"Despite his stern Calvinist upbringing" -- Why is it that in the modern media the word "Calvinist" is always accompanied by "stern" or "dour" or "strict"? While most of the people who use the terms together have next to no knowledge of what Calvinism is, they have even less about who this man Calvin was. Was he some old-style reactionary? Was he some hard-line ayatollah, raging at the world without any thought? Or is there more to this man than the uninformed critics of today would have us believe? Robert Reymond brings us John Calvin the man. The reality is quite different from the caricature often painted today. He was a man of deep spirituality, real love for his fellow man and God and with tremendous intellectual abilities. Whether the moniker "stern Calvinist" can be applied to you or not, John Calvin's life has much to teach us. - Back cover.

Dr. Reymond's lectures on the life of John Calvin at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2002 form the basis of this readable and compelling history of the great Reformer.

God's provision of various teachers and circumstances in Calvin's life prepare him for the singular contributions that he made to Protestant theology and practice.

Calvin's insistence upon the separation of church and state affected the founding of the United States where nearly 2/3 of all people in 1776 were from areas in Europe where his teaching was predominant. This, simply, is an excellent book.

Review by J.David Knepper at http://www.ahavabaptist.com/reviews/reviews.htm#calvin