This week in Christian history: Philippine Independent Church founded, church historian dies

Thomas McCrie dies – Aug. 5, 1835

This week marks the anniversary of the death of Thomas McCrie, a prominent Scottish Presbyterian minister and historian, sometimes referred to as Thomas McCrie the elder.

A native of Dun, a community approximately 45 miles from Edinburgh, McCrie became a preacher at the age of 23 and, in 1802, began writing a series of articles on Protestant Christian history.

He eventually wrote a popular and critically acclaimed biography about the Scottish Reformation leader John Knox, which has been republished multiple times since his death.

McCrie also wrote a biography of Scottish Reformer Andrew Melville, assorted works about the Covenanters movement in Scotland, and the history of the Protestant Reformation in Italy and Spain.

At the time of his death, McCrie was in the process of writing a biography about the famed theologian John Calvin, having completed three chapters on the subject matter.