Greater than any other Reformation era figure, John Calvin stimulated the debate, thoughts and ideas that have come to dominate Western culture and society. Dedicated to the reform of the church, and insistent on a literalistic reading of scripture, his influence radically changed the face of Protestantism and Society. Williston Walker produced this benchmark biography in 1906: it is still the best. Gripping, enlightening and authoritative – you will learn of a man whose theological stance and political philosophy has done much to shape modern Western culture and continues to influence millions of people in the 21st century.

Williston Walker was an American Church historian, born at Portland, Maine in 1860. He graduated at Amherst in 1883, and at the Hartford Theological Seminary in 1886, then studied at Leipzig.