Thursday, November 5, 2026

It is the 5th of November 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

For all of the mess that was the 20th century, I’m inclined to think the story from the perspective of church history is the great switch, from a church that is primarily Western European and North American to one that now has its great poles south of the Equator and in the East (in fact, for those of us wringing our hands over the “death of the church,” we do well to note how it is thriving and growing elsewhere… perhaps it's time for them to send missionaries to us). And the 20th century’s “great switch” is only possible because of the work of 19th century missions- it was, indeed, the great century of missions.

But these mission fields had to figure out church planting on the fly- how do ordinations work? Questions about the International reach of denominations were asked, as were questions of bible translation. The story of one of the early missionaries to India brings these questions into focus- and we might affirm the judgment of Stephen Neill- that C.T.E. Rhenius, born on this day in 1790, was “one of the greatest among the missionaries in India”.

Rhenius’ story began in tragedy as his father, a member of the Prussian military, was killed when young Carl was only six years old. He was taken in by a wealthy uncle who had no children of his own and wanted to leave his estate to young Carl. But the young man’s life was changed in his uncle's library. There he found collections of stories by the Moravians- those ever-wandering descendants of the Bohemians who devoted themselves to missionary work. Carl would become a missionary, to the chagrin of his aunt, his mother, and his brothers.

In his early zeal, the young Rhenius decided he was going to discipline his body for missionary work by only eating foods he didn’t like. He soon learned that he could eat, and even enjoy, just about everything. I have read this section to my youngest son, who could use the encouragement.

Rhenius was ordained in the Prussian church and traveled through Denmark to England, where he was hired by the Church Mission Society to go to Madras, India. There he studied Tamil and soon became fluent. He was sent to Tranquebar- now under the auspices of the CMS but a one-time mission begun by Lutherans.

In 1815 the Bible Society in Calcutta decided to update the original Tamil translation of the Bible. Rhenius began an update only to decide that an altogether new translation was needed. He decided to go back to the Hebrew and Greek, decided to translate idiomatically for the Tamil-speaking population, and to balance literal translations with the colloquial (and remember, this is long before the explosion of modern translations when these decisions became standard).

In 1820 he moved to Tirunelveli where a once thriving mission had dwindled in number. By 1825 he had seen some 3000 converts across 90 villages. To avoid persecution, he began setting up Christian villages. One such village was created with a donation by a Prussian nobleman, Count Dohna. Named Dohnavur in his memory, this would become the famous site for the work of missionary Amy Carmichael- in the unofficial transcript at 1517.org, you can find a link to her episode (https://www.1517.org/podcast-overview/2022-12-16).

When the CMS was slow in sending in assistance, Rhenius found seven local men and, after training them, ordained them. As the CMS was under the auspices of the Anglican Church, these were seen as illegitimate ordinations without the Bishop's approval. Rhenius’ particular Lutheran tradition saw no need for bishops for a legitimate ordination. This caused a deep division in the mission, and Rhenius and many of his followers left Tirunelveli. After pleading from the locals, they returned, but came back as the German Evangelical Mission. Rhenius, his body ravaged by travel, work, and sickness, succumbed on June 5th, 1838. The churches reverted to the CMS, and the society would later recognize him as the “Apostle to the Tirunelveli” and a giant in the translation of the Bible into Tamil. Born on this day in 1790, Carl, or C.T.E. Rhenius, was 48 years old.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary… well, it’s Revelation 9… why not?

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 5th of November 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by 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.