Lent marks a 40-day period on the church calendar leading up to the celebration of Easter. During Lent, Christians have traditionally engaged in practices of self-denial, like fasting, meant to orient their hearts and minds to the sufferings of Christ, who spent 40 days in the desert fasting and enduring temptations from Satan. While many evangelicals reject Lenten disciplines for their associations with Catholicism, in recent years a greater number have experimented with practices like giving up a favorite indulgence or abstaining from meat on Fridays.
October 2, 1187: Muslim general Saladin captures Jerusalem from the crusaders (see issue 40: The Crusades).
October 2, 1792: A dozen English ministers form the Baptist Missionary Society "for the propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen, according to the recommendations of [William] Carey's Enquiry" (see issue 36: William Carey).
October 2, 1800: Slave and lay preacher Nat Turner is born in Southampton County, Virginia. Inspired by biblical texts, the deeply religious and ascetic ...
