John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait by William J. Bouwsma, is the life story of one of the greatest Christians ever. This book takes place from 1509 to 1564. Bouwsma tells about his life and theology.
             John Calvin was born in Noyon, France on July 10,1509. He originally was educated to be a priest at the College de la Marche and the College de Montaige, which were branches of the University of Paris. Calvin was originally going into priesthood but his father wanted him to study law instead. So he also attended Orleans and Bourges. While attending the University of France Calvin became friends with Nicolas Cop. When Cop announced his support of Martin Luther it caused them both to leave the university because of the influence of Roman Catholicism at the time.
             Calvin moved a lot during the next two years hiding from the church authorities while he studied the Bible and wrote his views on theology. In 1536 he published Institutes of the Christian Religion, which made him popular in the protestant circle. In the same year Calvin visited Geneva on his way to Strasbourg and was asked by Guillaume Farel to help the city with its protestant movement. Calvin stayed in Geneva for the next two years then the city officials asked both Calvin and Farel to leave Geneva. So Calvin made his way to Strasbourg where he met his wife Idelette Bure. Calvin and Bure had one kid that died when it was an infant. At this time he also wrote his Commentary on Romans.
             In 1541 he went back to Geneva to lead them again in reforming the church. In 1549 his wife died and he did not remarry. Calvin spent the rest of his life there writing books and helping reform the church and even started a university. Calvin died on May 27, 1564 at age 55.
             I thought this book was a bit drawn out and some times hard to follow but I did learn a lot from it. I think Calvin was a very influential man in the sixteenth century and for modern day Christianity. His books...