Posts by Zach Kincaid
Lillian Hunt Trasher
Lillian Hunt Trasher served as a Christian missionary in Assiout, Egypt, where she founded the country’s first orphanage; over a period of 50 years, she cared for approximately 10,000 needy children. Because of her contributions, she earned the nickname of “Mother” Thrasher. Lillian was born on September 27, 1887 in Jacksonville, Florida. She grew up…
Read MorePaul Tillich
Paul Tillich was born 20 August 1886 in Starzeddel then a province of Brandenberg Germany (now part of Poland). His family moved to Berlin in 1900 when his father was called to a position as a Lutheran pastor. After graduating from the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in 1904 Tillich attended the universities of Berlin Tübingen and…
Read MoreCharles E. Fuller
Charles Fuller’s call to Gospel ministry began with hearing Ephesians 1:8, preached by Paul Rader in 1917. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,” Paul writes, “in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” After that day…
Read MoreFrank Buchman
When Frank Buchman issued his call for a rededication to Christian values in May 1939, Europe was only months away from the explosive outbreak of the Second World War. That spring, however, Buchman was one of the nation’s most popular and influential religious evangelists. His call for a “moral re-armament,” which was also the name…
Read MoreJohn Wesley Work Jr.
John Wesley Work is said to have been the first black collector of Negro folksongs, and was most likely born on August 6, 1871 in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, John Wesley Work, was a church choir director in Nashville, where he wrote and arranged music for his choirs. Some of his choristers were members of…
Read MoreWilliam Seymour
William Joseph Seymour was born May 2, 1870 in Centerville, Louisiana to Simon and Phillis Seymour. His parents had been slaves prior to the Civil War. Seymour was the oldest of ten children, but only three lived to adulthood. Information about Seymour’s early years is generally sketchy. The family’s religious affiliation appears to have been…
Read MoreKarl Barth
Karl Barth (1886-1968) was the most important Swiss theologian of the twentieth century, with an influence far beyond Switzerland. He is considered alongside Thomas Aquinas, Jean Calvin, and Friedrich Schleiermacher to be one of the greatest thinkers within the history of the Christian tradition. Barth gave new impulses to Protestant theology during a critical phase,…
Read MoreG.K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) cannot be summed up in one sentence. Nor in one paragraph. In fact, in spite of the fine biographies that have been written of him, he has never been captured between the covers of one book. But rather than waiting to separate the goats from the sheep, let’s just come right…
Read MoreNikolai Berdyaev
Berdyaev was born on March 6, 1874, in Kiev. His father had come from a military family and was himself an officer in the Imperial Guards. His mother, Princess Kudashev, was half French, but also belonged to Polish nobility. The family religion was Orthodox. Early in his life he developed a tic douloureux which caused him both…
Read MoreOswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers was a prominent early twentieth century Scottish Protestant Christian minister and teacher, best known as the author of the widely-read devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Chambers was born 24 July 1874 in Aberdeen, Scotland to devout Baptist parents. He accepted Christ in his teen years. While walking home from a service conducted by Charles…
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