Jacques Lefèvre D’Etaples – An Early French Reformer The life of Jacques Lefèvre D’Etaples ran almost parallel to that of Martin Luther. Born around 1455 (28 years before Luther), Lefèvre died in 1536, when Luther was still teaching, preaching, and…
Historic testimony to Luther is grand. Not only have many of his letters, books, tracts, and sermons survived, but so have his table talks. Table Talk is a collection of Luther’s sayings amongst his friends. Thankfully, they have been preserved…
The Dispute of Tirano and the Trial of Calvin’s Orthodoxy In the eventful sixteenth century, few people took notice of a court trial in a small town on the Italian side of the Alps. And yet, the stakes were high.…
Francis Turretin’s Italian Family The seventeenth-century Christian scholar Francis Turretin is well-known in Reformed circles. Little has been written about his life, probably under the assumption that the lives of scholars are generally uneventful. Since 2023 marks the 400th anniversary…
Pomponio Algerio and His Resolute Faith Most tourists to Rome stop by Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, in Piazza Navona. Some drop a coin in the water and make a wish. Hardly anyone is aware that in…
I love this time of year but it’s not because the temperature drops, or the leaves fall. I love it because it gives me an opportunity to revisit the history and theology bound up in the Reformation. Many years ago,…
Marguerite d’Angoulême, an Influential Reformer Marguerite d’Angoulême, also known as Marguerite de Navarre, was one of the most influential figures in sixteenth-century Europe. Today, her memory in Reformed circles seems obscured by that of her more committed daughter,…
Antonius Hambroeck’s Sacrifice The moving story of Antonius Hambroeck is well-known in the Netherlands, where he is considered a national hero, and in Taiwan, where he was executed. It was popularized in the 1775 play Anthonius Hambroek, or the Siege…
Review of Eric Metaxas: “Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World” In his biography of Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, Eric Metaxas paints a stunningly beautiful portrait of this late-medieval…
In 1529, artist Lucas Cranach the Elder produced a panel painting that visualized the theology of his famous friend, Martin Luther. The two wings of the painting represent the path to salvation through the law and the gospel. The left…
