Machiel A. Van Den Berg

Friends of Calvin is a collection of short pieces telling of the friendships that 24 people had with one of the giants of the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin. In each piece Van den Berg sketches a short biography of the friend and describes the nature of their relationship with Calvin. Some of the friends are well-known today, such as John Knox, Theodore Beza, Heinrich Bullinger and Philip Melanchthon. Others are lesser-known but of no less importance in their place in Calvin's life. Van den Berg is fair and balanced, pointing out both the fruit born to the Reformation through these friendships as well as the dealing frankly when the friendships went awry, occasionally to the point of termination.

In reading these stories I saw new light shed on the nature of Calvin's character, particularly in his desire, when possible, to work through hard issues for the sake of the Gospel. Also evident was the tenuous nature of life for the Reformers of the 16th century, not only from persecution to the point of martyrdom, but also in dealing with things such as the plague as ever-present threats that no one was immune to.

All-in-all I enjoyed this book. Calvin was a giant as a reformer and this book shows that while he may have led the way for many others, the reformation of the 16th century was very much a team effort. It was a delight to learn of his teammates and how they worked together towards the goal of letting the Gospel light shine forth.… (meer)