Book Review -- Bitesize Biographies Ulrich Zwingli by William Boekestein

This is not an easy book to read for one unfamiliar with European geography and church and civil government during the sixteenth century. Words such as Diet, canton, burgomaster and “biblical humanist” were used without explanation, making it hard for me to follow much of the detail in the earlier part of the book. This is not a criticism of the author as much as a warning for those expecting to find this book a simple read.

The author, William Boekestein, has done a tremendous job in documenting the life and times of Ulrich Zwingli during the Swiss Reformation.  The author deals straightforwardly with the struggles Zwingli had with his own sin, with the Anabaptists, with the Roman Catholic Church and chronologically explains the reforms Zwingli instituted in Zurich and the differences he had with Martin Luther.  This book is a worthwhile read and a good introduction to a most influential, but lesser read reformer.  The quality of the writing and research is what you would expect from William Boekestein, who also co-authored Why Christ Came: 31 meditations on the incarnation.

I received this book for free from Evangelical Press via Cross Focused Reviews for this review. I was not required to write a positive review