Episcopal Life Online Daybook -- Today is Thursday, October 4, 2007. The Church calendar remembers Francis of Assisi, friar (1181-1226).
* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On this day in 1902, Gregory Dix, Anglican Benedictine scholar, was born at Woolwich, England.
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PEOPLE
Harrison Simons receives honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_90681_ENG_HTM.htm
Services held for Allan Rohan Crite, dean of African-American artists http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_90641_ENG_HTM.htm
Minnesota Photographer Jeff Smith succumbs to cancer http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_90640_ENG_HTM.htm
Shanta Premawardhana to direct inter-religious dialogue for World Council of Churches http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_90631_ENG_HTM.htm
David M. Rider named president, executive director of Seamen's Church Institute http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_90629_ENG_HTM.htm
More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm
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Catalyst: "A City Upon a Hill: How Sermons Changed the Course of American History" from HarperCollins Publishers, by Larry Witham, 318 pages, hardcover, c. 2007, $24.95
[Source: HarperCollins Publishers] The Puritan founder John Winthrop preached about "a city upon a hill," Abraham Lincoln's two greatest speeches have been called "sermons on the mount," and Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" oration is nothing if not a sermon. Not only can the history of the United States be told through its reflection in the landmark sermons preached from its pulpits and in front of its memorials, but in fact it was often the sermon that inspired and helped define American history.
Between the colonization of America and the terrorist attacks of September 2001, the sermon has both shaped America's self-understanding and reflected both sides of its most important social, political, military, and philosophical debates. That is the story of A City Upon a Hill: How Sermons Changed the Course of American History, a narrative history of events, people, and ideas, showing a country at its best--and sometimes at its worst. The book covers American history from 1606 to 2001, building links between the pulpit and politics, between preachers and presidents, between sermons and historical events.
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org