Theologian's Almanac for Week of January 4, 2026

Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life.

For the week of Sunday, January 4:

January 4 is the day many churches will celebrate Epiphany this year. Epiphany means "showing forth." Historically, the day (officially January 6) has included the celebration of three things, all of which are considered key moments — key “firsts,” we might say — in which Jesus’ true identity shows forth: the visit of the Magi, Jesus’ baptism, and Jesus’ first canonical miracle of turning water into wine during the Wedding at Cana. Here’s SALT’s commentary on this year’s Epiphany story: Matthew’s account of the visit of the Magi.

And speaking of “Showings,” here’s an excerpt from Julian of Norwich’s book of that same name (also sometimes called “Revelations of Divine Love”), first published in 1373, the earliest surviving book by a woman in the English language.

January 4 is also the feast day of St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, the first person born in what would become the United States to be canonized as a saint. Born in New York City in 1774, she founded the Sisters of Charity, the first American congregation of religious sisters. An accomplished educator, she established the first Catholic girls' school in the nation in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

January 7 is Christmas Day for many Eastern Orthodox Christians — in particular, those who follow the older Julian calendar, not the Gregorian calendar used by Western churches, accounting for the 13 days difference.

January 10 is the feast day of Gregory of Nyssa, a fourth-century theologian in Cappadocia (in present-day Turkey). Among other provocative ideas, he argued (borrowing from Origen) that the Devil and the damned would all be saved in the end. Here’s a taste of his teaching: “Christ is the artist, tenderly wiping away all the grime of sin that disfigures the human face and restoring God's image to its full beauty.” And again: “Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees.”

January 10 is also the day in 1901 — exactly 123 years ago — that the United States’ first true oil gusher erupted. It happened at Spindletop, just outside Beaumont, Texas, and is now widely considered the beginning of the petroleum age. Before 1901, oil was mostly used for lamps, but after Spindletop, virtually overnight, it became the cheapest fuel available. In the decades that followed, an entire economy — an entire way of life — was built around petroleum, from gasoline to heating to plastics to polyester, with monumental consequences for all of us, and for the planet.