Great Dates in the Apologetics Calendar—June 8

June 8 is unusual for the many dates bearing some relation to Christian apologetics.

1686 – Humphrey Prideaux graduated with D.D. from Christ Church, Oxford (installed as Dean of Norwich on this date in 1702)

1809 – Death of Thomas Paine, antagonist against Christianity and author of The Age of Reason (published in three installments: 1794, 1795, 1807)

1810 – Death of William Finch, whose 1797 Bampton lectureship was titled “The Objections of Infidel Historians and other writers against Christianity” (eight sermons)

1889 – Death of Christian metaphysical poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, famous for “Pied Beauty” (written in 1877, and published in 1918) and “God’s Grandeur” (also composed in 1877); also the sonnet “Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I conted”

1894 – Birth of Wilbur M. Smith, author of the thick volume of Christian evidences called Therefore Stand

1903 – Birth of G. C. Berkouwer, theologian in the Dutch Reformed tradition, whose many books include The Providence of God (1952) and General Revelation (1955)

1941 – C. S. Lewis preached his sermon “The Weight of Glory”

1954 – Death of Kenneth Escott Kirk, bishop of Oxford who wrote in defense of Christian moral philosophy

2007 – Death of Richard Rorty, postmodernist critic of religion

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Other posts in this series . . .

• Justin Martyr (ca. 100-165 AD)
• Ephraem the Syriac (ca. 306-373)
• William Warburton (1698-1779)
• William Paley (1743-1805)
• William Beauchamp (1772-1824)
• Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
• Conrad Emil Lindberg (1852-1930)
• W. H. Griffith Thomas (1861-1924)
• Arnold Lunn (1888-1974)
• C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
• Edward John Carnell (1919-1967)
• Great Dates in the Apologetics Calendar—June 8

Land of the Free Film Premiere

The film Land of the Free premieres Thursday, May 27, in Whittier, California.

I’m a big fan of this movie. Of course, how could I not be? Erin Geivett, my daughter, co-stars in the film. This is her debut as a lead actress.