WILLIAM FAREL
By Jason Zuidema
EP Books, 126 pages, £6.54
ISBN 978 0 852 349 540
This short biography of Guillaume (William) Farel sheds light on the life of the other, less known, Frenchman who spread the ideas of the Reformation in French-speaking Switzerland.
The life of Farel as told by Zuidema is an easy read (at least for those who love history!) and is inspiring. It’s the life of a man of tremendous courage, great zeal, tirelessness and tenacity. The courage of standing up for the truth led him to flee his beloved country, gave rise to conflict with Erasmus in Basel and sparked many fiery debates with opponents from the Catholic side. Often driven out of towns where he had preached, Farel was filled with passion for the only true gospel and love for the lost and for young suffering congregations – and this meant that he was regularly exposed to danger.
Ordinary man
It is encouraging to see an ordinary man, with his weaknesses in character (he is often described as confrontational), nonetheless greatly used by God who opened doors and gave him fruitful connections. Farel’s public debates with Catholic scholars often resulted in towns and cities being won for the ideas of the Reformation, and his clear preaching yielded many conversions – though also bursts of iconoclasm by way of visible rejection of the old religion. A pastor as well as an evangelist, he was always on the lookout for good shepherds to minister to the fledgling congregations he had helped to establish (Farel is the person who persuaded his fellow countryman Calvin to stay in Geneva for that purpose); he himself became the main pastor of the city of Neufchâtel, where he served for a large proportion of his long life.
Don’t expect a thorough exposition of the theological issues of the time: this is rightly called ‘bitesize biography’. But it’s a great introduction to the history of the Reformation in French-speaking Europe – a part of the world that, today, is in great need of the proclamation of the gospel and courageous preachers like Farel.
