Podcast Episode 46
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
with Dr. Geoff Chang & host Nick Walters
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The “Prince of Preachers” and his enduring legacy take center stage in this episode of *This Week in Christian History*, with a Deep Dive focused on the life and influence of Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
This episode follows the established weekly format of *This Week in Christian History*, produced by the Center for Christian History. Each episode features an interview with Nick Walters, founder of the Center for Christian History, a Deep Dive with a subject matter expert, and several historical highlights drawn from the same week in Christian history. The description below reflects that structure and provides historical context without summarizing the recorded conversation.
The Deep Dive portion of this episode features Geoff Chang, Associate Professor of Church History at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Executive Director of the Spurgeon Library. In this role, Dr. Chang oversees one of the world’s most significant collections devoted to the study of Charles Haddon Spurgeon and contributes to ongoing scholarly work related to Baptist history, preaching, and evangelical theology. The Deep Dive segment connects listeners with recognized subject matter experts whose research and professional work inform the study of Christian history.
This episode also includes two historical highlights from the same week in Christian history.
The first highlight commemorates January 11, 1857, the date of death of Eli Smith, a missionary, printer, and scholar whose life was devoted to making the Bible accessible to Arabic-speaking peoples. Trained at Yale and Andover Seminary, Smith immersed himself deeply in Arabic language and culture, even living on a farm near Beirut in order to understand the people he hoped to serve. A printer by trade, Smith eventually took over press operations in Malta, where he played a central role in Arabic publishing efforts. During his work there, he developed an Arabic typeface known as “American Arabic,” designed specifically to support high-quality printing in the Arabic language. By the time of his death on January 11, 1857, Smith had begun the monumental task of producing a complete Arabic Bible, a project that would be finished by his successor and remain influential for generations.
The second historical highlight looks back to January 7, 367, when Athanasius of Alexandria, bishop of Alexandria, issued a letter that would have lasting significance for the Christian church. Athanasius was a central figure in the fourth-century theological debates that followed the rise of Arianism, opposing the teachings of his fellow African Arius and playing a key role in the theological struggles that culminated in the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. In his letter dated January 7, 367, Athanasius became the first known Christian writer to use the term “canon of Scripture” in a formal sense. He divided biblical and related writings into three categories: Holy Scripture, the Apocrypha, and other writings. In the letter, Athanasius urged fellow church leaders “to set forth in order the books which are included in the canon and have been delivered to us with accreditation that they are divine,” helping to shape how Christians would understand the boundaries of Scripture in the centuries that followed.
This episode of This Week in Christian History is produced by the Center for Christian History and is available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
