This book bears with it a grand subject: the historical and literary resurrection of one of the major figures of the Reformation, the long forgotten Reformer of French-speaking Switzerland, Pierre Viret (1511-1571). Viret was a life-long companion of the better known figures of Farel and John Calvin. After his studies in Paris Viret, amid the bonfires of first martyrs of the French Reformation, was won to the renewed Evangelical Faith. Before the coming of John Calvin, he labored with Farel to establish the Reformation in Geneva. In Lausanne he founded the first Reformed academy, later to be the model of the Genevan seminary. In 1559 he was exiled by the Bernese sovereign over Vaud for his defense of the local Church's disciplinary autonomy from the State. Viret, a man of great mildness and persistence - was called "the Angel of the Reformation" - he was in his time a renowned preacher, evangelist and theologian. A prolific author, his abilities in the fields of ethics, apologetics and symbolic and pastoral theology puts him in company of the great Reformers. His massive Christian Instruction in the Doctrine of the Law and the Gospel contains the finest exposition of the Ten Commandments produced by the Reformation. His apologetics based on the authority of God's Word on every aspect of creation and the certitude that the meaning of all reality was given by God and revealed in his written and incarnate Word, leads his writings to have an incomparable freshness and present applicability. His careful application of God's Law to the economic realities of his time sheds light even on the financial issues that trouble ours. The present renewal of interest in Pierre Viret's labors for the advancement of the Kingdom of God comes indeed at its proper time!

Pierre Viret: Forgotten Giant of the Reformation

Religion & Spirituality

Jean-Marc Berthoud

Christian Books & Bibles

Zurich Publishing

This publication, undertaken in honor of the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of Pierre Viret, marks the first time of the availability of a full biography of Pierre Viret to the English speaking world. In this biography R.A. Sheats brings to light the fascinating history and life of this important early reformer of the Protestant Reformation. Also contaminating a lengthy chronology of Viret's life, a detailed listing of his books, and over sixty pages of illustrations and maps, Pierre Viret: the Angel of the Reformation will be an excellent tool for researchers, scholars, and those interested in the Swiss and French Reformation.Comments on R.A. Sheats' biography of Pierre Viret"This new biography of the great French Swiss Reformer Pierre Viret is a groundbreaking venture. Not only has R.A. Sheats given is the first full (and exhaustively illustrated!) biography of Viret in English, but has achieved this feat with impeccable scholarship, making very generous use of the available sources. She has, in the manner of her great predecessor Merle d'Aubigné, entered into the very spirit of our Reformer, an achievement which she has rendered in a most engaging and attractive style." - Jean-Marc Berthoud, Historian and Theologian, Lausanne"R.A. has written a superb biography on our Swiss Reformer that is both warmhearted and scholarly. We anticipate a soon translation into French." - Daniel Bovet, President of l'Association Pierre Viret, Switzerland

Pierre Viret: The Angel of the Reformation

R.A. Sheets

Is it astonishing that great confusion reigns today in the world? How could it be otherwise when our Lord Jesus Christ has been expelled from the cosmos, the Christian faith being relegated to the rank of mere human religion? But how then shall it be with the Church whose members suffer from similar confusion? This spiritual disorder is characterized by the effort—conscious or not—to separate Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God, from His Word. It is to be feared that many Christians today, whilst verbally confessing Jesus Christ, deny Him by rejecting His teachings, His commandments, His Law. Such Christians, to justify themselves, are quick to "We are now no longer under Law, but under grace!" Sadly, this affirmation, true within the context of Paul's apostolic teaching, becomes false when abused to define the attitude of Christians to God's Law. Such confusion is no accident; it is caused by the ignorance of that exact understanding of the Scriptures by those who should be masters of the Word. In Defense of God's Law comes in good season to remind us of the importance and beauty of the divine Law. It reminds us that there is no salvation outside of divine grace and that the grace of God confers on all who receive it both the capacity and willingness to obey the commandments of God. This book reminds us of God's sovereign authority over the created here and now, at all times and everywhere. May its readers, refusing all personal and public rejection of the divine Law, be drawn with the Psalmist to rejoice in God's every ordinance, manifesting thus in their whole lives the glory of our Lord, Creator, and Savior.

In Defense of God's Law

A Simple Exposition of the Christian Faith

Pierre Viret

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