William Farel was a key figure in the founding of Reformed churches and in the network of Reformed preachers in French-speaking Europe in the 16th century. A correct interpretation of Farel’s history is not just an account of his extraordinary victories for the gospel in French-speaking Europe, but an account that these gains occurred in the context of more or less constant arduous conflict with parishioners or co-workers, chronic anxiety in relation to the advances of his theological adversaries, and the pain of learning of the death of former parishioners at the hands of Catholic forces, or worse, their return to Roman Catholicism.
I hope this brief biography will help you to better appreciate the complexity and complementarity of the network of 16th-century reformers, and that you will also be inspired by the God who uses common wounded people to advance the beautiful extraordinary work, His Kingdom.
