The Theologian's Almanac: February 25, 2012

As I was listening to Garrison Keillor recite The Writer's Almanac for February 24, 2012, I thought, "Hey, we could do a Theologian's Almanac!" My hope is to offer one or two posts each month in honor of the births or deaths of influential Christians, theologians or otherwise. Such figures may be well-known or relatively unknown. The purpose of these posts is not to present an expert description or analysis, but rather, to draw attention to these figures and to resources for further investigation.

To kick off this series, I searched for a figure who was born or died on today's date and came across Berchtold Haller. Variations on his first name include Berchthold, Bertold, and Berthold. His dates are c. 1492 - February 25, 1536. Haller was a German-born reformer. During his studies at Pforzheim, he met Philipp Melanchthon. He was also an associate of Huldrych Zwingli, having met him in 1521. With Zwingli, Haller took part in both the Baden and Bern Disputations, ultimately establishing the Reformation in Bern. In 1532, he co-authored the Berner Synodus, which became Bern's church order. For more information on Haller, you can take a look at Mark Gstohl's Reformation history website.

Incidentally, The Writer's Almanac for February 25, 2012 includes an item relevant to our subject matter here at DET. It was on February 25, 1570 that the Roman Catholic Church officially excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England. For more information, do visit the link above.

It was also on this date in 1095 that William II of England, also know as William Rufus, called the Council of Rockingham. Anselm had been consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093, but he had not yet received the pallium from the pope. Since William had not recognized Urban II as pope, he rejected Anselm's request to receive the pallium from Rome. The council met to discuss this dispute. In the end the bishops sided with William, who sought to depose Anselm, and the nobles sided with Anselm. This left the matter at a stalemate. Anselm would finally receive the pallium in June of 1095, but would have to flee England in 1097 and remain in exile until William's death in 1100.

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Comments

Bobby Grow said…
Matt,

I think the almanac is a great idea; look forward to more entries! The theo blogsphere definitely needs more historical theology and Church History stuff!!
Matthew Warren said…
Thanks, Bobby! And I agree. History is indispensable to theological reflection.
I'm very excited about this - keep up the good work, Matt!
Derek Maris said…
I'm with Bobby and Travis; this looks like a great idea Matt. Looking forward to more!

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