Andre and Magda Trocme and the Village of Le-Chambon-sur-Lignon

The latest article in the series Christians who Changed their World is about a village in France during World War II. Led by its Huguenot pastor and his wife, this village and the surrounding area saved the lives of a number of Jews equal to their own population by hiding them from the Nazis and their Vichy collaborators and in some cases smuggling them to Switzerland. It's a great story, and if you haven't heard it yet, you'll want to read the article.

In honor of Black History Month ...

I've published two new articles in the series, Christians who Changed their World. The first is Josephine Margaret Bakhita, a woman enslaved as a girl in Sudan who eventually found freedom in a convent, and Frederick Douglass, another former slave who became one of America's greatest public intellectuals. Douglass appears on lists of prominent atheists, but if you actually take the time to look at his career and read his own works, his Christian commitments come through loud and clear.

A Whole Bunch of New Articles

I haven't been keeping up with posting my new articles recently, so  I'm going to put them all here. They complete the series "The Christian's Three Callings" and bring in a number of new articles from "Christians who Changed their World."

Katherina Schuetz Zell (1497/8-1562)
Ching-Ching (Adam) (Eighth Century)
Alopen (Seventh Century)
Martin de Porres (1579-1639)
Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz (1576-1628)
Hannah More (1745-1833)
The Believer’s Three Callings, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

New article in the series "Christians who Changed their World"

The first article on a Latin American Christian is up at the Colson Center. It is about Venezuelan physician Jose Gregorio Hernandez.

New article on "the Father of African Education," James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey (1875-1927)

My latest article in the series "Christians who Changed their World" is up. It profiles James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey, a major figure in African education and a pioneering advocate of racial harmony.

New article: Sol Plaatje

A new article in the series "Christians who Changed their World" is up. This one is on Solomon Plaatje, one of the founders of the African National Congress and a tireless fighter for justice for Africa's native population.

New Article: Abba Enbaqom (c.1470-1561)

My newest article in the series "Christians who Changed their World" is up at the Colson Center. It's about Abba Enbaqom, a Yemeni convert to Christianity who became one of the most important leaders of the Ethiopian church. He was particularly significant for his work supporting the Christian community during a very dark period when a Somali imam led an army into Ethiopia determined to destroy the kingdom and convert the people at the point of a sword. His story has remarkable parallels with a number of trends today.

Gebre Mesqel Lalibela

My newest article at the Colson Center is up. It's on Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, the Ethiopian king who had eleven monolithic stone churches carved out of bedrock in his capital city. They are now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

New article: Hunayn ibn Ishaq

This article is a reminder that in the early days of Islam, relations between Christians and Muslims within the Caliphate were not as hostile as what we are seeing in the Middle East today. There is no doubt that Christians were second class citizens and faced many social, legal, and religious restrictions, but there were members of the Christian community that rose to prominence under the caliphs. One could only wish that the current Islamists who want to return to the days of the caliphate would remember their own history.

Sorghaghtani, the Mother of Great Khans

The next article in Christians who Changed their World is up at the Colson Center. This one features Sorghaghtani Beki, the mother of three Mongol Khans (including Kublai Khan, the Chinese emperor who welcomed Marco Polo). She shaped world history in some pretty powerful ways, but is almost completely unknown in the English speaking world. Don't let the names throw you: she's someone well worth learning about.

Christians who Changed their World: Fei Qihao

A new article at the Colson Center. Fei Qihao was a Chinese Christian who survived the Boxer Rebellion and later became a Christian teacher and government official in China.

Shi Meiyu (1873-1954)

My new article is up at the Colson Center. It's on Shi Meiyu, the first Chinese woman to receive a medical degree from a Western university.

Pandita Ramabai

My next article in the series "Christians who Changed their World" is up. This set focuses on non-Western Christians and women. Today's article features both: Pandita Ramabai was a remarkable woman who was an acknowledged Hindu scholar, but who was dissatisfied by the attitudes toward women she found within Hinduism. This led her to Christianity. She then became a major promoter of women's rights and women's education in India.

Chiune Sugihara

This past Saturday, USA Network put on “Schindler’s List” without commercial interruption. My newest article features Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese consular official who has been described as the Japanese Schindler—only Sugihara saved many thousands more than Schindler and was not motivated by exploiting their labor as Schindler had been in the beginning. For me personally, this is one of the most moving stories I have recounted. I hope you enjoy it.

Tsuda Umeka

The next article in the series Christians who Changed their World is up. We're focusing on non-Western Christians and women for now, and this time we have one who fits both categories, Tsuda Umeka.

New article at the Colson Center

My new article in the series “Christians who Changed their World” is up at the Colson Center. We’re continuing with non-Western Christians with Nitobe Inazo. Also, if you haven’t done so already, please see my updated website at www.esquareinch.com.

New article on Niijima Jo, in Christians who Changed their World

I'm a bit late in posting this, but I have rebooted the series on Christians who Changed their World at the Colson Center. This set will focus on non-Western Christians and women. The first, published last week, was on Niijima Jo, also known in America as Joseph Hardy Neesima.

After the article came out, I received an e-mail from a friend about Niijima. With his permission, I am copying it here:

Thank you so much for the latest article. My wife is from Japan, so after I read it we talked for a while. Niijima Jo is fairly well known in Japan. Even more well-known is one of his teachers from Amherst, William Smith Clark, who was asked to start an agricultural school in Hokkaido. He spent 8 months there setting up the school. As a result of his work, not only was a nationally known school created (which exists today as Hokkaido University), but several dozen students came to Christ, some of whom were influential as well.

My wife read up on Niijima Jo and his wife tonight on the Japanese section of Wikipedia, and apparently she was quite a woman as well. She was teaching at a girl's school when they first met, and she was well known for demanding that the governor support the school financially, to the point of going to his house, apparently uninvited, to talk to him about it, which was considered extremely inappropriate for a woman at the time. Jo had told one of his mentors that he wanted a woman who would not blindly follow her husbands lead, and the man immediately told him about her.

Also of note is the fact that Jo started a school for girls a year after he started his first boy's school. Educating women was not seen as a worthwhile endeavour in Japan at the time, and this choice says a lot about his character.

Thank you again for the article. It brightened our day!

He also pointed me to a book on Neesima's life and letters available free through Google books.

Thank you, Jason!

New article in Christians who Changed their World

This one's on James Clerk Maxwell. If you don't know who he is or about his faith, check it out!

New Article: Robert Boyle

The next article in the series Christians who Changed their World is up. Continuing with the theme of science, this one covers Robert Boyle, the father of modern chemistry.

New article on Johannes Kepler

The next article in the series "Christians who Changed their World" is up at the Colson Center. It's on Johannes Kepler.