Wednesday, August 26, 2026

It is the 26th of August 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Dear fellow Protestants,

 

At some point, it might do you well to prepare yourself for one of the most important historical questions you may be asked by a Catholic or Orthodox friend. It is, if your theology is correct, what does that mean for the Christians who lived in the first 1500 years of the church?

 

Be very careful not to fall into the trap of the old rhyme “the church lay hid in darkest of night, God said let there be Luther, and all was light!” We can celebrate movements and revivals in the church, but we should keep in mind that there has always been a diversity of views on important doctrines, and we do well to highlight that and those who have been teaching the gospel and the freedom of the Christian throughout time. Such was one figure in the 14th century- indeed a “calamitous” century and one sometimes obscure for us.

 

Have you heard the name Thomas Bradwardine? Some might know him as one of the shortest-reigning Archbishops of Canterbury. Others might only know of him from the history of science and philosophy; others might run across him as a preacher in favor of what we now call the 100 Years' War. But perhaps most importantly, he is a figure bridging the gap between Augustine and the Reformers.

 

We know very little about his early life. He was born around 1290- it’s disputed. He was born… well, maybe near Sussex. We don’t know anything for sure until he matriculated at Oxford first at Balliol College and then at Merton. He rose through the ranks, served as the University proctor, turned down the chancellorship, and was a professor of Divinity.

 

But his time at the university is most remembered for his work with the “Oxford Calculators”- a group of mathematicians playing with logic and mathematical notations for the laws of physics- amending Aristotle and pointing ahead to the likes of Galileo and Newton.

 

In 1335 he left the University and joined Richard De Bury in Durham. De Bury had been tutor to King Edward III, and working with Richard brought Thomas notice from the crown. Bradwardine became chaplain to Edward III and traveled with him to the fateful battle at Crecy in the Hundred Years' War. His “victory sermon” is still extant. Part of the sermon followed an argument he made in his most important theological text: De Causa Dei contra Pelagium (In Defense of God Against the Pelagians).

 

There weren’t Pelagians anymore in the sense that Augustine and the church condemned them in the early church, but Bradwardine saw the same spirit in the medieval church- an exaltation of human free will and a reliance on “preceding works”. Teaching a kind of “bondage of the will” and a salvation by grace alone would stand out in his late medieval milieu. A student of his, John Wycliffe, would be the link to Luther, Calvin, and the later Reformation. His teaching on Predestination was rigorous and embraced by the later Reformation- his Contra Pelagium would be published in the Netherlands in the 1600s around the time of the Council of Dordt and the solidifying of what is popularly referred to as the 5 Points of Calvinism. Bradwardine is thought to be one more piece of connective tissue from the medieval church to the Reformation.

 

Bradwardine was elected to be Archbishop of Canterbury in 1348 but was curiously rejected by his friend, King Edward III. In 1349 he was elected again, and this time Edward consented. He had to travel to the Pope, who was then in Avignon, France. Pope Clement VI consecrated him on the 10th of July in 1349. On his return to England, Bradwardine contracted the Black Death and died on this, the 26th of August, having served only 38 days.

 

But he remains a significant figure in intellectual and theological history- Thomas Bradwardine, theologian and defender of God’s sovereignty, mathematician, confessor to the king, and briefly Archbishop of Canterbury. Born around 1390, he would have been close to 60.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and the anointing of Jesus at Bethany from the Gospel of Matthew:

6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 26th of August 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who appreciates Matthew not snitching on Judas as John does later on… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who's glad no one is fighting anymore about predestination and free will…. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.