Publisher's Synopsis
Stickelberger captures the essence of the life and times of one of the most influential men in the sixteenth century in this authoritative study of the life and times of John Calvin. Few great men have been so consistently misunderstood as Calvin and the eminent Swiss man of letters, Emanuel Stickelberger, attempts to readdress the balance as he portrays Calvin the man as well as Calvin the theologian. Stickelberger sees the pale, frail man of Geneva against the background of the tumultuous times in which he lived. His iron will, constant struggle with ill health, utter dedication to his task, almost super-human capacity for work and indifference to financial reward, are all arrestingly portrayed. Stickelberger paints his portrait with a remarkable economy of words and with a fine sense of drama. The result is a vivid and fascinating study of a man and an epoch, which captures the imagination from the first page to the last.
