Carrots’ Somers was turned away because the shelter was full. He was found dead two days later from malnutrition and exposure and from then on the home bore the sign ‘No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission’.
The work steadily increased until, at the time of Barnado's death, in 1905, there were established 112 district "Homes," besides mission branches, throughout the United Kingdom

Barebone's Parliament

Barebone's Parliament came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the installation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. It was an assembly entirely nominated by Oliver Cromwell and the Army's Council of Officers. It was made up of Non-conformist churchmen and army officers and was named “Barebones” after one of the members “Praise God Barebones”, a Fleet Street Leather-seller and preacher. After conflict and infighting, on 12 December 1653 the members of the assembly voted to dissolve it. It was succeeded by the First Protectorate Parliament.

Saint Barbara

Saint Barbara (d235) of Nicomedia, Turkey, spent her youth on her own in a tower, especially built for her by her father to protect her from the world. She converted to Christianity, against the will of her father and rejected an offer of marriage that she received through him. After attempts to un-convert her failed, Barbara’s father struck off the head of his saintly daughter. Immediately he was struck by lightning and his body was consumed. As a result Barbara was made the patron saint of artillery.

Baptists-the Early Days

A new sect called “Baptists” arose in England at the beginning of the 17th century led by a preacher from Gainsborough called John Smyth. These “Baptists” were Christians who had rejected the teachings of the Church of England and Catholic Church but couldn't accept orthodox Calvinism. They advocated adult baptism, as they couldn't understand how a baby can appreciate the importance of infant baptism. Due to persecution in England they were forced to emigrate to Amsterdam where there was freedom of religion and in 1609 John Smyth and fellow English Non-Conformist, Thomas Helwys, founded the first official Baptist church there. Three years later the first English Baptist church was built at Spitalsfield, London by Thomas Helwys and a small group of fellow Christians in Newgate.
In 1639 the first American Baptist church was established at Providence, Rhode Island, when Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, was baptized before proceeding to baptize eleven others. Rhode Island was a safe haven for those such as Baptists whose are persecuted for their beliefs.

Baptism

Baptism (from Greek baptizo: "immersing", "performing ablutions", i.e., "washing") is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church. Although total immersion was practised in the early church as time went on it took the form of sprinkling and was generally administered to children. It was only during the Reformation that the total immersion of adults began to be practised again by the Anabaptists.

The First Adult Baptism Of The Reformation
In 1523 the Zurich reformed Christians Conrad Grebel (d1526) and theologian Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) divided over the issue of whether Mass should be abolished or not. Two years later Zwingli, who had began to reform Zurich by working with the city council, officially severed ties with Grebel and his fellow radicals over the issue of infant baptism. When the council, ordered that any unbaptized infants must be submitted for baptism within eight days, Grebel stood his ground, refusing for his recently born child, Isabella, to be baptized.
Seven days later, at a meeting of those who sided with Grebel, George Blaurock, a married former priest, stepped over to Conrad Grebel and asked him for baptism in the same way as the early church-fully immersed upon confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ. Blaurock was baptized on the spot, the first adult baptism of the Reformation. Afterwards on this historic snowy January evening the former priest proceeded to baptize the others present. Grebel, who died of the plague the following year is often called the ‘Father of Anabaptists’.

Baptism Trivia

The priest at young Boris Yeltsen’s christening was so drunk that he dropped baby Boris into the font then forgot he was there.

St Augustine laid the foundations for infant baptism. He taught that people are born with an affinity for sin and as descendants of Adam and Eve share in the guilt of original sin. Therefore infant baptism was important.

The early Anabaptists were often drained by their persecutors as the authorities reckoned if they wanted to be fully immersed- let them!

A Swedish pastor was electrocuted as he stood in a pool of water for a baptism ceremony when one of his assistants handed him a live microphone.

Battle of Bannockburn

In 1314 King Edward II of England was defeated by the Scottish King, Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. The victorious Bruce attributed his success to the relic of the Scottish Saint, St. Fillan, which he took into battle. He declared it was the Saint’s intercession that gave him victory.

The Balfour Declaration

In 1917 the commander of the British forces in the Middle East General Allenby succeeded in retaking Jerusalem from the Turks. In the resulting Balfour Declaration, (a letter from British foreign secretary A J Balfour to Lord Rothschild, the chairman of the British Zionist Federation) Britain pledged itself to use her best endeavors to facilitate in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people.
In 1922 the United Nations unanimously confirmed the Balfour Declaration as a mandate and Great Britain was temporarily entrusted with administrating Palestine on behalf of its Arab and Jewish inhabitants. The Declaration would help form the basis for the foundation of Israel in 1948.

Roger Bacon

Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294),was an English philosopher and scientist who was interested in alchemy, the biological and physical sciences, and magic. Many discoveries have been credited to him, including the magnifying lens. Bacon studied theology at Oxford and Paris, entered the Franciscan order, settled at Oxford and devoted special attention to chemistry, alchemy and optics. He was known as Doctor Mirabilis (Wonderful Teacher) and many discoveries have been credited to him, including the magnifying lens. Despite his many interests he saw theology as the supreme area of knowledge.
Bacon was an early advocate of experimental science, he believed that science and mathematics could serve the Christian faith. The friar suggested taking crusades of learning to the Islamic lands to win the Muslims over to Christianity by impressing them with European knowledge. Bacon was theologically conservative but also outspoken and he frequently got into trouble for saying what he thought.
In 1268, Bacon sent his Opus Majus/Great Work, a compendium of all branches of knowledge to the pope. However, he was attacked by the church who accused him of dealing in black magic and alchemy and in 1277 Bacon was excommunicated and confined to a monastery for "certain novelties"(heresy) and not released until 1292.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was the outstanding member of a family of German musicians who during six generations produced a continuous line of composers. His orchestral music includes 29 concertos including the six Brandenburg Concertos, 21 secular cantatas and a vast quantity of music for organ, clavier and stringed instruments.
Bach also produced a great deal of religious music, which include his Mass in B Minor, four smaller masses, a Magnificat, three Passions and 202 church cantatas. A devout member of the Lutheran Church, his sympathies lay in particular with the Pietist movement.
The German composer believed he could best serve his church and the people around him through his music. Bach defined music as "An agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul." He inscribed the scores of his religious music with the letters “JJ”, (“Jesus, Juva” meaning “Jesus help”) at the beginning and “SDG” (“Soli Deo Gloria” meaning “to God alone the glory”) at the end.