The Price Some Paid for the Bible

[Master of François de Rohan (fl. from 1525 until 1546), Title page from the Great Bible published by Grafton and Whitchurch in 1539—public domain, wikimedia File:GreatbibleI.jpg]

Ditchfield, in Books Fatal to their Authors, mentions several Bible translators who paid dearly for their efforts. One translator who escaped punishment by the skin of his teeth was Arias Montanus, who produced a Polyglot Bible at the command of King Philip II of Spain, but was denounced for it to the pope because he had strayed from the Latin Vulgate. Montanus pleaded his case in Rome where the pope eventually pardoned him. His work, however, was placed on the Index Expurgatorius to which he had, in his day, added others’ works. Continue reading “The Price Some Paid for the Bible”

Christian Captives in North Africa

Robert Bridges

[Robert Bridges, from Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the eight dramas. Henry Frowde / Oxford University Press, 1912—public domain, Wikimedia File:Robert Bridges 1912.jpg]

During the Middle Ages, Arabs, Moors, and Berbers captured many Christians and worked them as slaves or held them for ransom in North Africa. In 1415 the Portuguese captured the city of Ceuta, which for centuries gave them a toe-hold in North Africa. Robert Bridges, poet laureate of England from 1913 to 1930, made use of these historical facts in setting a blank-verse drama titled The Christian Captives. The story is a tragedy of thwarted love in five acts.

The desire of the King of Fez to regain Ceuta after the Portuguese invade Tangier is a central theme of the play. The Christian captives appear in the story as a chorus, introducing an Islamic princess to Christianity. They serve as a bargaining chip in negotiations between the Christians and the Muslims in an otherwise improbable tale. Continue reading “Christian Captives in North Africa”

A Magazine about Prisoners

A few months ago, Christian History published issue #123, devoted to Christians in prison. Although we mentioned it on Facebook, we’ve been remiss calling attention to it on this site. Some of the material from these pages made its way into the magazine as well as much new material. Preview a copy below, and order it for yourself at Captive Faith in the Christian History Institute store. One of its articles, “Paradoxes of Prison,” by this site’s webmaster, even won an award from the Evangelical Press Association.

Warning to the condemned

st sepulcher church
St Sepulcher’s Church by User Lonpicman — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:StSepulchresChurch.jpg, [CC BY-SA 3.0]

By Dan Graves

Here is another tidbit from Chamber’s Book of Days. Near Newgate prison in London was a parish church bearing the name St Sepulchre’s. On the 8th of May 1705, Robert Dowe gave £50 to the vicar and church wardens stipulating Continue reading “Warning to the condemned”

Angola prison and the communion of saints

Angola prison
[The entrance to the Louisiana State Penitentiary – The placard says “Louisiana State Penitentiary” and “Warden Burl Cain”—Angola Prison / [CC-BY-SA 2.0] Wikimedia File:LSPEntrance-.jpg]

by Rhonda Mawhood Lee (originally appeared at Faith & Leadership (used by permission).

FOR MORE ARTICLES ABOUT CHRISTIANS IN PRISON, READ CHRISTIAN HISTORY #123, CAPTIVE FAITH: PRISON AS A PARISH.

Raymond Marler, a plumber, pipe fitter and welder, died at age 59. He considered welding “a noble trade and often spoke with pride about his aunt, who was one of a cadre of female welders who filled traditional male roles in armament factories during World War II.” Continue reading “Angola prison and the communion of saints”

African Prisoners

Abuna Salama
Abuna Salama, Metropolitan of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Henry A. Stern, Wanderings Among the Falashas in Abyssinia (London: Wertheim, Macintosh, and Hunt, 1862) p.137.

By Dan Graves

In the pages of Captive Faith we have featured only one African prisoner—Perpetua—and she was of European extraction. This has not been by design or by oversight, but because our focus is on prisoners who produced poems, letters, Scripture, court transcripts, or biographies during jail time or because of being jailed, or whose prison story became part of God’s word.*

This does not mean that African Christians have not had experience of prison. Here are a few of their stories. Continue reading “African Prisoners”