Christian History articles from November 2000

Christian History archives from November 2000

Did You Know?(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... INTERESTING AND UNUSUAL FACTS ABOUT JAN HUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS. Have Gun, Will Travel After Hus's martyrdom his Czech supporters, the Hussites, organized militant resistance to the Holy Roman Empire. Remarkably, the vastly outnumbered...

Accidental Radical.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Jan Hus has a tendency to get lost. Following Peter Waldo and John Wyclif but preceding Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli, he occupies nebulous and seldom discussed territory. Even CHRISTIAN HISTORY has scarcely mentioned him...

From the Readers.
November 1, 2000... Anti-Augustinians Your issue on Augustine lifted a monkey off my back. What a relief to be convinced that he was a man like any other brilliant man, who expounded some wise ideas and some silly ones. What a relief to be rid of the...

To Build a fire.
November 1, 2000... JAN HUS HOPED HIS INCENDIARY PREACHING AND HEATED REBUKES WOULD PURIFY A TAINTED CHURCH, BUT THE FLAMES CONSUMED HIM FIRST. CONSTANCE, GERMANY, SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1415. The cathedral was packed to the doors. A hot heaviness hung in the...

foes in high places.
November 1, 2000... AS REFORMATION DIVIDED BOHEMIA, IT TURNED SOME OF HUS'S MOST INFLUENTIAL ALLIES AGAINST HIM. Zbynek Zajic of Hazmburk (C. 1378-1411) Archbishop and archenemy Zbynek had exactly one qualification for the highest...

a plethora of pontiffs.
November 1, 2000... WITH TWO POPES, THEN THREE, VYING FOR POWER, MORE WAS AT STAKE IN CONSTANCE THAN JAN HUS. The trouble started when Pope Gregory XI died in 1378. One year earlier, he had returned the papacy to Rome after 68 years of "Babylonian...

Reform and Resistance in Hussite Bohemia.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Growth of Reform 1370-1374 Jan Milic of Kromeriz teaches in Prague, establishes "New Jerusalem" for prostitutes c.1372 Jan Hus born in Husinec 1384 John Wyclif dies in England 1389 Reformer Matej of Janov charged with...

The Wanderer.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... JEROME OF PRAGUE'S ZEST FOR LIFE WAS SURPASSED ONLY BY HIS ZEAL FOR REFORM. Menceslas College at Charles University, Prague, was a hotbed of reform in the 1390s, and black-bearded Jerome of Prague was perhaps the hottest head of all....

A Pastor's heart.
November 1, 2000... EVEN IN THE MIDST OF HIS CAMPAIGN FOR REFORM, HUS NEVER FORGOT THE FAITHFUL FLOCK BACK HOME. Like Paul at Miletus, Jan Hus bid a tender farewell to his congregation at Bethlehem Chapel as he departed for Constance. "Faithful and dear...

Faith Formed in Love.
November 1, 2000... IN De Ecclesia (The Church) HUS ENCOURAGES CHRISTIANS TO TRUST GOD BUT QUESTION THE CHURCH. Whoever has in common with others faith formed in love, this suffices for salvation when accompanied with the grace of perseverance. For God, who...

The Reformation Connection.
November 1, 2000... HUS SHARED IDEAS WITH WYCLIF AND LUTHER, YET THEY WERE NOT ALL OF ONE MIND. Jan Hus has always been difficult to place precisely in the history of Christian thought. Does he belong to the Middle Ages or to early modern times? Is he a...

Rebels to Be Reckoned With.
November 1, 2000... THE MOST POWERFUL EMPIRE IN EUROPE WAS NO MATCH FOR A PEASANT ARMY LED BY A BLIND MAN. When radical preacher Jan Zelivsky arrived in Prague in 1418, he stepped into a seething conflict. In the three years since Jan Hus's death, Praguers...

To Live in Truth.(Interview)
November 1, 2000... THE INTEGRITY FOR WHICH HUS DIED LIVES ON AMONG CZECH CHRISTIANS. A conversation with Jan Milic Lochman Often our closest connection with history is a book or an archaeological dig, but in Jan Milic Lochman we found one of Jan Hus's...

Recommended Resources.
November 1, 2000... Jan Hus's status as a forgotten figure becomes a problem when you start looking for more information about him--unless you read Czech or really enjoy using interlibrary loan. This list will at least get you started. The Classics The...